His Child | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: His Child | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jennifer Percell
02/02/22
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His Child

Our Father, I begin to pray, addressing You as Jesus did, and as always, I pause and wonder if I can do this. Can I call You Father and therefore call myself Your child and even more the sibling of the Son who came to save us? Can this place in Your plan be true for me? I pray this way because You said to, because He gave us this perfect example and, in my mind, I know it is what You want. But my heart cannot catch up to my mind. Inside I wonder if You could really mean me, if in Your lofty heavens You really pause to hear from this speck of dust and sin.

My weakness embarrasses me in Your unimaginable Presence. I ask for things that can't possibly be a priority from Your perspective. How can I ask for things even Jesus never had? My health, my safety, my peace all bound up in the physical limits of time and space, must bring a shake of Your head and a deep sigh, resigning once more to the recognition of my immaturity.

But Jesus did tell us to ask for daily bread and help with temptations, He said that You give good gifts and I pause to recall; sixty years replay before me of the good gifts You have lavished on me. Countless answers to “please make my sick child well” and every single “bring us home safely” heard and answered, not a single day hungry or a crisis that did not resolve. Not always my way, proof itself that You give so much more than I deserve. I recall the selfish, limited solutions I asked for and thank You that You never give the incomplete gifts I think I need.

My mind wanders further to a treasured list. A top 10 countdown if you will: the check from Aunt Lenore when no rent money could be found. The time an elder handed us the keys to his van, expecting nothing in return. The church that sold a building and donated the proceeds to our mission work. A buyer for our house who paid full price at the perfect moment. The mission trip to Australia with six teenagers blessed beyond belief by Your gifts. The granddaughter born healthy in spite of a doctor's dire predictions. The long year of slow fundraising finished with a huge anonymous check on the deadline the giver knew nothing of. My cancer healed. All stories You wrote in my life. Every single detail of need heard and answered with love every single time.

My Lord God, how many prayers did You answer in ways I was totally unaware of? How many close calls, desperate efforts and hidden tears did You resolve when I didn't even notice? How many times did something happen that I thought a crisis and You knew to be just what I needed? In this moment, flooded by the evidence of incredible experience I am no longer a fearful speck. Once again, I find myself full of the confident wonder of a well-loved child and my prayer takes on hope. I am giddy with the prospects of what You want to give to a child who asks boldly, believing in Your mountain moving generosity.

Lord will You give courage that will empower me to write my stories of your love? Daniel and Esther would tell me you will. Can I hope for the salvation of my family who seem so hopelessly distant from You? James says this prayer for them is powerful and effective. Can I prayer for healing, Naaman would say so. For direction? You show me how You directed Moses all the way to the edge of the Promised Land. All of my doubts are answered by the great accounts of each small speck of a person You heard and responded to. All of my fears are quieted when I recount the times you heard me.

Yes, I can pray, I will ask, seek, knock, because You told me too and You never stop opening new doors to me. My Father, holy is Your name, and Your promises are new every morning. Once again, my prayers have led me to the truth of Your Presence and my heart bursts with the miracle that You, the Mighty God of Heaven count me among Your children.

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