If You Pray For Rain...

I couldn't have been more than 7 maybe 8 years old. It was the 80's and a time where kids could go outside and play without a fenced in yard and the parents not have to worry. Kids could not be seen or heard from in hours and no one worried. We all knew Grannie's rule...stay within the sound of my voice, when I call you better be able to hear me and when you shout back I better be able to hear you!

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Every summer Lisa, my sister, and I would go down to Milton, Florida and spend some time with my Grannie, my Mom's mother, my Grandma, my Dad's mother, and my Mom's brother and his family. They all lived right there together in one straight line. It was the perfect set up. My uncle lived in the middle and I had one grandmother to the left and one grandmother to the right. What better set up could a kid get? I loved my Grannie dearly but I was scared to spend the night in her house. I overheard her tell my Momma one time that she had a chicken snake in her house and from that day on...I spent the night at Grandma's house. Which worked out good for me. She loved her soap operas and Dallas would come on at night and I wasn't allowed to watch that at my house so when I went to Grandma's I was able to watch Dallas and I thought I was hot to trot! To this day if I am flipping through the channels and see Dallas on a channel, I stop for moment just for Grandma's sake!

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But, my Grannie, she was a card! She was always pulling pranks on you and sometimes you never knew if she was telling the truth or pulling your leg. This woman, however, was a God fearing woman! She loved the Lord and everybody knew it. She had a very deep impact on my life and I don't even know if she ever knew that.

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This particular summer that I am referring to there was a drought. It had not rained in forever I guess and Wednesday night service at Hickory Hammock Baptist Church had been reserved as a time for prayer for rain. I can remember Grannie and Grandma talking about the service at lunch and going over the drought and the affect it was having. I listened intently but I really had on clue what they were talking about.

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As all us kids ran and played all day long, Grannie called us in about an hour before we had to leave to get cleaned up for church. Cleaned up consisted of washing your face and your hands and running a brush through your hair. Now we had dirt and mud on our clothes but she wanted to make sure our faces were nice and clean! As we were getting ready to head out the door Grannie tucked her Bible under one arm, placed her purse strap in the bend of her elbow and tucked an umbrella under her other arm. With keys in hand we all started heading out the door.

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"Grannie," I asked "why do you have that umbrella? It's not raining!"

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She looked at me over the rim of her silver and black "Grannie" glasses and said "Honeychild, we are going to church to pray for rain. When you pray you must pray with confidence that God is going to hear your prayer and answer it. What type of confidence would I have if I didn't tote my umbrella?"

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With that being said we loaded up in the car and went off to church. I am 34 years old but if I close my eyes and concentrate I can still remember sitting in that pew watching these men and women earnestly pray for rain. They prayed almost begging God to allow it to rain. As the service ended I noticed that Grannie unclapsed her umbrella as if she was preparing to open it. I didn't ask any questions but followed right behind her like a baby duck following it's Momma. As we went through the double doors and into the foyer the front doors to the church were open. We stepped out onto the steps of the porch and low and behold...there was rain! My Grannie looked down at me, smiled that smirky smile that she had and just simply nodded. She didn't have to say anything to me, I totally understood.

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In my life there are times that I don't know how to pray. I don't know the words to say and I'm at a loss of what the actual need is. But, no matter how great or small I feel in this world I always pray with confidence. Matthew 21:22 says "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

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The definition of believe is to have confidence in the truth. Always pray believing that God is not going to give you what you want when you want it but he will always give you what you need when you need it!