Last week I shared with you how our daughter’s persistent petitioning of her daddy and then praying to her Heavenly Father for a puppy paid off. This wasn’t the first time, though, that this strong willed girl (Lord, help me) wore out heaven with her requests.

 
While we were adopting our other daughter, Sharon, from Uganda, we studied the story of the persistent widow from
Luke 18:
 

“One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’” Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?””
‭‭Luke‬ ‭18:1-8 NLT 

We all chose one specific thing to pray over their future sister whom we had seen a picture of, but hadn’t met yet. Arabella chose to pray everyday that her sister Sharon would have clean water, for she knew that many people in Africa do not have access to safe drinking water.
 
“Lord, please help Sharon have clean water.”
 
“God, please give Sharon clean water.” Her little three-year-old voice would pray a slightly different variation of the exact same request, night after night after night, for months.
 
God granted justice to his Chosen one, his daughter, for praying for His other daughter. I remember the day I took this picture of the two sisters, side by side, drinking  bottled water in a hot van bouncing down a bumpy dirt road in Uganda.

When I realized she was living her answered prayer, with my heart exploding out of my eyes, I said,
 
“This is what you prayed for, Arabella!”
 
I think she kind of just smiled, pressed into her sister, and giggled. She was so happy to be with her sister, I don’t think her answered prayer registered.
 
Dear Daughter,
 
I am here, waiting for you to ask again and not give up. I will empower you with inner strength through my Spirit within you (Ephesians 3:16) so that you will be able to keep asking and not faint. I will not drag my feet. There are many pieces to this puzzle that I am strategically positioning. Everyday I have not been able to grant you your request quite yet, I have collected your tears and I am holding them in my bottle. (Psalm 56:8). Trust me, daughter until you can see the bigger picture. In the meantime, keep praying to Me and never give up. I desire for my daughters to have this kind of persistent faith and I’m sending Jesus back to get you soon. (Luke 18:8)
 
Dear Sister,
 
Have you been in the position of the persistent widow?
 
Have you been tempted to loose heart as Jesus warned against in this story in scripture, and quit praying?
 
I know I have.
 
Day after day of asking the SAME THING is exhausting. I get tired of hearing my own voice say the same words, same syllables, same sounds.
 
But God doesn’t.
 
Remember His desire? It’s for his daughter to return to his lap, his chest, his countenance, day after day. If you have the same need today that you had yesterday he wants you to lay it there, again, at His feet.
 
Your father will not delay. He will not make you wait a day past his appointed time to grant your request. In fact, he will do it speedily. We just have to trust his timing and KEEP ASKING.

If you are tempted to give up and quit praying for someone or something today, don’t!

Email me and let me partner with you in prayer this week. Just let me know what the request is, I’m here for you! 

And as always, please let me know if this week’s Dear Daughter Devotion encouraged you! 

Amy