How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. (Psalm 36:7)
For many years, I prayed and spoke to God behind a wall of misapprehension. This was never more true than during our son’s years in the Marine Corps and especially his deployments. I put my prayers to God into two categories: one for big things, another for little.
For some reason, I had the idea that God would only grant a finite number of prayer requests. If I wasted them on little stuff, the big things would be unheard. So I tried to only bother Him with the big things. When I shared my prayer requests with others, I was careful not to bring up requests that I’d decided were minor.
In my mind, I knew that nothing was too big for God, and I’d even share that thought with others who were struggling. And while this is an absolute truth, it leaves out so much. Then one day I had an epiphany: With God, no matter how big the prayer request, it’s no weightier to Him than a small request.
That revelation took a few days to process. But as the truth of it sunk in, so did the understanding of the infinite breadth and width of His love. The freedom that came with it was amazing. My attempt to differentiate between big and small, hard and easy, was artificial. It was a barrier that I had invented and erected between us. Since every prayer matters to Him, there really is nothing that I can’t share with Him.
The truth is that God cares about everything that I care about. I am His child, precious to Him. So I’ve given up categorizing my requests and worries, and I’m just taking everything to Him.
