“And it shall come to pass, that before
they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” Isaiah
65:24
God has answered many prayers in my brief
canvassing experience. He has answered prayers about the weather, our safety,
for divine appointments and opportunities, for the right people to answer the
doors, and even for someone to canvass with. It’s exciting to see Him directly
answering my prayers. But what is also exciting is being able to look back on
certain experiences and see God working and organizing things without me even
knowing about it. Before I called on Him, He had it all worked out.
One afternoon, myself, a friend, and my
brother had about an hour in town free, so we decided to canvass a fairly large
block. First we had to decide who would go with who, and then we had to decide
who would go which direction around the block. They weren’t very major
decisions, and we just decided that my brother would go with me and we would go
clockwise from where we started, and our friend would go the other direction by
herself.
We had a productive hour; both of us groups
ran out of stock in our bags, and got to have some good conversations with
people. The side my brother and I chose included a little place, with a deceiving
large number of houses in it. It became evident that this was a shady part of town. But we got around it, met a few nice people, were able to share some
books and the smaller Path to Peace,
and went home rejoicing.
Several weeks later, as the same friend was
canvassing the block next the one above, she met a talkative lady, who informed
her that directly over the road was where all the drug dealers lived, and she
had a lot of trouble with them. As soon as our friend shared that, we both
could see God’s hand in directing my brother to go with me that afternoon, and
for us to choose that side of the block, rather than our friend doing it on her
own. While we didn’t even realize the situation, God had it all worked out.
God did this again for me in a small way
last time I was out canvassing. I was by myself, and I came to a house set a
fair way off the road. I couldn’t decide whether it was lived in or not, so I
went in to try anyway. As I stood knocking on the door, all these dogs in the
neighbour’s back yard got excited, and started barking and running up and down
the fence. I was thankful they were in the neighbour’s yard,
because they didn’t sound or look friendly. No one answered my knocks, so I
walked off the veranda, and took one more look at the dogs, as I walked back to
the road. And then I noticed what the neighbour’s dogs were excited about: It
wasn’t me after all. Instead, there was another dog on this side of the fence, and it was running up and down the same side of the fence I was on. He was
big, and he was mad. I said a quick prayer, and walked down that driveway as
fast and smoothly as I possibly could. Praise God, the dog didn’t even notice
me.
Yes, I did pray when I noticed that the dog
and I were on the same side of the fence, but God was already answering my
prayers before I spoke them. That dog was in the yard the whole time I stood
knocking at the door, and waiting for an answer. I walked in; it could’ve
noticed my movement. I knocked loudly; it could’ve heard me. But I believe God
made it blind to me, and kept it absorbed with the dogs over the fence, so that
I could walk out of there safely.
Sometimes canvassing, it’s easy to ponder
the ‘what-ifs?’; to wonder what will be behind the gate, behind the door, down
the road, and to imagine all the dangers that could be in our path. But it’s
just another opportunity to grow in faith and trust in God. We don’t know
what’s ahead, but it’s encouraging to realize God already knows everything and
everyone we will meet. He has the way mapped out for us, and He will guide us. And
“If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)
-Jessica
