The Littlest Intercessor

My daddy has always had my heart. I can’t explain it, but he always has. Admittedly looking back, he has not always deserved it, but no matter what, I always unwaveringly loved and prayed for my daddy. A recent prayer for him brought back a flood of memories that I never thought about.

We were raised in church, so I knew to pray to God when I had a need. So as a child, my prayers were selfish in nature. “Lord, give me this, give me that. Don’t let the bully pick on me today.” You know- the kiddie type of prayers. The only non-selfish prayers I ever prayed as a child, were those on behalf of my dad. My mom was a stay at home mom, so I was secure in her safety and well being, but my dad worked as an insurance salesman, and he even had a short stint as a cab driver too.

Whenever Daddy was late coming home at night, I was praying for him. Whenever it stormed outside, I prayed for his safety. Whenever it snowed, I prayed, and I did not stop looking expectantly out of the window for him until he arrived home. I could not go to sleep until I heard his key in the door, and I saw him or heard him walk past my room. I always pretended to be asleep when he came home, so my mom and dad never knew about my practice.

I’ll never forget the day I was playing outside, and I saw Daddy driving down our street, and the WHOLE driver’s side of his car was smashed and caved completely in!! He only had a tiny scratch in the elbow area of his left arm. Even though I never expressed it out loud, I marveled at the fact, and was so excited that God took care of my dad! I did not think at that time, that my constant prayers on his behalf had any hand in saving him.

When I heard reports on the news about robberies and shootings in the city, I prayed even harder and more earnestly for my dad’s well being. He worked as an insurance salesman in the city, in districts that were not so nice. One of his co-workers was shot in the head, and paralyzed in one of these street attacks. Dad’s cars got broken into, and several of them were even stolen, but he was never harmed in any of those events.

One day we were riding our bikes as a family when Daddy was going too fast and he lost control on the loose sand on the pavement, and he fell head first over the side of his bike. I saw him losing control of the bike, and I can still see him in my mind falling in slow motion. That evening, all through the night, my only thoughts were of his health and well being as he sat in the emergency room with my mom. I sat on the front steps waiting all evening for them to return. When the sun went down, and it got cold outside, I sat inside at the front door looking out, praying unceasingly, waiting for my mom to bring Daddy home.

At one point in time, my family had a huge paper route-so huge that it took 3 of us driving (me, my mom and my dad) to make it work, and the other 3 non-drivers (my brothers and sister) assisted the drivers in folding papers, etc. Every night I had a practice of praying for everyone and even went so far as to pray for our jeeps that we used to deliver papers. One night I was really tired, and I forgot to pray…and that was the night that someone stole the battery out of Daddy’s jeep. At that point, I was old enough to see and start to wonder about the power of prayer.

When Daddy first told me about his battle with bone cancer, I was strong in front of him, but I cried my eyes out to God in private on his behalf. Dad has fought a valiant battle with the cancer, and looking at him, you would not suspect that he was ever touched by the disease. God has preserved him!

Right now my dad is going through another health trial. He has upcoming surgery to fuse his back and fix slipped discs that were causing him tremendous pain, to the point where he could not walk, or even stand and support himself unaided.

What brought this flood of memories to me the other morning? A couple of mornings ago, when I was before God on my dad’s behalf for his surgical procedure and his healing afterwards, I had this thought: You have always interceded for him ever since you were a little girl. You have faithfully prayed for Daddy over the years, and he will come out of the surgery fine, and he’ll be alright. Wow. Then I felt an overwhelming peace come over me about the whole situation, whereas up until that point, I was very nervous on his behalf. The thought of being in place just for the purpose of praying for another, being used by God, was humbling to say the least.
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Praise Report: Dad had the surgery a week ago today, and he came out of the surgery with flying colors. He is at home recuperating, and he is working on getting up and about like he used to. His spirits are great, and he is ever thankful to God foe everything. He told me yesterday: “In all things give thanks!”

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18

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