"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."
A while back one of our readers told me a lesson he learned while out riding motorcycles one day with his brother.
They rode across desert hills, and wound up miles from anywhere. Topping a rise, they stopped for a moment to appreciate the vistas before them. But trouble was noticed almost immediately. A strange sound was coming from his cycle, and upon investigation he found it was the sound of air being sucked into the crankcase. He had lost a bolt out of the engine, and if it were to be turned off, all the oil would drain out immediately.
He had no options but to turn around then and there and go back, canceling the plans for the day... unless they could find that bolt. In desperation they left the cycle idling on its kickstand and started to walk back along the desert trail. How hopeless it seemed. Who knew where it might have fallen out?
Then his brother suggested that One DID know where the bolt was, and they should stop and ask Him for a little help. So they did, and bowing their heads they sent off a simple prayer. He felt a little silly: he basically believed that God helps those who help themselves and stopping to pray they were we wasting time. Then he realized that with his head bowed, he was looking down at the trail at his feet -- and there was the missing bolt!
God knows your troubles. Yes, pausing to pray about them takes time. But the hardest thing we have to learn is that when we take the time to include God in our plans, we give him the opportunity to reveal himself. In everything, present your requests.
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