What do you want?

            I’m occasionally asked to babysit my grandchildren and the older they get, the easier it has become. Once able to speak, the guesswork of what they want is over. Or so I thought.

            My granddaughter Olivia was halfway between her second and third birthday when I was asked to babysit. I fed both Olivia and her baby sister Charlie, played with them, read to them, then put Charlie in her bed where she quickly dozed off. Olivia was playing and as soon as I turned on Fox news she said, “Popsicle.” At least that’s what I thought she said. So I gave her a popsicle.

            When she had eaten it, she repeated what she’d said earlier. I gave her another popsicle. After the third red, white and blue bomb pop I called her mom and had Olivia repeat the word.

            “She’s saying Paw Patrol,” Monique interpreted. “She wants you to put on the cartoon.”

With all of the sugar I had given to her, Olivia stayed awake for a few episodes.

Now I know that God already knows what I’m going to ask for in prayer. I know that He not only understands everything I say, but He also knows what’s in my heart. Yet He still shows me in His word that I’m to make specific requests.

One example of this is found in Mark 10 when Blind Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was near. He shouted and called Him, “Son of David,” which was a term for the Messiah. In doing so, the blind man recognized the Deity that some of the sighted denied. Bartimaeus’ cries for mercy caused Jesus to stop and ask, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Jesus wanted the man to verbalize his request. When Bartimaeus said that he wanted to see, Jesus told him that his faith had healed him. He received his sight, followed Jesus, and praised God which caused others to praise Him, too.

Like Bartimaeus, my cries are heard by God, and He stops and asks what I want. And He always understands what I am saying.