She lived alone in a remote location, and on a stormy October night Ella Mae Reimers fell outside her garage to the rocky ground of the Texas Hill Country. She had broken her hip and there was no one near to hear her cries of pain. After struggling in vain to reach the ignition of her running automobile, she managed to pull her body along the ground and into the cold, damp garage located several yards on the downhill slope away from her house. With her bruised and bleeding arms she pulled together some empty feed sacks and an old shirt to cover her weakening body.  The lightning from the raging thunderstorm had caused her electrical power to fail and left her isolated in the darkness and solitude of the night.  Her intermittent cries for help went unheard by human ears until morning, when she was finally discovered by a friend.  “How did you make through the night, all by yourself?” her friend asked. Ella Mae said, “I wasn’t alone, my cries were not unheard.  I spent the night in prayer.”  Through pain she found comfort, and in her solitude, she discovered strength.

Our Lord once suffered alone through the night as well. He prayed in agony that the cup of suffering about to befall Him might pass away. With strong crying and tears He petitioned his father, and the angles came and strengthened him (Hebrews. 5:7; Luke 22:43). It was in a dark and isolated place that God provided for His son and prepared him for the awful misery that lay ahead.  Through prayer we likewise can become strong and find the peace needed to sustain us through the most challenging and painful of circumstances (Philippians 4:6-7) that might lie ahead. Truly, the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry (Psalm 34:15), even when we are alone, crying, and no one else can hear. God does. And if we, as His children, where to ever spend the night in prayer, He would most certainly be there as well.

John Moore