Last night - family devotion! I must admit, time hijacks the opportunity for us to do this on a regular basis. And as guilty as I feel about our lack of consistency in having these, I don't actually feel the guilt until we remember to have this "family meeting" of sorts. So, in that mindset, the guilt never gets to me. That's not helping.

In case your unfamiliar, it's simple: pick a scripture, or a concept, or a situation and talk about it. Back it up with the Bible. In our house, we rotate leading the devotion. Last night was my turn. I realized I wanted to talk to the fam about answered and unanswered prayer. One of the first things I asked the folks was to name a prayer that had been answered. To which the youngest proudly shot his hand up in the air "I prayed for this shirt". Okay, buddy. You didn't pray for the shirt you have on. But I see where he was going. It was given to him and he loves it, and so surely he can recall praying that God would send this exact shirt to him. And tah-dah! Alvin and The Chipmunk shirt-owner he is! And who wouldn't pray for an Alvin and The Chipmunks shirt?

Soccer chick begrudingly stated she prayed she wouldn't have to play violin anymore. Good lesson in that comment right there. I didn't want to digress too much on why we don't quit once we've started something. And I do know that ALL of our ears want her to quit. Overall, they got the point, that sometimes God does and doesn't answer the prayers we ask of Him. Baseball chick for example, stated she prayed to be able to go to the local Rec center ever single Saturday. Okay...she did not. Just because her best bud took her once, now she's praying to go every day? So not true. Regardless, she made my point for me. If God gave us everything we asked for, there'd be nothing left to talk to Him about. We wouldn't need Him and we would be quite rotten, in fact.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us to be joyful always, thankful always and keep praying always. Those are the three pieces I gave the folks last night. Are you being thankful even when your prayers are unanswered? Did you consider maybe it wasn't answered because God knows there's something else, something different, something better for you, that perhaps you can't see yet? And do you pray always? Do you keep asking, keep seeking, keep petitioning God for that need on your heart? It's all about faith. Despite the eye rolling of my kids as I used them as examples, they get it. God wants us to have faith that He knows what He's doing. Let's not be grumpy when we don't get what we want.

Let's keep talking to Him and see how things work out. Don't be discouraged in what feels like setbacks. Don't be thank-less in your prosperity. Things may not work out the way WE want, but they will work out the way God intends. And just in case I walked away thinking my mini-sermon went in one ear and out of the other, on 5 separate people, as I'm putting Youngest to bed, he refers to a non-visible "boo-boo" on his leg. "Had it a long time, mom. Seriously. But you know what, I need to pray to Jesus to answer my prayer to take it away". To which he promptly covers his eyes and starts: "Lord Jesus...mom! You're supposed to repeat after me". Oh, okay. Got it. So I repeat his prayer: "Lord Jesus...please make my boo-boo go away and feel better. In Lord Jesus' name. Amen". At the conclusion of this 2.5 second prayer my heart is beaming. That's what it's all about, I'm thinking. He got it. I'm such a proud mother. My child is so full of God. He rocks! Before I can even finish thinking all that in my head, Youngest looks down at his boo-boo that I have yet to see. "Aw, man! Still there. You gotta be kidding me!" And plops in the bed. Yup, that about sums it up.