Talking to God

As sometimes happens, the morning was hurried and harried. We discovered that our oldest had a math worksheet which she'd forgotten till Monday morning. We instructed her to complete her homework before leaving for the bus and we each somehow managed to get out the door and to our vehicles on our ways to work.

I had our youngest and loaded her in the passenger side of my pickup to shuttle her to the babysitter.

"Daddy, you know your struck is stinky?"
"Oh, sorry honey," I acknowledged her as I fiddled with the little bag of vanilla hanging from the rear view mirror.
"Daddy, I'm thinking about a nice new truck with a back for us kids," she told me. When I pick up all three girls from the babysitter's it can be a little crammed in the cab of my 1995 Chevy S-10.
"Yeah, well, you're gonna have to talk to Jesus about that one, 'cause I can't afford one," I told her, using a perhaps more cynicism and sarcasm than necessary, especially for a four year old.
"Okay," she said, and proceeded to bow her head and whisper a private prayer.
Isn't that cute, I thought to myself, not expecting any more to come of it.
"He says not right now," she explained to me not long after she'd begun.

Well, hmmm, okay, that figures. Many's a pastor and Bible teacher who's told us that God's answers to prayers are usually yes, no, or not yet. The sinful, selfish part of me thought, well, hmmm, does that mean maybe that's a possibility off on the horizon? Thanks God, I didn't even figure it was worth asking about in the first place. Of course, the skeptical adult in me figured maybe she just has an active imagination. But the believer in me knows that God loves children and listens to all our prayers.

Perhaps in their tender youth, unjaded by the weight of life, they are more sensitive to His answers to prayer. I decided to "strike while the iron was hot" and take advantage of her leverage with the Lord.

"You know, maybe you should ask Jesus to help your big sister Gracie to do better in school," I suggested.
"Okay," she said and went right to work. A beautiful thing. We adults tend to tell people that we'll pray for them and then tuck it away as a mental memo that we hope to remember in the evening, the next morning or eventually on Sunday, whenever we finally get around to it. But at four, Annamarie gets right to interceding in prayer as soon as the request is made.
"He said YES to THAT one!" came the immediate answer.

Lord, give me the faith of a child. And thank You for our prayer-warrior baby girl. And DO, please help both her big sisters to do well in school and help us to help them.

In Jesus name, Amen

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"Look up, not down- Look out, not in- Look forward, not backward-
and lend a hand." ~Teddy Roosevelt