Big Bold Prayers and Candyland

My husband Matt asked a very interesting and thought provoking question in his sermon this past Sunday.  Here it is:  "If God answers 'yes' to everything that you prayed for last week, what would be different in the world today?"

The second he asked us this, I started to think about that.  And I haven't stopped thinking about it.  As Christians, we do a lot of prayin'.....at least I hope we all do.  I have gotten caught up in the boring prayers, the usual ones, the ones that don't push or challenge God at all.  You know the ones......"thank you for this day"..."thanks for this food"..."please keep us safe today"......and the list goes on.  Please don't misunderstand me.  These things are GOOD to pray about!  It's good that we are thankful for the day because life is so short and God created it anyway!  And yes, I am very thankful for food to eat....especially chocolate.  :)  And with our 2 oldest daughters in school and other activities now, a prayer for safety is something I think about a lot.  So pray about those things.  God loves hearing from you.  But I was reminded to challenge Him a bit in my prayer life. 

The biggest "requests" that came to my mind that I prayed about just this past week are:
1)  Please bring peace and comfort to Uncle Dick and Aunt Flora in the loss of their daughter Bethany,
2)  Please heal Jenna of her brain tumor, and,
3)  Please let her (2 girls I was specifically praying for) know how much she is loved and valued by you...right now.

So in thinking about all this, and trying to answer Matt's question for us, this is what I came up with. 

1)  Matt's cousin passed away unexpectedly a little over a week ago.  What if that peace and comfort just came to them so easily?  I know they are hurting, as I would be...no doubt about it, but I do KNOW and BELIEVE that peace and comfort will come.  Maybe not full understanding, but peace.  And maybe we won't "feel" that peace and comfort every single moment we are away from those we love that are taken so suddenly from us, but I know that the kind of peace and comfort we long for will happen one of these days for us faithful believers and doers in Jesus....and that's Heaven.  Can't wait for THAT kind of peace.  THAT kind of comfort.  But in the meantime, what do we do?  We pray those big bold prayers that we can BE peace and SHOW peace and TELL of the God of comfort to a world that doesn't have it.  Wouldn't that help change the here and now?  Wouldn't that provide hope to those that have never had any?

2)  Some friends of ours that we went to OCC with have a daughter named Jenna.  She was recently diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.  I won't tell the whole story, but Jenna is only 15 years old.  My family, along with so many others all over the world, have been praying for her, as well as her parents Jeff and Johanna and their other kids.  The positive news is that this tumor is treatable, and Jenna has already been showing others the testimony of God's goodness and grace.  Thankful for that.  I hate cancer.  Even more, I hate cancer in kids.  It just breaks my heart knowing what those families have to endure and suffer through.  So what if TODAY, the doctors told Jenna....."no more cancer"!  How exciting would that be?  After all, I'm sure everyone praying has included this in praying for her.  How would this change the world?  What would be different?  I think A LOT would be different.  Those doctors and nurses, and other patients and their families that she has impacted because she is a Christ-follower, would hopefully start believing in our great big God too.  The ways this could change the world would be amazing!  What would be awesome if there was just no more cancer ever......but what would be even better is that the WHOLE WORLD WOULD HEAR that our God....OUR GOD...is STILL a God of MIRACLES!  

3)  I can't go into details or give names, but this past week I was praying for a couple of teen girls.  Prayers for encouragement, peace about something specific, for them to truly know how much they are loved, valued, and the importance they have in this world, no matter if others don't see it sometimes.  People are pretty good at "faking it", letting us know sometimes that "I'm doin' ok" when asked.  We all are guilty of that.  So I'm not sure how this will turn out, but I'm still workin' on them.  As some of you know, I coach a high school girls' tennis team.  Besides teaching my players what needs to be taught "on the court", I also try and take the opportunities "off the court" as well to teach them about life in general.  We've all had those coaches or teachers that have inspired us, taught us, challenged us to be better people. 
Last night, we had a JV match out of town.  I was sitting on the bleachers with a couple of my players watching a doubles match.  I won't give the whole story here because it's too lengthy, but the girls were asking me some good questions and somehow we got around to the following conversation. 
Player to me:  "So you're sayin' that God has a path for our life, that we should follow it, and stay off the wrong path?" 
Me:  "Yes, that's what I'm sayin'."
Player:  "It's kinda like Candyland....don't take the wrong path."
Me:  (Chuckle)........"Sure".  :)
(and by the way, I had permission from this girl to share that :)

Having 3 daughters myself, it is my heart's desire and my husband's also, that each of our girls know how much they are loved, not just by us, but by the ONE that loves them even more than we possibly could.  He gave them life......how incredible is that kind of love?  And having girls, and coaching girls, God has brought to me this huge passion in life to show them just how much they are valued.  The world tells differently.  The world de-values us, makes us feel like we are no-body's, and doesn't care what we have to offer.  I was thrilled that this girl "got it" last night.  Not sure what kind of a seed that planted, but I know that God can make it grow inside of her.  Every life is beautiful....even tho' some don't "feel" very beautiful on the outside.  Thank God that He looks on the inside! 
I wish you could've seen her face.  It's like that was the first time she'd ever heard that before.  That is both sad and exciting to me.  Sad because someone should've already told her.  But excited because now she knows.  So if God lets these girls, these kids (boys included), know their true worth and value in life, that He loves them so much, how would this change the world?  Oh wow, the possibilities!  Those kids that didn't know it before but that now do, can go out and tell others how much their God loves and values and cares about them!  It would be a true ripple effect.  Kids that can grab a hold of this would become adults that would then raise their kids to grab a hold of the same thing.  And not just grab a hold of their true worth and value, but how we deal with trials, our hurts, relationships, etc. would all be different because hopefully it would be according to what God wants us to do.  A society full of Jesus followers!!! 

So here's my challenge to you, just like Matt challenged me.  Pray.  Pray about anything and everything you want to talk to God about.  But don't forget the big bold prayers too.  Ones that can change the world.  I don't know about you, but I'll never look at the game Candyland the same way ever again.   :)