I Don’t Very Much Believe in Prayer…

I have a Christian friend that I’ve been working with who practices lay counseling. The other day when I stopped by her house, I noticed that she was putting her counseling money loose on a book shelf, so I decided to get her a nice wooden box for her to put her money in. I thought that Ross would be the best place to find one since they had lots of pretty, wooden boxes there. However, it turned out that they only had the type of box I was looking for, at Christmas time. There were a few money-sized boxes there, but they were all really clunky looking. Though disappointed, I was determined to get her a box anyway, so I got her the least of the worst. It was $14.

When I got home my disappointment got the better of me so I decided I’d go look at Pier One in Spanish Springs. But when I got to Spanish Springs, the Pier One there had gone out of business.

Now, I confess. I have a very, very, very hard time believing in prayer. But I’ll do it anyway… in a pinch… just for good measure… just in case…

I began to pray to God to find me a damned, descent box!

OK… so no Pier One… but right next door there was… another Ross. “What the heck,” I said to myself; “I might as well give this Ross a try.” So I went in, praying all the while for a damned box. But it turned out that Ross only had the same ugly-looking boxes that the other Ross had!

“Well,” I said to myself; “It looks like God isn’t going to come through, even for this simple request.” And I started for the door.

But as I turned a corner, something brown caught my eye. It was on the bottom shelf and I don’t have a clue why it caught my eye, but I stooped down to have a look see.

There was this box.

Sitting there, on the bottom shelf, all by itself, far away from all the other boxes was… this box.

At first I was not very drawn to it. Yes it was wooden and the right size for dollar bills, but it looked kind of old and faded. It had a nice picture on it.. like a painting… Jesus as a shepherd, with a rod, taking care of his lambs. I held it in my hand for a while, just sort of sizing it up.

Then slowly… ever so slowly… it began to dawn on me….

On her bookcase, my friend was displaying some very old, heirloom, books that had been past down to her through many generations.

This box looked… exactly… like an old and faded book!

The edges of it were painted gold with ridges like gilded pages, and it was painted and aged ornately on the front with an aged, ornate-looking cross on it’s ‘binder’. And then there was the painting… Jesus… the good shepherd… and his lambs.

God, through me, was giving my friend the most perfect box I could have ever imagined. This box couldn’t have been more perfect than if it had been made especially for her!

And the cost of it?… $3.99.

God killed two birds with one stone. He got a perfect box for her, and, at the same time, gave me a present too… a more firm belief in the power of a prayer.

Here are some pictures of the box… I put one on my wall to always remind me… when it’s within His will… God will do His utmost to… in the most glorious ways… answer a prayer.