seventeen years ago

Seventeen years ago in late February or early March, I confided in my mother.  I finally told her about something I had been secretly praying about for quite awhile.

We were standing at the kitchen sink peeling potatoes when I told her.  Her response to my secret prayer?  She threw the potato and peeler in the sink, turned to look me in the eyes, pointed her finger at me and very sternly said “Don’t you EVER pray things for other people without talking to them first!  Because you KNOW God answers prayer!”

Then she left me standing at the kitchen sink while she disappeared for awhile.

Up until that point, I hadn’t really considered that my prayer for something I felt God had laid on my heart to ask Him for and that I had begun to desire would affect her life.  But, in reality, it would affect her life in a HUGE way.

You see, I had been praying for a brother.

On March 30, 1993, Mom and Dad sat my sister and I down to tell us that they were expecting. At first we totally thought Dad was trying to pull an early April Fool’s joke on us.  But Mom’s tears and persistence that it was true finally convinced us.

So, we told all our friends and announced to our church on the eve of April Fool’s day that there was going to be a Baby Parmley soon. No one believed us.  Many didn’t realize it wasn’t an April fool’s joke till after my mom was clearly showing her pregnancy.

I remember Dad once used Sam as an illustration in a sermon on how God answers prayer.  See, Mom and Dad had prayed for a son soon after Sarah was born–that would have been around 14 years before Sam was conceived.  To my parents, it seemed like God’s answer was no, but really it was just wait.

So, Sam is the answer to many, many prayers from different people and across time.

A lady at our church was praying for Baby Parmley.  As she was praying, God laid the name “Samuel” on her heart.  She told us all this story, and soon everyone was calling the baby “Baby Sammy.”

Do you know what the name Samuel means?  It is Hebrew for “God heard” or “requested of God.”  What a perfect name!

God’s timing is perfect.  I can’t imagine life without this kiddo.  He’s been and still is a huge blessing!

I love you, Sambo!  And that’s no joke.