Bugs and Prayer

One of the greatest lessons on prayer, I learned from insects.  I am sure that statement seems like just an attention getter, but it is the truth!  My son had just turned five years-old.  His grandmother sent him a bug vacuum for his birthday.  When you are five and of the male species, bugs are a big deal!  It was early April in South Korea, where we were stationed at the time.  Jumping up and down, my son begged to go outside and search for bugs, to see if his bug vacuum was functional.  So, I put jackets and hats on my five-year-old and three-year-old, and we marched outside for our mission.  Disappointingly, it was cool and cloudy and there were no visual signs of Spring.  The branches on the trees and bushes showed no light greens sparks of life.  I did not glimpse any growing flower buds or new green branches bursting out of the ground.  My two preschoolers searched up and down around the swing-set and slide and along the ground.  I helped them gaze in the higher locations where they could not reach.  Although I am not a fan of bugs, I rejoice in seeing my children delight, so I hunted high and low also. Nothing.  We could not find one single bug - not even an ant.  My son gazed at me with a long and disappointed gaze.  Downhearted, he proclaimed, “There just aren’t any bugs!”  I wanted to explain that it wasn’t yet warm enough for them, but the Holy Spirit made me instead ask my kids to join me in prayer for God to show us some bugs.  Honestly, I had only been a Christian a few years myself.  I am confident it was the Spirit that compelling me to pray because I know I didn’t know the power of prayer myself.  I beckoned my two sweet dears to my side.  We settled down on the sidewalk and prayed for God to show us some some bugs that we might inspect a few and enjoy His creation.  

As soon as we were finished praying, I grabbed their hands to walk and noticed a tree absolutely filled with hundreds of lady bugs. The tree had been right next to us all along but we had been searching on the playground and dirt surrounding it. Their eyes were bright and their mouths dropped in amazement as they realized God seeks to do abundantly more than we ask or imagine. God had wowed them. He had wowed me! God did not have to do this for my children, but because of His grace and His love for us, He did. I’m so thankful for the lesson in the power of prayer it taught me and my children. What are you not asking God for because it seems so trivial? He cares about all of the details of our lives! What have you given up on praying for? Take this opportunity today to teach your kids to pray about things that matter to them. God is able!

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen (Ephesians 3:20–21).