“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” — 1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)
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I have never been a power hitter, but rather a speedster. My only home run was a fake bunt that tricked the pitcher to throw an easy pitch for me to hit an inside-the-park homer, largely due to my speed and deception.
On a scorching summer day with minimal and mild wind, my friends and I played a pickup game of Home Run Derby on the empty high school softball field. Because of my batting capabilities, I played outfield most of the game and rarely got a chance to swing a bat.
I know it sounds silly, but at that moment, my only prayer was just to hit one home run.
Let’s first acknowledge that God is not Aladdin’s genie, who grants every wish we make. God is a wonderful Heavenly Father who responds (Hebrews 4:16) to our prayers with 1) “yes” (blessings), 2) “no” (redirection, not rejection) and 3) “not yet” (to raise us as healthy and holy children of God). Sometimes, God says no or not yet due to unconfessed sin (Isaiah 59:2), having different plans for us (Isaiah 55:8-9), our doubt (James 1:6-7), or our selfish motives (James 4:3).
God did answer my prayer that day. It was my last at-bat of the day, and I hit my usual base hit fly ball. However, a sudden wind came out of nowhere on this mild and minimal wind day, and gave my baseball just enough oomph to carry it over the wall. Can you imagine the reactions of both me and my friends? To this day, this was my first and only out-of-the-park homer I ever hit, thanks to that perfectly timed gust of wind.
I still remember the lesson I learned that day: If it’s important to me, it’s important to God; no prayer is too small for Him (Matthew 7:11; Luke 12:30-32). After all, God loves us more in one second than the entire world could in a thousand lifetimes. As the Bible says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).
— Erik Malinowski
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