WILL GOD ANSWER MY PRAYERS?

I could hardly believe it!  My Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Midboe, had just told us that we could pray anywhere, at any time, about anything—and God would hear us!  Even better, she said that we could ask Him for anything that we really needed, and He would answer our prayer!  I had never heard such a promise before!  Could it really be true?  I decided to test it next time I had a need!

At age eight, I knew the difference between wants and needs, and I didn’t have a lot of needs at that time.  Minnesota winters are cold, and I asked my Mom for a knit hat, like my classmate, Margo West, had.  Her answer was, “No, we don’t have the money for knit hats.”  She reminded me that I had a wool scarf that kept my head warm.  I didn’t need the pretty knit hat.  I also wanted a guitar, but I knew not to ask for that!  A guitar would cost much more than a knit hat, and no one needed a guitar.  In addition, I didn’t want to hurt my parents’ feelings by asking for something I knew they couldn’t afford.  It was 1948, the depression years, and we lived on a farm on the Minnesota prairie.  My father and mother worked hard, and I had two older sisters, and a little brother.  We sewed our own clothes, preserved food, and cooked and baked everything from scratch.  My father farmed the land and raised chickens, pigs, and cattle.  When the neighbor, who raised sheep, had orphan lambs, my sisters and I bottle fed them.  My Mother tried to cook so that there were no leftovers.  I ate as fast as I could, so that if there were any extras, I could have a second helping.  None of us were wanting, and we had enough of everything we needed.  I couldn’t think of any needs for which to ask God, but I would not forget what Mrs. Midboe had said about asking God to meet our needs.

Would God answer the prayer of an unimportant person like me?  I was the third girl, born to farmers.  They never said this, but I think I was a disappointment, because they needed a boy to help with farm work!  I always knew that I was not an important person!

I kept asking myself what I needed that I could pray for.  Then, I thought of a need—I could pray about the weather!  Our family was planning a trip to Morris, Minnesota, to visit our Aunt, Uncle, and four cousins!  There were nine of us going, and we would take two cars and drive in caravan, in case of car trouble.  In 1948 a sixty-mile trip was a big event!

We would leave early on Saturday morning and return the same day.  This was an exciting excursion, and we needed good weather!  The day before our trip it was cold and rainy, and I heard the adults hoping for sunshine tomorrow!  Perhaps adults in my family prayed, but I had never heard them.  I think it was something they did in church, on Sunday.  The same was true of talking about God.  No one ever mentioned God, except at Church.  So, I kept it a secret, found a quiet place, and asked God to give us sunshine and good weather for our outing!  I went to bed incredibly excited, because tomorrow I would find out if God really would answer the prayer of someone so unimportant as I!

When I opened my eyes the next morning, I could see sunshine.  I ran to the window and looked out!  It was a sunny day out there!  I could see my Dad feeding the cattle, two pet orphan lambs were munching on grass, and the family dog was walking across the yard.  I dressed quickly and ran outside to see if it was warm—and it was!  My Mother commented on the sunshine, and said that during the night the temperature had changed from cold to warm!  God had heard my prayer and answered!  He also gave me the gift of faith.  Forever I knew that He answers prayer—even MY prayers!

It was a beautiful day, and I played with my four cousins.  Several times I overheard the adults talk about the unusual change in the weather.  The thermometer had shot up 20 degrees overnight!  I secretly rejoiced!  God had done that for ME!  He heard and answered my prayer!

A month later the school year was coming to the end.  Our class was instructed to bring our lunch tomorrow and we would walk to the park beside the Minnesota River.  For me it was the most exciting day of the year, besides Christmas.  The teacher told us that if it was raining, we would eat our sack lunches in the classroom instead of going to the park.  I looked out the classroom window at the cold rain!  Good weather was a real need!  I knew that God could give us a nice warm day, but I had to wait until I could get to a quiet spot, all alone, to talk to Him!

The school bus dropped us off at our farm driveway.  I saw my two lambs under a big tree, out of the rain, and I sat down beside them to talk to God.  I explained to God that it was cold and rainy today, and that tomorrow was so important!  We needed warm, sunny weather in order to walk to the park and play.  We surely didn’t want the whole thing cancelled because of rain.  “Oh God, you changed the weather for our trip to Morris; would You do it again for tomorrow?”  I remembered that Mrs. Midboe said that if it was a real need, God would do it.  I gave God all the reasons I could think of, why this was a real need!  My lambs listened and they seemed to agree.  The rest of the day, I repeated my secret prayer many times, explaining as best I could to God, that it was a real need!  As I slipped into bed that night, I said the prayer again.  I COULDN’T WAIT TO GO TO SLEEP—SO I COULD WAKE UP AND SEE WHAT GOD DID!  I EXPECTED HIM TO DO IT AGAIN!

AND GOD DID IT AGAIN!  When I opened my eyes the next morning, sunshine poured in my window!  I ran to look out, and sure enough, there was no rain—in fact, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky!  I took my sack lunch and joined my two sisters, walking to the end of our farm driveway, where the school bus stopped for us.

At school, excitement was in the air!  Tomorrow was the last day of school, and today, GOD GAVE US SUNSHINE AND WARM WEATHER!  We had a nice walk and a wonderful time at the park!  The temperature had come up many degrees overnight, and it was a perfect day for a picnic to celebrate the end of the school year!  I secretly thanked God many times for answering my prayer.  He did it again!  Forever I would know that He not only hears and answers prayers—but that He answers MY prayers.

For the next number of years, I prayed for good weather whenever there was a need, and God always answered.  I read my Bible, as a teenager, but I didn’t know that I could ask Jesus Christ into my life, or that I could have a personal relationship with God.  My world became focused on teenage fun.  My goal in life was to have fun, and I drifted away from God.  I didn’t find my way back to Him until I was thirty years old!  At that point I needed Him!  I needed a Savior, and He was just a prayer away!

God heard the prayers of an eight-year-old girl and answered!  Read Ten Steps to Answered Prayer.  He wants to answer your prayers also!