Jan 29th 15 Posted by Natalie Nichols in Fasting, Prayer

Rani’s Amazing Story: From Heartache to Trinity Hope

Are you experiencing horrific, emotional pain or loss? Rani was. What she did might surprise you. And God’s response will no doubt inspire you!

Rani shared her story with me from South Africa. She writes:

Greetings Natalie,

I find myself spiritually embraced by your website. You are an amazing woman whom God has used to touch the hearts of a nation.

God has spoken to me in so many different ways through His word by Shades of Grace Ministries.

After the death of my four-month-old baby, my only child, God connected me to your ministry. Your updates, your fasting archives, and testimonies have seen me through the darkest days of my life.

Fasting and prayer had suddenly become such a pleasure and I started to anguish before the Lord. I learned to say no to king stomach and yes to the Holy Spirit.

Natalie, soon after the death of my baby girl, Trileah, I started to fast and seek the Lord in all earnestness and diligence. I started to eat of your website which caused me to hunger more and more after the heart of God.

Amidst seven months of grief and heartache, I fasted and held onto the hem of His garment. At the end of the seventh month, I found out I’m five weeks pregnant. Oh the beauty of our God! Oh what a loving and kind God. I not only conceived but found indescribable intimacy with Jesus. I got to know Him as my everything.

Shades of Grace once again saw me through nine months of pregnancy. Wow, what a journey it’s been. I would not have made it had it not been for our Lord and Saviour.

On the 19th March 2013, little Trinity Hope was born. She is such a blessing and perfectly healthy just like I asked of the Lord.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you Natalie and Shades of Grace Ministry.

May God enrich and empower you through his word even more now than ever and continue to use you in the lives of others.

You are a blessing!!!

God Bless,

Rani

(Emphasis added.)

Seeking God’s Heart in the Midst of Heartache

“After the death of my four-month-old baby, my only child ….”

My chest grew tight and my stomach sick as I read those words. I could not imagine the depths of Rani’s pain.

In the midst of unspeakable grief and heartache, Rani fasted and prayed! She began to hunger increasingly for God’s heart. (Notice, she wasn’t seeking His hand, but His heart.)

The more she pursued God, the more she experienced Him. The more she experienced, the more she desired! She tasted and saw, even in her loss, that God was good! (See Psalm 34:8.)

As a result, Rani not only conceived but found indescribable intimacy with Jesus. She came to know Him as her everything!

Beloved, that’s the real prize—deep intimacy with Jesus! Rani sought God’s heart and He gave it to her. He gave her an intimate experience of Himself!

She sought the Giver, not His gifts. … And she received both!

Trinity Hope

Meet Trinity Hope, God’s reply to Rani’s fasting and prayer!

Isn’t Trinity beautiful?! I want to reach right through my computer screen, take her in my arms, squeeeeeze her tightly, and kiss her cheeks!!

You can see with your own eyes how beautifully and miraculously God answered Rani’s fasting and prayer! And He will do the same in our lives, too!

Trinity is tangible evidence of God’s faithfulness and goodness and hope!

Amazing Detail

Given the significance and meaning of the number seven in the Bible, I don’t think it’s merely coincidence that it was in the seventh month of Rani’s grief and spiritual pursuit that she found out the good news—she was pregnant.

The number seven in the Bible symbolizes something being “finished” or “complete.” The number eight represents a new beginning.

After seven months, Rani’s season of fasting and prayer was complete. The eighth month brought a new beginning … and a new life.

God delights in the details of our lives. (See Psalm 37:23, NLT.) He can work through the timing of events to remind us that He rules supremely—and to reveal His intimate involvement in the details of our lives.

It may seem eccentric to infer meaning and symbolism from the timing of events. But when you persevere in seeking God and agonizing in prayer, He will show you His heart and move in supernatural ways you never imagined!

When you take a step of faith and go beyond what is comfortable and “usual” in seeking God, He will do the unusual in your life! He will make His involvement abundantly apparent!

God Honors the Faith and Diligent Seeking
of Ordinary People

We see many examples of prayer and fasting in the Bible. But sadly, we often conclude that God responded to the fasting and prayer of those in the Bible because they were spiritual giants—heroes of the faith.

It’s another thing to see God answer someone’s fasting and prayer in such a very real way today—an ordinary, modern-day person who simply came to God in desperation and faith.

Sometimes we read the accounts in the Bible and roll our spiritual eyes, thinking, “God wouldn’t do that for me today. I’m not a giant in the faith.”

But Rani simply came to God humbly, earnestly, diligently, tenaciously. … And He honored her faith!

As Rani said to me yesterday in an email:

“Many regard the saints in the Bible as spiritual giants and don’t realize that we have all been given the same spirit, power and authority in Jesus name.“

Ordinary People Determined to Seek Our
Extraordinary God

Rani is to be commended for her spiritual hunger and tenacity—for choosing to fast rather than satisfy king stomach. In a season of such devastating loss, many people (including myself) would have taken refuge in food, drowning their sorrow in it, attempting to numb their grief with food rather than choosing to fast and hold on to the hem of Jesus’ garment. Some might try and anesthetize their pain with endless hours of television or entertainment.

If Rani had numbed herself with food or television, she might not have Trinity—and she sure wouldn’t have the real prize of knowing Jesus as her everything!

Rani is a modern day Hannah! And Trinity is in a way her Samuel, her God-given answer to earnest fasting and prayer.

This isn’t to say that Rani is a superhero, as we incorrectly presume people in the Bible to be. She’s an ordinary person like you and me. And so were the people in the Bible.

You and I can be a modern day Hannah, or Jehoshaphat, or Anna, or David, or Elijah, or Ezra, or Nehemiah, or Daniel, or Esther, or John the Baptist, or Paul!

These men and women were ordinary people who determined to diligently seek our extraordinary God. In so doing, they expressed confidence in nothing around them except God alone.

Sometimes We Must Continue Fasting About
an Issue Until…

There are times we need to fast about a problem until God provides the answer or until we get a release from Him.

In such times, we continue praying and incorporating fasting until we:

1. Receive the answer, or
2. Have the assurance we will receive it, or
3. God says no.

Rani continued to incorporate fasting for seven months. If she would have fasted three weeks and stopped, she might not have Trinity Hope.

On the first day of Daniel’s twenty-one day fast, God heard his prayer and sent an angel with the answer. But a battle with the prince of Persia delayed the angel. (See Daniel 10:2-13.) Daniel’s fasting and prayer affected the outcome of that battle. If he had stopped fasting too soon, he might not have received his answer.

Elmer Towns and his wife fasted one day a month for six months regarding the sale of their home. After the house sold, they found out that the man who bought the house first came to look at it the day after they had begun fasting for its sale. But the buyer was ambivalent about the house and kept coming back once a month to look at it. Towns and his wife had no idea a prospective buyer was interested or torn about purchasing. All the while they were fasting. If they had stopped fasting too soon, the house might not have sold.

If there is a problem you desperately want solved, or relief you desperately need, keep persisting in fasting and prayer. Pray and ask God how you should continue fasting—whether you should extend your current fast to reach forty days … or fast one day a week, or one day a month, etc.

The Moral of the Story

The moral of the story is: God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him!!! According to Hebrews 11:6, it is imperative that we believe this.

Rani’s story is a beautiful, living illustration of this truth.

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6, NKJV).

The Message says it this way:

“… anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.“

Beloved, exercise faith in what God has said about Himself. He cares enough to respond to those who seek Him!!!

Questions:

• Do you believe God cares enough to respond to you when you seek Him? How is that reflected in your prayer life?

• How did Rani’s story bolster your faith and trust in God—and give you a desire to take your need and your heart cries to Him in fasting and prayer?

• You are likely enduring a hardship of some kind right now. Although it may not be as major as the death of a loved one, it’s still overwhelming and painful for you. Are you taking your feelings about it to God in prayer? Or are you turning to other things (food, entertainment, social media, friends, sports…) instead?

 

 FROM THE ARCHIVES

• Fasting Day 18: The Calvary Road, Part 1
• Fasting Day 18: Fasting for Healing
• Fasting Day 18: Health and Healing
• Fasting Day 18: Returning in Power, Part 1
• David Brainerd: Missionary, Mighty Man of Prayer, Mighty Spiritual Influence

 
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