A Life Well-Lived, Part 16; Pray Anyway!

All of the kids piled onto the bottom bunk for our nightly prayer meeting (It was easier for me to reach them when they were all together. We would sort out the bodies later.). Originally, it wasn’t a prayer meeting – it wasn’t supposed to last as long as it did. It was supposed to be the average mom, coming in to say the average goodnight and pray the average prayer. But nothing we did was average.

Early on, the kids began giving me their prayer requests. I’m sure they were sincere, and the requests were legitimate, but I would often be praying beside their bed way past bedtime, while they racked their brains for more prayer requests (Why do kids like to stay up?). Finally, I put a “five request” cap on their lists, so they had to really work hard to figure out the most important ones.

This particular night, when it was Timothy’s turn, he excitedly suggested, “Pray that it snows tonight!”

I sadly shared, “There’s no snow in the forecast, Son. Not even any rain (I’m not even sure it was winter! Lol).”

“But pleeeease!” He bounced in the bed, clapping and laughing, as if he could already see the snow (He was always so charismatic!). His face was lit up with a giant smile. “Pray for it anyway!”

I paused. I didn’t want to pray for something so silly as snow, especially when I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t want to ruin his faith in God and prayer. I didn’t want him to be disappointed. And furthermore, I didn’t want to have to defend God when it didn’t work out like we prayed. The outcome was too uncertain. My faith wasn’t that strong.

I struggled. This was serious! As I stared out the window, wondering what to do, I realized snow was out of my control. It wasn’t up to me to answer this prayer (profound, right?). I could go ahead and ask, give it to God, and let God handle His own reputation. I would have to trust Him with my son’s heart.

So we prayed for snow.

Imagine my shock the next morning when I looked out the window and saw a quiet blanket of snow covering everything in sight! I still laugh to myself when I remember it. Was God just waiting for someone to ask? “He says to the snow, ‘Fall to the earth’.”( Job 37:6)

Twenty-something years later, Timothy called me with an urgent prayer request and pleaded, “Mom, pray!!!” He explained the desire of his heart, and once again, I hesitated. What was God’s will here? How should I pray? My perfect plan in a perfect world had always been that my kids would never be disappointed and never get hurt (Totally illogical and unscriptural, but this mama was not always logical!).

Once again, I realized this situation was beyond my abilities. I had no power to answer this prayer myself. I could go ahead and ask, give it to God, and let Him sort it out. I decided to go for it and pray with no reservations exactly as Timothy had requested, and let God be God. Romans 8:26 says, “For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

We groaned, we cried, and we prayed; but the answer to that prayer was a hard “No.”

God could see a future that we could not see. It has been said, “If we only knew what He knows, and could see what He sees, we would want what He wants.”

Paul prayed three times for his "thorn in the flesh" to be removed, and the answer was, "No. My grace is enough." Even Jesus was told no. In the garden before His crucifixion, He prayed intensely and earnestly three times: “Let this cup pass from me.” But He added the stipulation, “Thy will be done.” His Father had a plan, and Jesus knew His Father could be trusted with whatever the future held.

Timothy taught me to pray with childlike faith for the impossible; to hope without hesitation for the improbable. Go ahead and ask. It just might be that God wants to show Himself strong and do a miracle on your behalf; or it could be that, like a Good Father, He lovingly says “No” to things that are not in His plan and would not fulfill His purposes; even though we may not understand it. Trust is letting God be God - "Thy will be done."

“Thank you Father, for all the ways you have answered our prayers when we didn’t know how to pray. Remind us that we would always want Your will if we could only see with Your eyes.”

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;” Proverbs 3:5