“But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14 KJV
My nine-year old daughter loves imaginative play, and it often takes her on many adventures. Most recently in her imaginary travels, she found herself in the country of Italy, but it didn’t stop with play.
She began searching our resources for information on Italy. She looked for websites on the language and helped cook Italian meals. She began putting together a notebook of all things Italy. One day she came to me and asked, “Do you think there will be a missionary to Italy at our missions conference?”
I told her I had no idea, but she could ask our pastor. The following Sunday she did. He told her that at that point there wasn’t, but he was still lining up the missionaries. He suggested that she pray about it and promised that he would do the same. He didn’t go looking for a one; he just prayed.
I’m sure you can imagine her excitement when we went to our midweek prayer service a week and a half later and saw on our prayer bulletin the list for our conference. There, right in the middle of the list, was a missionary to Italy. Personally I wanted to jump out of my seat. My daughter, being more mild in temperament than I, simply looked at me with a smile that lit her whole face.
God had heard her prayer and answered. How beautiful to see the joy that came from knowing that God cared for her! She’s been taught her whole life to talk to God. She’s done it on a regular basis, and she’s seen God do all kinds of amazing things for people.
In her head she knew that God was interested in her and wanted to hear what she had to say, but when God specifically answered her prayer it was a boost of confidence in her heart knowledge.
The thing about it is that God probably won’t always answer her prayers exactly how she imagines He should because He sees a picture she doesn’t see. It’s incidents like this that will encourage her to keep praying…to know He really is listening. She’ll begin to take to heart the words of Hebrews.
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
It’s a tangible lesson she will have with her always, and it was taught by God Himself.
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