The Kingdom of Heaven, 1 of 5

Animal Crackers and Prayer

Sandy was shopping at the Boston Road supermarket two blocks from our house when she witnessed a young mother yelling angrily at her young son.  This went on and on, until Sandy felt led to approach the woman.  “Hi, you seem to be dealing with a lot of stress.  Do you mind if I pray for you?” 

The woman said she would love to be prayed for.  She was about to be evicted from her apartment.   After Sandy prayed, the young woman told her “You pray different than I have ever heard before.”  The little son yelled “Do it again!”  So Sandy said, “Sure, I’ll pray for you again,” and knelt down and  put her arms around the boy and prayed again.   When she finished, the little boy yelled “That felt so good!” 

The young woman told Sandy she remembers meeting her last year while we were house hunting, but Sandy does not remember that meeting.   Anyway, while they were talking another shopper came up and asked the young woman if she knows where the animal crackers are.  Sandy had this quick thought “I should pray for that woman, too,” but the opportunity passed and her new young friend told the hunter of animal crackers where she thought she could find animal crackers. 

Sandy bought her groceries was standing just inside the grocery store door, nearly ready to leave, when the hunter of animal crackers approached her: “Excuse me, do you know where I could find a big box of animal crackers?”  It was almost like this woman was stalking her.  So Sandy said “Well, I don’t know where you could find animal crackers here, but you could check Aldi…  By the way, would you mind if I pray for you?”

The woman said “Yes, I would like that,” so Sandy stood there praying for the woman, tears coming down her face, while the woman was holding her hands up in the air, receiving the prayer.

The Scripture that came to Sandy on the way home was from Isaiah 61, the passage that Jesus read in Luke 4…“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind…”

Your Kingdom come, your will be done, here on earth as it is in heaven.  Matthew 6

Sandy says “Prayer is such a powerful gift! Use it to minister to someone today!”

​Rich