“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 NIV

Do you sometimes struggle wondering if God really answers your prayers? I believe most people do or have at some point in their lives. Our children may be the most vulnerable. Let me share a brief story about my first self-initiated prayer I can remember:

“Is everyone ready to go?” Dad called out on Sunday morning. All seven of us would soon pile into the car and ride to town for church.

With my dress on and my hair combed, I looked for my shoes. I scrambled up the stairs of our farmhouse for one more look under my bed. I dashed downstairs and checked every room again wondering where I might have kicked them off. Then I remembered kicking them off in the field the day before.

 I didn’t want to miss church, but I couldn’t go barefoot either. I loved my church, especially my Sunday School class. “Please wait for me,” I pleaded with Dad as I dashed off to the field behind the barn where we hoed the green beans and caught the bugs we found on the leaves the day before.

I ran up one row and down another searching for my shoes. They had to be there. The only thing my slip-on shoes were good for in the field was for catching dirt that rubbed against my toes and feet. I’d kicked them off and gone barefoot.

Our family struggled in 1955. We moved to my father’s family farm while Dad changed careers. He needed more college classes to complete his teacher certification. No extra pair of shoes fit in the budget for any of us.

Like a love-starved child, I looked forward to standing with Rev. Hill after church as he shook everyone’s hand. He always made me feel special. I just had to find my shoes!

Breathless, I ran up and down each long row one more time. Nothing.

Fighting tears, I thought about my Sunday school class when an idea flashed through my mind. God is supposed to answer our prayers. Maybe, just maybe, he would hear my prayer and help me find my shoes.

With my hands folded together and my eyes closed, my prayer went like this, “God, if you are really there, and if you really do answer prayers, would you please help me find my shoes?” I remember that prayer like it was yesterday – my first real step of faith.

I opened my eyes, turned around, and started to go back down the row of beans, but I didn’t have to take another step before I saw them. “Thank you God!” There on the ground lay my precious dusty orangey-yellow shoes in plain sight. I quickly slid my feet into them and ran toward the house.

Yes! The car was still in the driveway. They waited!

Did I run too fast to see my shoes before I prayed? Did an angel move them to that spot behind me so I could see them better? I’ll never know the answer to those questions. But I knew from that moment on that God does answer prayers, even the desperate prayer of a little girl who can’t find her shoes.

That was many years ago and my first step in believing God answers prayers. But many seemingly unanswered prayers followed as well, so that it wasn’t a cure-all event. Many years later and young in a difficult marriage with a three year old daughter, I found security in a Bible study group of praying women. It was obvious to my low-esteemed-self that I had confidence in my friends’ prayers but not in my own. God began to convict me of this. I seemed to sense him saying to me, “You pray. I can answer your prayers too.”

It’s still a bit of a struggle, we all grow in our prayer life one step at a time. It could be that I feel my prayers are more powerful when prayed with friends. I meet weekly with a group of prayer warriors on Zoom, and pray almost daily with my husband. Our prayers are enhanced when prayed in the presense of other praying believers. “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of them” is a Biblical concept to grasp in praying.

This concept is important when we pray with our children. Praying together will encourage their prayer life. Encourage them to take their concerns to Jesus in prayer, and remind them that God is always listening to their prayers, whether they are praying alone or with others.

Finding a time for praying alone with God can be a difficult priority to establish. It’s one thing to shoot up “Help me now” prayers throughout the day, and those are important. But setting aside time to be alone with God in prayer is needed. It helps to find a quiet place free from distractions to grow a prayer life with God. Call upon him with praise, with Scripture, and with song. I’ve even been known to call upon him with my shofar, but call upon him regularly and often. He is listening and eager to welcome you to spend time with him.

by Janice D. Green

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