Mary and Winston were praying together as they did every night before bed. Among the usual prayer items, they prayed for Alisa, their daughter.
Alisa was a normal kid who did well in school and had friends. However, at some point, she fell in love with a boy who was a drug user. He didn’t really love her, but she thought he did. He just used her to get high. Eventually, she started doing drugs too and dropped out of school.
She and her boyfriend decided to go squatting instead of going home so they could do drugs. They had trouble eating, but Alisa’s mom would bring them groceries so they could eat. Mary knew she was enabling them, but as a mother, she couldn’t live with herself if they died. By now, Alisa and her boyfriend were doing heroin 3 or 4 times a day.
As Mary and Winston knelt down to pray, they once again prayed for Alisa to give up the drugs and come home. They had lost track of how many times they had prayed for her. But they knew that if they kept asking, they would receive. So they kept asking, every day.
One day, Alisa had a bad fight with her boyfriend. The only thing she could do was go home. He tried to stop her so he could continue using her. But she wasn’t going to allow him to do that to her anymore.
So, Alisa came to her parents’ house and was afraid to approach them, afraid that they would be mad at her. Before she could knock on the door, it swung open and they kept hugging her nonstop. They fixed some of her favorite foods as she was showering and getting cleaned up. Her parents were overjoyed.
As they knelt beside the bed, they changed their prayer from “Please save Alisa,” to “Thank you for saving Alisa.” As Alisa got settled into her former life, she started to have real happiness again. Finally, she went back to school and started to be a happy-go-lucky girl again. It took a while, but she eventually put everything behind her and resumed her normal life.
“For everyone who keeps on asking receives. He who keeps on seeking finds. To him who keeps on knocking the door will be opened.”
Matthew 7:7-8
“For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn His face from you if you return to Him.”
2 Chronicles 30:9