Does God Really Care?

Hey all!

     I just spent the past week at a Bible and Missionary conference in Okoboji, Iowa with my family before I came back to Missouri for my senior year of college at Ozark. There were so many amazing speakers and the worship was beautiful and powerful. I did end up leaving a day early so I could drive back to school, but the sermons and worship I did hear really spoke to my heart.
     There was so much that I took away from all of the messages, but one in particular really stood out to me. Wanda Walborn was the speaker on Tuesday evening and she centered her message on prayer. I wanted to share some thoughts on that message with you.
-
-
     So many times in our lives we ask God for these big things and we grow discouraged when He doesn't seem to listen to them. Other times we forget about our prayer requests altogether and still end up frustrated that we never received what we initially prayed for.
     In addition to this, our big requests that we have often will affect no one's lives but our own. This makes our requests to God selfish and one might even say pointless. We have the God of the universe readily available to listen to our hearts and hear our desires and thoughts, but when we treat Him as if He is a vending machine for whatever our hearts desire we are missing the point.
     What about when we pray a large prayer that isn't selfish and is for the wellbeing of other people? What are we supposed to think or how are we to respond when we ask God to heal a family member from their terminal cancer and they end up passing away? What are we supposed to do when the church goes through financial struggles and the building is closed down even though we prayed about it the other night?
     God is present in all these situations. He is always with us, in the good and the bad. But what so many people (including myself) seem to forget, is that God desires to hear from us continuously. We will not bore God with our requests and we will never overwhelm Him when we open up to Him with our burdens and pains. He wants it all: both the beautiful and the ugly.
     God can answer prayers we didn't even know we needed answered, and He can answer prayers that we have prayed over everyday multiple times. Wanda shared a story about her daughter and her strong desire for some new clothes for school, but they didn't have the money to provide her with new clothes like she wanted. However, Wanda wanted to teach her daughter the importance of prayer and how powerful God is. She wanted her daughter to see that God cares about the little things too. So they prayed together everyday that God would provide her with her school clothes. After a while Wanda began to wonder if this was a silly prayer request and would think to herself "Ok, God. . . Anytime now. . ."
     After a month or so of praying everyday for these school clothes someone asked if her daughter could use some clothes for school. They had multiple bags worth of hand-me-downs and wanted to give them to someone who needed them. While opening up all the bags with her daughter, suddenly she gasped and pulled out something special. Her dauhter picked it up and held it up to herself as she twirled across the floor. She said to her, "Mama, God did it!"
     God had provided Wanda's daughter with her school clothes, but little did she know that her daughter was also praying for a very specific dress within her own prayers as well. While some may see this as a minor thing, it showed both Wanda and her daughter that God cares about the little things and wants to give us those things we ask for.
     Wanda made an amazing point after telling this story: she mentioned how people forget about their prayers or don't have faith that God will really answer them. Now, we are not God and we do not decide what God will do as a result of our prayers, but Wanda wanted to make sure we understand what we can do.
     When we pray for God to take away our pain, or to heal our sicknesses that so severely disrupt our lives, sometimes it can seem as through He isn't listening to us or He won't answer our prayers.
     "We ask God to take away our pain and suffering, and when He doesn't take it away, we begin to question if He hears us or loves us. . . Jesus asked God to make another way so he wouldn't have to die, but through His death God brought all the freedom and opportunity to live an eternal life in Heaven."
     You see, what Wanda wanted to point out through her message was that God hears every little detail of our prayers. He wants to give us what is best for us, but we are sinful and imperfect beings. We don't always know what we need, but He does. Jesus may have prayed that there was another way for Him to bring salvation to the people, but God knew it had to be done this way. Yet, through the death he suffered he experienced a new life with us, one that he could not have had if the barrier between God and man was not filled.
     When we pray for something, keep praying. "For God-sized outcomes we need to pray God-sized prayers." If you are serious about what you are asking God, pray continuously. Set a reminder on your phone. Pray for all the little details. God loves them all. He wants to hear from you.
-
-
     After hearing Wanda speak on prayer that night, I set a reminder on my phone for 8:00 every night where I intentionally pray about a specific request that I had lost sight of over the summer. I have big dreams and hopes for my ministry and life within the next few years and I want to be able to take that to God over and over, knowing that He will do whats best and listen to my every word.
     What is a prayer that you have given up on that you want to begin to pray for again? I challenge you to surrender it to God once more and set that reminder on your phone. . .


~Sarah Joy