Power of Prayer

We like to think that the power of prayer is ONLY positive, and that we will see great and might things come to pass the way we think they should. But it is not always like that. I have been doing this study about breaking free (I mentioned it in a previous post) and a big theme is belief. Belief in who God says he is. So I have been prayin for the Lord to help my unbelief and to not be anxious for anything because as pastor Jim put it, "anxiety is a symptom of what we believe about God in our hearts." I guess I didn't really know what to expect when I prayed for the Lord to strengthen my unbelief, but I wasn't expecting this. Joel and I have been able to plan a trip to Chicago this summer because of an awesome health plan his job did. We called it "walking to Chicago" because the more he walked the more he won, so that in the end he won us 2 round trip plane tickets and money for hotel. So we have been looking for a good hotel on priceline because other people of had success. We spent hours looking and getting nothing from priceline as far as naming our own price. So we just started looking at the normal prices that hotels were and if we found one we kind of liked we would make sure that it wasn't on the bedbug registry. Yes there is a bedbug registry and I would highly recommend anyone traveling to make sure your hotel is NOT on this list. We have had bedbugs before in our appartment that we lived in when we were first married and it was a nightmare!  The only way I knew to check hotels in Chicago is because I heard that cities over and near there were having troubles with bedbugs, and that if you were traveling to double check. So we did. There were about 15 hotels in the Chicago area that were on the bedbug registry. Last night we were watching the closing ceremonies of the olympics, I was dosing, and Joel was hotel shopping. He woke me up at about 10:30 to show me this hotel that he found and the price we could get it at. It looked nice and I told him that and noticed that the price was lower than other ones we had looked at. Then he suprised me by saying, "but I got if for ____!" I squealed with delight and hugged him and high-fived him and we were so happy. Then I said, "is it on the bedbug list?" So we looked sure that it wasn't, and down at the very bottom, the last hotel to be named, was ours. Our hearts sank, and our minds started wirling, and I started sweating I think remembering back to the horrible summer we had fighing those aweful creatures. There was no way we were going to risk a stay at this hotel. But it doesn't stop there. It wasn't a case were we could call up and cancel our registration. We had done the "name your price" thing on priceline which means if it goes through and a hotel accepts your offer, it is final. Joel jumped on the phone with customer service and in his authoritative voice ask/demanded that something be done about this. We are still in the process of getting this turned around but it has been a trusting issue for us. Last night I was in constant prayer that the Lord would work on our behalf and that He would help Joel to be strong and confident in His name, and in His power to be able to let this all work out. I was reminded of the verses in Luke where the man said "If you are willing you can heal..." and the Lord replied "If you believe..." What pastor Jim said about anxiety is in the forefront of my mind, and I am trying to replace worry with the excitement to see how the Lord is going to work in our behalf, or if He so chooses to not let this work out, trust that He is bigger than this and that He will show us what to do. I know that this is a minor thing compaired to alot of people's problems, but if you have ever dealt with bedbugs, it wouldn't seem so minor afterall. So could you pray with me that the hotel will have mercy and refund us our money, and that we would be able to choose another one? Thank you!