The Gift of Prayer

We are homeschooling our children. This was a decision my husband and I prayerfully came to. We use Bible based curriculums in our homeschool, the Bible being our main textbook. One of the prayers and deep desire that had been on my heart since we started this journey was for God to connect us with a community of like-minded families. Families that are followers of Jesus Christ and are also homeschooling their children in line with His teaching. God answered this prayer of mine in a big way at the end of last year and led us to an amazing group of families.

We get together once a week for Homeschool Community Day, where we spend the day with our fellow homeschoolers, learning more about Jesus Christ, studying the various subjects in our curriculum together and having a great time of food, fellowship and play.

We were driving to Community Day last week, when someone in a truck cut us off really badly. As I hit the brakes and swerved a little to avoid a collision, I found myself getting agitated and feeling like my day had just been ruined. Lost in this train of thought, I heard the sweet little voice of our 4-year-old son in the back seat. He sounded so excited as he said, oh, I have a good idea Mummy! Let’s pray for that man! Which man? I asked, a little thrown off because my mind was still going down the rabbit hole of anger. That man in the truck, he said. Let’s pray for him that he will have journey mercies and that he won’t be in an accident because he’s driving badly.

Oh my goodness! That was the absolute last thing on my mind. I was in awe of this little boy. And to be honest I was quite embarrassed at myself that my immediate reaction to being cut off in traffic was a carnal reaction. My response to the situation was thinking how my day was being ruined by this bad driver…why are such people allowed on the road….where did he get his license?

But on the other hand, here is my son whose immediate response was: I have a great idea. Let’s pray for him. That he will drive safely and not get into any accident because right now he’s not driving safely.

I was so blessed by the Godly nature of our son and told him I was so proud of him. “I didn’t even think of that. I’m so impressed and so proud of you for thinking of that!” I said to him and asked if he could please pray for that driver. And so this is what he prayed: dear Lord, I pray for that man in the truck that You will bless him, that he will drive safely, that he will have journey mercies and not be in any accident in Jesus Name, I pray. To which our daughter and I both responded with a resounding: AMEN! And immediately, my whole mood just switched. My spirit was lifted, and my attitude changed from agitation to intercession, prayer and joy.

I was so proud of our little boy and I remembered the Bible verse in Psalm 8:2,

“You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you”.

God used this little 4-year-old to speak so mightily into my life. And you know, I learnt a huge lesson from my child that day. When somebody does something that makes me angry, my response is usually how could they? What kind of person are they? They’ve just ruined my whole day and my whole week. But this experience has now challenged me to respond to such situations with prayer not reciprocated anger or offence. Not just in theory, but practically. I must be intentional about it. My response will be a godly one. Whenever somebody makes me angry or does something that has the potential to make me angry, whether they do it deliberately or not, my response should be just like that of our son. It should be and will be: Lord, whatever they’re going through, please help them. Help them so that they don’t make people angry and please keep them safe.

I realize when I do that, I too will be transformed because now love is coming out of me. As I pray for and intercede for the person that offends me, the love of God is coming out of me. Instead of being angry at them, I am being blessed and of course they are going to be blessed as well because the Lord is going to answer my prayer for them. Now because of the choice to respond with prayer, both parties are receiving a blessing from God. Now isn’t that just amazing? Blessings all around! Now that is way better than anger and resentment and road rage.

As we continued our drive to Community Day, I was happy, blessed and filled with the Holy Spirit. My day was bright and sunny as opposed to what it was going to be, seeing as I was well on the way to starting the day off on a bad note. My day was now filled with the love of God and it overflowed to those around me.

The Spirit of God working through an adorable little boy turned my day around through a short prayer for someone that I didn’t even know.