Full Circle: What happens after prayer?

Two years I posted a prayer request on this forum for a young man. The situation was that he had been released from prison that night and was drunk with nowhere to go. He had a brother who was at a local bar. I gave him a ride there and helped him find his brother, and on the way I witnessed to him. At that time he stated he knew he should read the bible and that his Grandfather encouraged him to do so. I encouraged him to read his Grandfather's Bible and find a church.

Fast forward to today.
This morning I was pulling in the parking lot and two young men flagged me down. Don't get me wrong, I don't normally stop and pick up strange men and give them rides, but the same as last time two years ago, I felt convicted to stop. They told me they needed a ride to a restaurant where the one young man worked, in order to pick up his paycheck. He had his license suspended last night for drinking, and you could still smell the alcohol on him. His friend, who did not appear to have been drinking, turned out to be the same man I had given a ride to two years ago.
Again he had been released from prison, but this time his incarceration was for reporting late to his probation officer. He was on probation for the crime committed over two years ago.

So, we got to talking again.
They both are in local churches now, and both state they want their lives to get straightened out, to put the past behind them and do things right.
This time I was able to do more than talk. For a while I had been volunteering at a prison ministry type network, so I gave them the address, told them somewhat about the program, and they will be visiting there today for counseling.
The one is quite depressed. A Christian neighbor of mine also has been through the same things as this man. Felony on his record, addictions, and child support payments taken out of his minimum wage paychecks, which doesn't leave enough money to rent a place to live.
The neighbor is great at counseling, has been through the transformation network, and we'll be getting together tonight with the one who is most depressed and trying to help him work through this. Hopefully the other guy will show up too. BTW that other guy is married now with a child and is working.
To some, this may not sound like a success story. I can assure you though that it is. God put this young man in my path two years ago for a reason, and put him there again with his friend this time for a reason.
Things don't always change instantly in people's lives, but from what I see positive changes have happened and now it looks like we're able to give those positive changes a kick and get them moving into high gear.
I praise God for this opportunity. He's working this out in a very strange way, but oh well. LOL

Now, don't take this post as in any way encouraging you to pick up strangers, let alone drunk felons who recently were released from prison. ROFL I would not have done it myself had I not been clearly convicted to do so. That is NOT normal behavior for me. But please, do keep these two young men in mind, especially tonight as my neighbor and I meet together in an effort to do God's will.

Gina

 

I left out the "ago".
I normally post prayer requests for the such situations one time.
I do not pray one time over most matters. It's a repetitive thing. However, with requests posted online I will usually only pray once as I read it. Depending on the request I will simply do that, or I will put it on the list and follow the situation through. There's a few people on here that are on my "pray for this person always" list.
It makes me feel better about seemingly unanswered prayer if I can say "Lord, I don't understand this. I prayed for this specific situation over and over and over and nothing's happened. What's going on?!" If I only pray once I have to wonder if I'm the cause of the delay.
Gina