BIBLE STORY: Hannah and Samuel. (1 Samuel 1)
BIBLE VERSE: “The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord will answer my prayer.” Psalm 6:9 (NLT)

Sometimes it seems that gardens, and even yards, just attract rocks. If you have ever kept a garden or done any landscaping, you know that from time to time you find a rock where you need to plant a row of vegetables, a shrub, or a tree. Sometimes the rocks are small enough that you can pick them up with one hand, and with a flick of your wrist they are gone. Sometimes you run across a rock that is a bit larger.

You might have to dig around it a little and use two hands to pick it up and toss it away. You might even find a rock that is so big you can’t quite handle it on your own. You may need a strong friend and a wheelbarrow to move it. But what if you started digging around a rock, and digging, and digging, and you just kept finding more and more of the rock? Eventually, you realize the rock is at least the size of a large car. There is no way you can dig it out on your own. You will need not one strong friend, but many friends with special tools to help you dig out that rock.

Prayer is sometimes like digging up rocks. Sometimes, we might say a quick prayer over a minor irritation of life and it is gone and done with just like that. Sometimes a problem that we pray for will be larger and we may spend more time praying before we see results. Sometimes we will need to ask others to help, by praying with us, and sometimes problems are so huge that we may pray and pray and pray for months and even years before the problem is solved.

When you start digging up a rock, you never know how big it will be. When you start praying for a situation in life, you might not know how long it will take, but you can know that God cares for you and wants you to seek Him through prayer. A rock in your garden won’t be moved at all if you don’t dig it out. And if you don’t pray for problems in your life, you’ll never move them either.