The bus was loud as you can
imagine kids would be when excited about where they are going and being on the
bus. I was exhausted to say the least
and I could see I would need the rest to make it but did not see it coming
anytime soon. I placed my pillow next to
the window, put my head on it and I remember saying a short prayer “Jesus, can
I sleep?” That was it. Nothing spectacular, no thee’s and thou’s,
and I wasn’t even sure how consciously I thought of it, it was just the cry of
my being. The next thing I knew, we were
pulling into a rest area about half way to our destination. The sun was up and I had just woke up from a
very sound sleep and felt fully rested. It was not until later that I
remembered that prayer. When I did
remember, I was excited. God heard
me. He granted my request and did it
quickly.
A couple days ago I was having
drama practice after school and one of my students little sisters came to me at
a break and told me she had a sore throat and a cough that was annoying
her. I think she was just telling me because
that is what she does, not to ask me for anything. As she was telling me, I heard a still small
voice tell me to pray for her. I almost
dismissed it, but decided to do it (all in a matter of half a second). I prayed for her and although she didn’t say
anything, I did not hear her cough the rest of practice.
So why is prayer burning in my
heart? I will tell you. We often think of prayer as asking God to
forgive our sins or telling Him about our bad day. Our requests are usually things we consider
big: cancer or other major sickness,
finances, relationships gone sour, natural disasters, and the list goes
on. The two stories above were both
considered small things. We often think
that the small things are too small or insignificant to even ask God to do
anything about. I am not sure why we do
that, but we do. Do we think God is too
busy with the ‘big things’? Do we think
God only cares about the big things? I
am sure we come up with all kinds of reasons why we don’t.
God tells us to “Pray at all
times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Ephesians
6:18). Also we are told “Don't worry
about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and
thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace,
which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand” (Philippians
4:6, 7). No were in these passages does
it say to pray only about the big things.
They tell us to pray about everything, the big and the small. Don’t let the size of your request embarrass or
intimidate you not to pray. Just do
it. Just pray. Our God cares enough about you to care about
the small things too. He wants; He longs
to answer our cry no matter the size.
Let your prayers ascend to His throne.
When you think about you and your
size in comparison to our world, and then compare our world to the size of our
solar system, then to our galaxy, we look very small. Minuscule or microscopic might be better
words, but our God made us. He cares so much for us. Even though he holds the entire universe in
the palm of his hand like we might hold a small dish, He cares for you. So in comparison to all that, even those
things we consider big things to pray about, they are still small in
comparison. Is our need for sleep any
smaller than a broken heart or a major illness?
No, they are not. Is someone’s
sore throat and cough any more of a challenge than needing food or money to pay
a major debt. Again the answer is
no. God asks us to pray about everything
and on every occasion. He even asks us
to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Don’t let the size of your request (whether big or small) intimidate you
from praying. Just do it. You just might be surprised at what God will
do for you today.
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