Prayer Requests

Miss Goring! Teacher!” My second-grade students were calling my name and telling me their requests. They were not taking turns.

Several of my sweet students were calling out to me; each had a different request or question. Frustration bubbled up within me because I felt inadequate. How could I answer each question and respond to each request when they were all coming at once? I remember thinking, I’m only one person, and they’re asking me a million questions at once! How am I supposed to meet all their needs? Years later, reflecting on this experience, a spiritual parallel formed in my mind.

I realized that God always hears all our prayers and requests that we send to Him. He’s not overwhelmed by the magnitude of millions of people presenting their prayer requests to Him, even if they’re praying to Him at once.

God hears every single person. He understands every person’s language. And He is completely capable of answering each prayer, catering to each request, and meeting each person’s needs as if there were only one person presenting his or her prayer requests to Him. God manages the entire universe, yet He still has time for His human creation and pays attention to each of us in a very personal and wonderful way. Sometimes I ask my close friends, whom I confide in, whether I’m exasperating them with my issues. They always tell me that I’m not exasperating them and that they are sincerely praying for me. I am grateful for my friends here on Earth.

But even more, I am grateful for my Father who lives in heaven but is also present on this earth through His Spirit. I deeply appreciate how God never tires of hearing my issues, concerns, and dreams. I love how He listens to me as if I were the only person in the world (as He does for you too), and I deeply appreciate how He always answers my prayers beyond all I could ever ask or imagine.

God doesn’t always give us the answers we want.

But He always gives us the answers we need.

He is a good God who loves us with all His heart.

He knows what’s best for us, and He never tires of meeting our needs.

Alexis A. Goring