"It still hurts. Do it again!"

Do you ever have those moments with your children that completely & totally convict you? Today mine was with the 2 year old.  Both kids have been sick the last few days, so this morning when Addi woke up and came into our room, I asked her how she was feeling.  She said her stomach & chest hurt from coughing, so I prayed for her.  Her immediate response was, “It still hurts.  Do it again.” I told her to just give Jesus a minute, that He was working on it.  Her answer? “Jesus not need a minute! Pray again!”

Her expectancy was like a kick in the gut.  I mean, I pray and I believe God can and will do things.  But do I pray and expectimmediate results? The conviction comes into play because often times I don’t pray that way.  I pray for my children to be healed (or my family or friends), but expect that the doctor and medicine will be how we get it.  Then when God does show up and do the miraculous, instant healing, I’m in awe, thrilled, of course.  But truthfully, I’m surprised.  I didn’t expect it.

I know that sometimes a delayed answer is God’s plan because of a path that we’d miss if we got an instant answer.  But I can’t help but wonder how often we go down a longer path because we don’t expect a shorter one?

At the very least, praying with the expectancy that my 2 year old prays with will build more trust & faith in God and His outcome.  And that in itself is huge.  But what if God met us in the place of our expectancy and moved bigger? 

A new goal for this year for me is to pray with the expectancy of my 2 year old.  Then truly expect God to move.