Hi everyone, Ann here   

Recently, Lynn shared a wonderful video about how she asked God for an egg and literally got an egg!  
This story made me smile broadly. After all, if we ask for an egg God does not give us a scorpion (Luke 11:12). But it got me wondering what it means, exactly, to ‘ask for an egg’?  

An egg holds life, a scorpion brings death, and if we ask for life we do not get death. That is a profound truth, but what about the times God seems silent? As I pondered this, some aspects of my past came back to me, times when an ‘egg’ was asked for. They showed me God was there all along.

To begin with, there was my mum, who prayed for me throughout my childhood. Every morning, I would rise to see her on her knees in the living room, wrapped in a robe. Sometimes I’d hear the muffled sound of prayer. But did I take notice? Nope. As a teenager, my reaction was something along the lines of whatever. 

My twenties passed without incident. I got married and had two beautiful boys. And then came Christmas Day 2010. Here's the scene:

On that day, the family gather in my brother’s tiny house in the South of England. A break in the chatter comes and Mum, who has watched me ignore God for years, jumps up and rummages for her gift. She hands me a small package and wraps me in a bone-crushing hug.

I peel back the paper to see a book on my lap: ‘Journey into God’s heart’ by Jennifer Rees-Larcombe. “Thanks, Mum,” I smile.

On the plane home, I yawn and reach into my bag. “Meh, I’ll give this a go”, I think, cracking open the book. It looks so harmless but this, it turns out, is no normal book. Ten hours later, still travelling, I have just read a life story like no other. I won’t spoil it, I’ll just say the book showed me God speaks to people.

Now comes a part I’d forgotten:

After reading that book, I snuck to the bathroom, sat down, and said this:

“God. If you’re there, can you speak to me?”

I was met with complete silence, but for the first time in my life I’d asked for an egg.

Two years passed, during which time I did not think much about God, and then came 13 April 2013. That day found me on my knees reading the Saturday morning newspaper in a fluffy robe. The scene is freakily like my mum years back, except I’m not praying. It’s like every other Saturday, except the article I’m reading happens to be about Christians, death, and life. And right there, in that moment, I hear Him:

You’ll never be the same again.

Wha- wha- what????????  I sit up with a start, and at that point know something in my life is going to change. 

I was still far from God and it is fascinating to me that even in that moment I didn’t recognize Him. I chalked it up to the universe. “The universe tells me something is going to change.”  But something did change, alright. Boy, how things changed: By December that year I found myself in a full-on, all-in-for-God space.

I still have no idea why it took two years to hear His voice.

Towards the end of that year, I started my first prayer journal. The first prayer I wrote was this:

“God, I notice that other Christians are fervent. I’m fervent for my three lovelies (my family), but I’m not fervent for you. Can you make me so?”

This time I did not have to wait years, I did not even have to wait a day. Since writing those words I have never been able to get God out of my head again.

To me, all this is what it means to ask for an egg and not receive a scorpion. Whether the answer comes instantly or decades later, it seems God answers in ways that hold Life (an egg) and negate death. None of it looks like what we expect, though -- It’s all a bit of a surprise package. Just like an egg!

So now I’m interested to hear more thoughts on the topic of asking. What adventures, delays, instant responses, or lessons have you had?