A Gift of God

This reading has to do with prayer. In Samuel 1:1, Hannah prayed that God would give her a son and God answered her prayers. In the book, Jared prayed for a blonde, brown-eyed girl. That was his heart's desire, though he was willing to leave it in God's hands and accept and love whatever child God would give them. I can't help but think that even though he was openly willing to accept whatever child God had in mind for them, don't you think he still secretly said, but God, if there is a blonde, brown-eyed girl, remember me!! The bible does tell us to pray continually and for everything and that is what God wants us to do. He also wants us to have a relationship with Him and to know Him and the only way we can do that is through reading and praying and sharing with others. The bible also says that God wants to give us the desires of our heart. Now, having said that, I think we need to examine our heart and motives when we pray for something that we want because it is in our nature to be selfish and want things that we want and don't necessarily need and aren't in line with God's will. I believe that if we pray for and ask for things that are also in line with God's heart and God's desires, those prayers will be answered. We have to remember, that the answer might not always be what we want or expect, but I believe that God will answer with what is best for us and we may not fully understand His answers until someday when we are in Heaven. I do believe that God wants to give us the desires of our heart while we are here on earth. Sometimes, we just need to pray and say "God, your will be done". (When God does answer your prayer, share it with others because it affirms in your own mind that He answers prayer, it encourages others to pray and it brings glory to God.)

One Easter Sunday

I must admit that I do find it hard to see a deeper meaning other than the one that's on the surface. That you must have faith in God and follow his word, for He loves you and will always know what's right. However, I am struggling to see the correlation between the story of Bonnie falling into the pond and God saving her with the bible passage of Jonah.

Bonnie was a child who was just curious about the fish in the pond. While Jonah was summoned by God to go to Nineveh, he disobeyed and tried to travel to Tarshish. God caused the sea to go torrent and the sailors threw Jonah overboard. God chose to save Jonah by having a whale swallow him. While in the whale Jonah recognized that he should have just listened to God and followed his word. God forgave Jonah and had the whale carry him to land.

What did you all find from this passage and scripture? I'm curious about all of your insight and what correlation you pulled.