Does God Care When Little Children Pray?
By Cheary Shelim
When I was a little girl, I loved reading story books. I would spend all of my spare time with my nose buried in dog-eared pages. My favorite stories were of missionary doctors who trudged the jungles, healed the sick, and shared the gospel. I wanted to be just like them.
The school library was my happy place. In those days, we had a library card to check out books. We would choose the books to borrow, and the librarian would write the names of the books in our library card. We could only borrow a book for a certain number of days. If we were late or if we lost the book, we would have to pay a fine.
I always returned my books on time. But one day, I lost a book. Frantically, I searched all over the house but I couldn’t find it, no matter how hard I tried. I became sad and scared. I didn’t want to have my parents pay a hefty fine.
Then, I remembered the stories about how God would answer the prayers of children. If He helped them, couldn’t He help me too?
I dropped to my knees, folded my hands, and prayed fervently.
Dear God, please help me find my book. I searched everywhere, but I couldn’t find it. Please help me, please.
After praying, I was impressed to search the kitchen.
Why the kitchen? I don’t know. I never stored my books in the kitchen, so it was the last place in the house to look.
Imagine my surprise when I found the book in one of the drawers!
“Ahh!” I cried, happily. “Why is it here?! I found it!”
I was like the woman in the Bible who had lost one of her coins. I couldn’t wait to tell my story to everyone and share my joy. I dropped to my knees again and thanked the Lord.
“Dear God, thank you for helping me find my book,” I prayed. “Thank you so much!”
The next day, I returned the book to the librarian. It was late, but the librarian had compassion on me and decided to not charge me the late fees since it was my first time. I was so grateful.
This experience left a deep impression on me. I believed that God cared for me, even though I was only a little child. I learned to tell Him about my problems and trust that He would take care of them, no matter how trivial they may seem.
Now that I’ve grown up, I still hold that story close to my heart. When times are tough, when there are big decisions to be made, and whenever I lose things – like my glasses – I remember that story. And I pray. Because I believe He cares.
1 Peter 5:7 sums it all up beautifully: "Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you."
So, friend, whatever you're going through right now, remember that you have Someone who loves you and cares for you. If He cares enough to find a little girl's library book, He can take care of you.
Conquering My Fears with the King of Kings
by Nick Wadford
Ever since I was born, I have always had problems with fear. Throughout my childhood, I had constant nightmares. My mind would play tricks on me – like seeing terrifying things that weren’t there.
My mother would tirelessly try to help me. Whenever I woke her up because of nightmares, she would tell me to remember the verses in Psalms 23. “For even though I walk through the valley of shadow and death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and staff, they comfort me.”
After hearing this every night, I eventually memorized it to the point that whenever I was scared, I would start repeating it again and again aloud. After a while, I learned to trust in those words. They started to bring real peace, and the nightmares went away.
Later on, the fears came back and started to get so bad that I had to talk with Pastor LaPorte about it. He gave me some Bible verses to read and told me that I shouldn’t fear because God will protect me. As I read the verses, I was surprised that one of them happened to be Psalms 23.
I started to talk with God more. Eventually, the nightmares went away again. Although my trials and tribulations didn’t end, their fear became a very big thing in the way of my walk with God. But God, being the living King He is, eventually led me toward some people whom I became amazing friends with.
One thing these people showed all the time was great courage and faith – so much so that no matter what happened, they were always standing firm and giving their all to God.
After watching them do those things, I was amazed. Wanting to have that too, I asked how they were able to stay so calm no matter what was happening. They told me, “Why would we fear when we have the King of Kings with us?”
Those words really impacted me. It came to the point that when I was going through trials that had to do with fear, I would hear those words. After all this, I finally started to gain so much courage and faith that people around me started to compliment me on it! Even my friends (who to this day have no idea that God used them to save me from fear) were very proud of me for conquering my fears like God wanted me to do the whole time!
I know my journey isn’t over yet. I have many more hills that I will have to climb. However, I know that through it all, God will be there with me right by my side.
As Christians, I feel like we should always have this saying in our heads: “Have the power to serve God, the wisdom to know God, and the courage to stand beside Him.”
May the Lord be with you!
Drug Dealer
by Larry Barker
I was a drug dealer for 25 years. After 12 years of doing time in federal and state prisons, I turned back to what I was trained to do when I was young.
I had been in the most distant land under the heavens: prison. Now, I am no longer pushing dope but hope. I am doing what God has called me to do, taking the Gospel to all the world. South Carolina is the main territory where I am doing this. I have been to Florida and North Carolina but will go anywhere God calls me.
Amen.