At our adult Life Group this morning I was faced with a dilemma. Our pastor is gone on Spring Break, and the youth pastor was preaching. In the first service his sermon was shorter than our pastor’s normally is, and we were out of service in just 50 minutes instead of the usual 65 or so. That meant during the second service, when I would be substitute teaching the Life Group, the time would be shorter than normal.

The man who organizes our card ministry (At the beginning of each class we prepare greeting cards for various people in the church), so that took some time to get going. Finally we got to prayer requests. The first one was by a woman (early 50s, I think) who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Two recent tests, a biopsy and an MRI, confirmed the problem, but she doesn’t yet know what the treatment will be.

One of the men in the class suggested we gather around her and her husband and pray for them right then, before we heard other requests. We did so. I was glad for it, and the whole time thing kind of melted away in my mind. This is what the class is for. The lesson is important, but prayer like this should be primary. I asked another woman in the class to lead us in the prayer. She did so with a heartfelt prayer, making one statement in it that was incredible. “Lord, you see deeper than any MRI.”

What a great statement, I thought! Indeed, God does see deeper than any MRI, any test on a biopsy, and Catscan (however that’s supposed to be spelled). He sees our deepest needs. He knows what the problem is, no matter what the problem is. That doesn’t mean that he miraculously solves all problems, instead leaving it to be worked out by human effort and ingenuity, sometimes with a good result, sometimes with a so-so or negative result. But always, always He does not leave the one with the problem alone.

Well, my problem of the amount of time I had to teach a lesson was much less of a problem than what we prayed over. But the lesson went well. We studied 2 John (first time I’ve ever seen it used in a Sunday School lesson). I had been able to pull three critical points out of it, and we found time enough to discuss each one. I think, by the end of the class, all attendees felt blessed and spiritually fed.

And we got out a little late. By the time I hit the church lobby most people had gone, so pastor Aaron must have been short-winded in the second service as well.

Now, I need to decide if this lesson was good enough to save and expand and possibly work into a Life Group lesson series. Stay tuned.