I am currently studying the Old Testament of the Bible in a religious course I am taking at BYU-Idaho. This week our assigned study area is Genesis chapters 24-50.

In this post I will focus on Genesis 24:12-15,17-20. Here Abraham sent his servant on a long journey to where Abraham used to live to find a woman for a wife for Abraham's son Isaac. The servant has arrived and is standing beside a well. He offers a prayer to God asking for help in knowing who to pick.

In my life it is rare that my prayers get answered immediately and from what I have heard from others it seems like for them too, most prayers are not answered immediately. I have had a few that were answered immediately in such a way that I knew it was the answer.

In the case of this servant, the scriptures record that before he finished speaking he saw Rebekah coming down to the well. Her actions show him that she is the woman that is to be Isaac's wife. His prayer was answered almost immediately.

I know that our faith filled prayers are powerful and when it is God's will they are answered in the way we believed they would be answered. Our faith and our thoughts align with God's will in such a way that our prayer can be answered as we prayed it and in the time we hoped for. I was taught that before and/or after we pray we should do all we can and not simply utter our prayer and do nothing more and expect our prayer to be answered. Action is required.

The servant of Abraham did what needed to be done by travelling to where Abraham asked him to travel. Then even after he knew he had found the woman who would become Isaac's wife. He spoke with her family and told them how his prayer had been answered but also said he needed to know if they would let Rebekah go with her to be Isaac's wife. He didn't say they had to because of how his prayer was answered. All involved had their freedom to choose and they did. In verse 58 of Genesis Chapter 24 The mother and brother of Rebekah called her and asked her if she would go and she said she would.