Kids & Parenting
Little Eyes of Wonder by Brenda Bates
As a child, I can remember asking my mom’s permission before visiting a friend, staying after school, or other childlike quests. Many times she would reply with, “Ask your father.” Oh, how I hated that answer. It’s not that my Dad was cruel it was that he was seldom home and when he was home, he (more often than not) would say, “No” to my request. Many times I wouldn’t even ask based on his previous answer to the same question. In my opinion, he was being unreasonable and unfair.
It wasn’t until I was much older I realized that Dad was simply watching out for my best interests. He saw something bigger than the moment. In his delicate attempt to protect his little girl, he ended up risking it all by being the bad guy.
The same is true with my childlike prayer life. I’m not talking about my prayer life as a child; I’m talking about my prayer life before I became a Christian. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always had God in my life and I’ve always known about Jesus but we had an awkward relationship – or perhaps a better description is distant relationship. I kept my distance from Him and in return He kept His distance from me…or so I thought.
Prayer was something I dreaded. It was like going to my dad for permission.
“Dear God, please change my daddy's mind about the chocolate chip cookie.”
"Dear God, if You have a minute, can You make my daddy increase my allowance?”
“Dear God, I know You’re busy but please have mom answer my questions instead of sending me to my dad.”
"Dear God, I know my daddy's sick, please make him well."
I didn’t want to go to Him in prayer because I was scared of His answer. I feared God’s answers like I feared my dad’s. What was I thinking?
The Bible tells us that God answers our prayers – all of them. What I didn’t understand is that sometimes God answers prayer with, “No!” or “Not right now.” Like a good parent He knows what’s best for His children, even though we don’t always understand why. He sees something bigger than the moment…He sees our entire life and makes His decision based on what His plan is for each one of us. He loves us too much to let us have our own way all the time.
Well, like my dad and my heavenly Father, there were many times in my own children’s lives when I found myself giving the same “No!” answer and I remember the same little eyes of wonder peering back at me as if to say, “Why?” It was in those moments I realized that it was much more important to protect and nurture my children than to forgo the positive answer to their plea.
And unlike our heavenly Father we don’t have the comfort of knowing what our children are doing when they are out of our eyes view. But how wonderful it is to know that we can trust our heavenly Father to protect and guide them at all times.
We can trust that God has all the answers before we ask the questions. He has the power to answer every prayer and He can do far more than we could ever ask if we simply move aside and trust in Him for every “No” or “Not right now” answer in our lives.
PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
Reader Count & Comments
Date
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com. This is especially true with articles that
deal with personal healthcare and prophecy. We encourage the reader to make their own decision in consultation with God, His Word, and others as needed.
This article has been read 1094 times < Previous | Next >
Read more articles by Brenda Bates or search for other articles by topic below.
This article has been read 1094 times < Previous | Next >
Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)
Read more by clicking on a link:Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
NEW - Surprise Me With an Article - Click here for a random URL
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE
FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.