What my kindergartener taught me today!

Five years ago today I was indoor skydiving with my oldest son on a field trip!  I had no idea at that time that I was 6 1/2 months pregnant!  On Mother's Day 2008 I discovered that Sarah Grace McKinney was coming into this world, and life hasn't been the same since! Today she went to preschool for the last time.  What a whirlwind these five years have been!

As was the case every school day, I reminded her that the first thing we needed to do in the van was pray for her teachers.  I even said through tears, "Sarah, today is the last day we will get to pray for Mrs. Lisa and your Sonshine Preschool friends."

She was mortified! "Why can't we pray for them even when I go to kindergarten?" she wanted to know.

What a lesson for me, straight from God Himself! So often I pray for a specific request or person for a finite time, but when the winds change or I become frustrated with the amount of time it's taking to see an answer I give up.  Sometimes I even pray until I see an answer but then forget to say thank you to Him.

Simply put, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, "...pray continually."  That's what Sarah reminded me to do today.  There are no expiration dates on prayers, thankfully. 

You see, Sarah reminded us of that even five years ago.  We'd prayed for a baby so many years before she came, but honestly we had stopped praying long before she was a reality to us.  Truthfully we'd stopped because we were content and felt that God had already answered our prayers with the wonderful sons He'd given us through adoption.  But just as we are told to pray continually, I've become convinced that God is answering continually.  His idea of time is so far above our human ideas that I believe He's answered long before we've even prayed usually.  It kind of hurts my finite brain to contemplate how He works, but I'm a fan of it even when I can't totally understand it. 

Pray continually.  Don't stop seeking His answers.  Don't stop seeking Him.

Incidentally, right after Sarah Grace prayed for her preschool teachers and friends, she added, "And thank you for my kindergarten teacher, God!  Please help her to be ready for me!"

Amen to that!  Only God could prepare that teacher we have yet to know for this child!