I’ve had this story on my heart for some time, and while I’ve shared it with a few close friends, I’ve yet to share it on the blog. I guess I just needed the right time. I’ve had some instances lately in my life where God has shown Himself mighty in big things, but also the little things. I think for many believers it’s easy to take things to the Lord in prayer that we feel are important, big things. Prayers for healing of sickness, to find a job or a mate, or for the salvation of someone we love. We have no issues praying for these things. But the other stuff? Well, we tend to think a big, unreachable God is far too busy to see to our everyday mundane. Or perhaps we feel guilty for adding one more thing on the Heavenly plate of such a seemingly overloaded Father. Lately I’ve had some circumstances requiring prayer that may not rate that high on the Kingdom Purposes scale, yet they are important to me. Does God care about such frivolous matters?
I have been reminded lately that He does, and He keeps bringing back to me a particular instance where He showed me just that while I was on vacation last year. He keeps reminding me of the story so I thought I’d share it with you.
My little family and I had gone to the mountains for a short, but much needed vacation. We enjoyed staying at a resort that had several family-friendly amenities, and one of those happened to be an arcade. We enjoyed playing the games together, but my five and three year old were more interested in tickets than anything! They wanted to earn prizes, and any adult who’s ever been to any arcade understands you have to win a lot of tickets to get anything good. We let the girls do their best and enjoy themselves, but my husband and I also joined in with the sole purpose of helping them rack up the tickets.
Towards the end of our allotted money to spend I suggested a game of chance. It was one of those where you spin the wheel and whatever it lands on that’s the number of tickets you win. Of course everyone wants to hit the tiny sliver that says “bonus.” It’s the one where the jackpot of accumulated tickets reside, and I don’t know a lot about the statistics of these sorts of games, but I don’t think they’re typically in your favor. But I was determined. I looked at the pirate-themed wheel and I just had a good feeling. It seemed silly to me even as I said it, but I said it anyway.
I prayed inside my head, “Lord, let me hit that 1,000 ticket bonus. I know it’s not a big deal, but to the girls it is. They would be so excited to win all those tickets! So you don’t have to, but it would be really cool if I won.”
Then I spun the wheel. As I watched it tick away I just knew it. I knew in my heart it was going to hit 1,000.
And then it did!
The alarms sounded, we all screamed in excitement, and my husband whispered into my ear, “I knew you were gonna win. I felt it.”
“Yeah,” I replied, “I knew it too. I prayed I would hit it for the girls.”
My five year old overheard us and exclaimed, “I prayed you would win too! God answered our prayer!”
After prizes had been picked I had time to reflect on the situation. I prayed to God and I thanked Him for answering my insignificant prayer, but what He spoke back to my heart impacted me most.
When something is important to you it’s important to me. I’m your Father, you’re my child, and just like you delight in your girls, I delight in you. I want to answer your prayers.
I realized that He wanted to show me that even the smallest thing was worthwhile to Him when it involved me. He wanted me to seek Him in everything, and He took pleasure in answering my prayers. He showed Himself mighty and powerful when He had healed me of Epilepsy, but He showed His love to me when He helped me arrive to work on time and catch every green light. He enjoyed giving me a sunny day when I asked, helping me find my missing keys, or have favor in my small business. He took great pride in my prayers for the lost, but He also smiled when I asked for His counsel during my everyday endeavors. He loved answering my big prayers, but He also enjoyed the small ones. For the small requests showed Him that I trusted His sovereignty in every aspect of my life, and His faithfulness was evident to me. He didn’t have to answer my prayer to win those silly tickets! But He did. He did because He loves me, and He wanted to give me a small reminder of just how much. He loves me enough to perform miracles in my life, but He also loves me enough to care and answer even the insignificant petitions in my life. We always hear that nothing is too big for God, but I also believe nothing is too small!
Does that mean God will answer every single request I put forth? Of course not. I don’t give my own children candy before bed no matter how much they want it. My Heavenly Father always has my best interests at heart too. I trust His will in my life, above all, but I also take all things to Him in prayer. I think He loves it when we hand over our entire life to Him, and He wants us to know that if it’s important to us then it’s also important to Him. He gave me 1,000 tickets to remind me of this truth.
Darlene Nelms says
Thank you for this lovely reminder that God truly does care about the little things too. I’ve had incidents like this through the years where God has answered prayers about what would seem minor to some people but was very important to me. We serve an awesome God…..
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
Yes we do! Thank you.
Lisa Pierce says
Amen! Yes God is concerned about everything that concerns us. He has graciously made this known to me also. Hallelujah! What an awesome God we serve.
Thanks Brie. I enjoyed this story very much and am very glad you decided to share.
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
Thank you! Glad you commented.
Lisa Pierce says
May I share this on facebook, or is this one to personal?
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
You’re free to share!