I Knocked and He Answered
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
I will never forget the moment. I was ten years old, sitting across from my mom on the floor in my room with my head bowed. Yes, we were praying, but not about what you might expect. I simply needed a new pair of tennis shoes.
Understand this - to me, getting a new tennis shoe back in the day was a big deal because we had uniforms at our school. That meant your shoe was really your only accessory. Kind of superficial, I know, but it’s the truth. Being the wise woman that she is, my mom seized the moment to teach me arguably one of the most important lessons I’ll ever learn: to pray about everything because to God, everything matters.
So my mom led me in prayer, guiding me to ask God what my shoe looked like and where to find it. And lo and behold He told me! In fact, I got a picture: a white shoe with lime green and light blue designs. Oh, and we should go to Kohl’s. So we did and there it was. Just like the picture God had given me in my mind.
Some people might hear this story and think, “Cute, the little girl found her shoe.” Or think, “That’s ridiculous, why would you waste God’s time to pray about a shoe?” It’s a shoe. This moment of praying to God, albeit for something simple, was key to the way that I would make decisions for the rest of my life.
I had a desire when I was sitting on the floor with my mom. Yes I wanted a new shoe, but ultimately, I wanted what God wanted for me. So I asked for the desires of my heart and He gave them to me. I called on Him and He answered, and if God cared to hear and answer my prayer about what kind of shoe to buy, how much more then does he care about the bigger things in my life?
We might be able to discern what is good for us over what is bad, but what about what is best? Only God can give us that. With every decision, change, hardship, or simple matter that we have in life, God desperately wants us to seek Him out about each of these.
He desires to be in a relationship with us, not just be our go-to person when we are in a time of urgent need. No matter is insignificant to Him. God doesn’t settle for what’s good for us. He will move mountains to show us what is best for us.