Pray about Everything, Even Small Stuff

Photo by Srivatsa Sreenivasarao on Unsplash

Nothing is too small to take to God in prayer. In high school, I had a health issue that required me to take strong medicine with some undesirable side efforts. My emotions were chaotic. I cried a lot, including when I lost my pen cap. Yes. I cried over a pen cap.

My family had gone on vacation to Disney World. My souvenir was a pen with Mickey Mouse ears on top. One day at lunch, I lost my pen cap. You would have thought I had failed out of school. I got teary eyed and stressed out. My friends started to wonder about my sanity, but scoured the area outside the cafeteria for my pen cap. I kept praying aloud, muttering “God, help me find my pen cap!”

I never found the pen cap. Those Mickey Mouse ears are gone forever. However, I felt comfortable enough in my relationship with God to pray about the cap. Years later, I shared this story with my Bible study when one lady was having a hard time with something she considered menial. My actual quote was “It doesn’t matter if you lost your pen cap, or your dog just died, if it matters to you, it matters to God.” She has often quoted that line back to me over the years as we bring our problems both small and great to the ears of the Father.

The beauty is that He listens to all of our petitions. He doesn’t always answer every prayer the way we wish because God is not a fairy godmother. He knows how best to respond to each request. But don’t limit God by not asking.

James 4:2b-3 says “Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (NKJV) We need to watch our motives, but we also need to ask. Let God choose to say no. God loves to give His children good things.

Matthew 7:7-11 says “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (NKJV)

God is not up there thinking – how can I give stones to my children? Or, how can I make their lives miserable? He is simply waiting for us to ask so He give us good things. I had to learn to receive God's no to things like my pen cap, but still reach out because I know He will provide for all my needs. He is faithful.

My car battery died the other day and refused to jump start. No one responded to my phone calls for help, and I didn’t know how to get home. So I prayed. God reminded me of public transportation. From the bus, I spied a little bird drinking water from a puddle by the road. It reminded me of Luke 12:6-7 “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (NKJV)

God cared about her tiny cry. If God provided for her needs, He most certainly would make a way for mine. I thought of all the hairs I lost the last time I brushed my hair. God knows the intimate details of my life. Therefore, He also has a plan for the big things. I thanked God for the bus. He didn’t leave me stranded in a parking lot, but paved my road home.

God will do the same for you when you call out in time of need. Big or small, His ears hear all. Just ask. Then let Him choose how to respond best.

• ·         When is a time God answered a small request of yours? How did you feel?

• ·         What holds you back from asking God for things you want or need?