Sunday Sharing

I wish I knew the source of this, but I don't.  I saw it on facebook this week and liked it.  

In Luke 11: 11-13, Jesus Christ tells us:  

"If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

Today Gabby asked me to make an Indian dish for her that I'd never made before.  I had already planned potato soup and cornbread for the family.  By the time dinner was over, I was tired and wanted to tell her to heat up one of the pseudo pre-packaged Indian meals she could just heat in the microwave.  I didn't want to cook again, but I knew it meant a lot to her, so I did.

Parenthood can give us a little bit of a view into the love our Heavenly Father has for us, and insight into the lengths he will go to help us...and insight into the times when the answer is, "no."  

Yesterday was a family work day.  We were prepping the yard for fall/winter, and cleaning around the house...not an easy task to sell to a house of tweens and teens.  They asked to hang out with friends.  They asked to "just finish this one part and do the rest later."  I knew that the work was hard.  I knew they'd rather be doing something else.  There was a part of me that wanted to just do the work myself so they could go hang out with friends.  But the wiser parent in me knew they were learning to work, and learning to work together.  They were also learning that family work is part of being in a family.  They were even learning that they could work and have fun at the same time.  My answers weren't the answers they wanted, but they were the best answers I could give from the perspective of a parent who knew what their lives would be like if they grew up without family work days.  

Today I was thinking about all of this and asked Gabby if her prayers are answered.  She's been a little freaked out by the whole idea of Halloween, and said she had a nightmare the other night.  Then she said, "I just prayed and He helped my nightmares go away, and now I sleep like a baby."

Funny, because I've been worried lately because Gabby has seemed a little off.  She hasn't been dealing so well with the whole idea of Halloween.  To us Halloween has always been a fun holiday.  To someone who isn't so familiar with Halloween, it's more than a little weird.  At first I didn't think much of it because I know she had Halloween and trick-or-treating last year, but at least every other day she says, "I'm just going as myself," or "Halloween is a dumb idea."

I prayed earlier this week to know how to help her, but as is often true with prayers, they are answered by others.

We ended up having a busy night on the night of a Halloween party Gabby was invited to earlier this week, so a friend's mom invited her to get ready with her friend.  

Two of the cutest witches on the planet!

The other mom took a lot of time helping them with make-up and hair.  That extra time and attention made all the difference to Gabby.  Then today when Gabby told me about her own prayer for Heavenly Father to help her, I knew that in a very personal way, her prayers had been answered too.  He didn't take away the fear, He just helped her handle it.

Amazing if you think about it.  We kneel.  We give thanks.  We ask.  We pour out our hearts.  We don't see the being to whom we pray, but for thousands and thousands of years, human beings have felt of His love and know, individually and personally that He is there.  

That's prayer.