Thy prayer is heard

For my New Testament class we have the chance to share some of our thoughts on what we learned about in class each week. And after only 3 classes, my understanding of the scriptures is growing so much! I was trying to decide what to share today because a lot of things stuck out to me as we studied the beginning of Christ's mortal life.
One of my favorite lightbulbs came when we talked about Zacharias. So he was a really important priest and had spent a lot of time serving God. He and his wife Elisabeth were getting up there in age and had never been blessed with a child, though they had definitely prayed for one. Despite that, Zacharias was faithful. Then one day while Zacharias is in the temple he is visited by an angel, which scares him a little bit, but this heavenly messenger tells him something pretty amazing. He says "Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John (Luke 1:13)". For some reason, I had never really understood the significance of that moment. Zacharias and Elisabeth had prayed years and years ago that they could be parents. And now, with Elisabeth past the age of having kids, no doubt they had left those prayers in the past and had just accepted the fact that having a child was not part of God's plan for them. I can't imagine the emotions Zacharias felt as he realized that God was aware of him all those years, and was just waiting for the right moment to bless him. That probably dispelled all the fear, uncertainty, and nervousness that comes with receiving big news... like you're having a baby! Now Zacharias knew for sure that God doesn't withhold blessings from us if we are faithful. He has something miraculous planned for each of us and sometimes we think we're being left out, or being kept in the dark, but we just have such a limited view of the plan. God can see it all. And His timing is perfect. Zacharias and Elisabeth would now have the privilege and responsibility of being the parents of John the Baptist... and that is pretty cool.
I love applying this principle into our lives today. We are constantly praying for guidance and help, and a lot of times it seems we're left alone to make big decisions, or what we want just isn't given to us. But, we really should never question if God is there. He is. He wants to bless us and answer our prayers, and we just have to continue faithful, trusting that there is something great in store for us. Living that way can quiet all our fears!
Cheers,
Tamsyn