How do I know that I know that God hears my prayers?

     I write them down - my prayers - tucked in the back of a little spiral-bound notebook, my left-handed penmanship barely legible, but God knows.  On Tuesday I scribbled out a prayer for God to teach me how to be a better encourager, more intentional in my conversations with people.  (See 1 Thes. 5:11.) Two hours later He planted me on a couch in a little room next to a British woman born in 1915.  Her age and sharp mind (while impressive) were not nearly as impressive as her zeal and heart for Jesus and for people to know Him, to experience His power and presence today.  Her words for others, her life for Jesus . . . all day, every day, day in, day out, year in, year out.  Today I pray that if I'm here in 2080, I will do the same.     
     On Tuesday night I pray that God will break the sin that entangles a teenage girl's life, and on Wednesday morning, God in His goodness allows me to see His power--the girl-captive set free through the cross of Christ.
     How do I know that I know that God hears my prayers?
He gives me eyes to see and ears to hear.  Not because of anything I've done to deserve His answering but simply because He is good. 

"The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him" (Lam. 3:25).

     Last Saturday on the living room floor of my childhood home I comb through old photographs and spiral-bound notebooks--finding pages and pages of prayers of a little seventeen-year-old girl.  Before tossing those pages in the trash, I smile, "I know that I know that God hears my prayers.  He has answered every one."  Over and over in that little notebook, tucked away for over fourteen years, I had scribbled at the end of nearly every prayer, "Fill my cup, Lord."  He answered, "Your cup will overflow, beloved."  And it does. 

"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you" (James 4:8 ESV).

"You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life . . ." (Psalm 23:5b-6a NIV).