Faith is the key

MICHELE MARR

“All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will

receive,”

-- JESUS, MATTHEW 21:22

In the worst days of the recent wildfires that devoured hundreds

of thousands of acres of wilderness and several thousand homes, I

talked to quite a few people who said they were praying, some who

quickly confessed they rarely prayed.

Several had donated money to the Red Cross then felt there was

little else they could do. “Why not [pray]?” one woman said then

shrugged. “It can’t hurt.” She, like others, said there was little

more she could do.

I prayed, too. I prayed God would sustain the firefighters as they

fought against the furious and propagating fires. I prayed God would

comfort each person who lost their home and every earthly thing they

cherished.

I prayed for those who lost theirs lives; I prayed for the

families of the dead. But in those early days of the fires, one thing

I never risked praying for was rain.

I didn’t pray for rain because I’d looked at the skies. I’d

checked the weather channel. It was clear -- beyond any shadow of

doubt -- there was no rain in sight.

When I stopped by Stater Bros. for groceries the cashier and I

lamented that fact. Rain would be a godsend we said. But, we rolled

our eyes, fat chance.

So when a week ago Wednesday my friend Lisa recounted a story

about her youngest daughter, Sarah, I became more than a little

humbled. Suddenly, the words Jesus spoke more than once to his

disciples -- “O ye of little faith” -- clearly fit me.

A couple of days into the firestorms, Lisa had gotten a call from

her sister-in-law, Jeanne, who lives in Escondido. She described to

Lisa how closely the fires were encroaching toward her home.

After the call, Lisa and her family spent some time in prayer then

she called Jeanne back and suggested she leave town and come to stay

with them. But Jeanne simply wasn’t ready to leave at that point.

Later that evening, when Sarah and Lisa were alone in the house, Lisa

found 8-year-old Sarah, barefoot and sooty, painstakingly sweeping up

ash from the fires that had settled in their backyard.

Lisa watched her for a time then appraising Sarah’s task as

futile, she encouraged her to stop. But Sarah refused. Instead, she

explained to her mother what she was doing. “It’s good that we prayed

for the people in San Diego that are having a whole lot of trouble

and I shouldn’t just sit around and forget about it,” Sarah told her

mother. “So I’m just going to clean our sidewalk everyday -- to show

the people that I can keep my house clean and other people can do

that too -- so that God will see me and can send the rain on the

people where the fire is.”

Sarah asked Lisa if she thought it was a good idea.

As I had all week, Sarah’s mother considered how hot and dry the

weather was. Surely, she thought, there was no chance it would rain

any time soon. But she didn’t want to discourage her hopeful

daughter, so she added some prayers to Sarah’s.

She asked God to honor the earnest prayers of an 8-year-old who

wanted so very much to do something to help those, who like her aunt,

were in harm’s way.

Lisa had recently read the story of the prophet Elijah who prayed

for rain and received it. “It could happen,” she reasoned.

So Sarah came home from school each day and swept up the ash from

her yard. Lisa would find her, covered ankles to knees with soot,

staying true to her word.

It was Friday, when I heard the first report of rain in Ventura.

By evening it was pouring in Sunset Beach when my husband and I left

the Harbor House after dinner.

When I talked with Lisa, she said Sarah was excited about the

rain, but not surprised. “Sarah never gave up hope,” she said. Not a

bit.

“You do not have, because you do not ask.” James 4:2

But not Sarah.

* MICHELE MARR is a freelance writer from Huntington Beach. She

can be reached at [email protected].