A few years ago I started keeping track of what I call “silly little prayers.”
These are prayers that seem, well, almost too silly to pray. They are tiny and sometimes whiny, and often feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things. They are prayers that, if I overthink it, make me feel like at some point God might lose his patience with me. Like he might eventually slump his shoulders and roll his eyes, sigh, and write me entire paragraph of body language that says, in some form or another, figure it out on your own, I don’t have time for this nonsense.
But he won’t.
In Philippians 4:6 the Bible says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.”
Everything!!
And 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” [emphasis added]
It says to pray those silly prayers, to tell God every little thing that is troubling you, bothering you, inspiring you, testing you, and exciting you BECAUSE He cares for you. Because He wants to know you. Because He wants you to draw closer and closer to him. Because He will never grow tired of you, abandon you, or view you as a burden, an annoyance, or a call he sends straight to voicemail.
Ephesian 6:18 says, “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”
All kinds! Even the silly ones! Even the short ones. Even the off the wall, not 100% clear or concise ones. Even the ones we say while falling asleep. Even the ones we choke out through sobs and snot. Even the ones we don’t have words for. Even the ones that we say through gritted teeth. Even the ones that make us laugh. Even the ones that make us cringe.
All kinds. On all occasions.
So I started writing them down.
All of them.
Big and small.
Empowering and embarrassing.
And every once in a while I’ll read back through them and realize—he answered them.
Looking through the list I can check so many off.
Those teeny tiny silly prayers. He heard them and he answered them. Which leads me to believe: why wouldn’t he answer my biggest ones?
So pray the silly little prayers.
Maybe even write them down.
Watch how God answers the small prayers, and let it strengthen your faith to pray the big ones.
I rely on the constant, teeny tiny ones to get me through the day!
XO