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| Here's Robert the other day and a "typical" plate of food... round 1, that is. |
Do your kids ask you the same question over and over? If you only have one child or even two, it’s probably not that big of a deal (being asked the same question, that is). But when you have 8 kids and 6 of them still live at home, it can be overwhelming. When it comes to asking for food, our kids are over-the-top. There’s this thing called RADS (Radical Attachment Disorder) that’s found in a lot of kids who are adopted. And a lot of the times the disorder plays-out in the area of food. It’s usually because they were deprived of food at one point in their life and, because they went without food, there can be issues that can even carry over even into adulthood. Well, for almost all of our adopted kids... it’s an issue. We’ve read about the disorder and we’ve even tried some of the things the experts suggested to do, but it’s to no avail. So, we have to deal with being asked about food constantly. And if we don’t eat at exactly 12:00 for lunch and by 6:00 for dinner we’ve got MAJOR issues at the house. Especially for Robert (you’ve heard me talk about him before, he’s 7 yrs. old now and he’s our youngest). About 30-45 minutes before EVERY meal he begins “stalking” whoever’s cooking. He’ll start by nonchalantly walking through the kitchen (trying to get a glimpse of what we’re having). Then he begins asking how much longer. And this will continue until the food is ready. This happens EVERY meal and just wears us out. There’s nothing like being pressured by some little kid to get the food to cook faster. But then it doesn’t stop there. We pile soooooo much food on all their plates that it’s almost grotesque (how much food they’re about to eat, that is). And after we serve all of them we make our plates (Me and MJ) and we sit down and start eating. But then about 5 minutes into our meal it happens... “Mom, can I have more? Can I have more? Can I have more?” Seriously? We’re not even done with our first plate and you want more? First of all we gave you so much food to begin with, that it’s nothing less than miraculous that you were able to eat it all, much less eat it that fast. And now you want more?! I weigh 230ish and I can’t even eat that much!
So the dance we call “mealtime” goes the same every time and it’s exhausting. Can I have more, can I have more, can I have more... It’s a constant asking, and asking and asking. Man, make it stop! But they’re persistent. And eventually we cave in and give it to them (mainly so they’ll leave us alone and we can finish our meal in peace without feeling like there’s someone waiting for us to finish). It’s crazy...
The reason I’m telling you this story is because it’s that’s exactly what God wants us to do with Him (ask Him over and over). For real. He wants us to pester Him! He wants us to be persistent in asking Him for what we need. That’s sounds crazy, huh? Where I want to smack my kids (hypothetically, of course. haha) for asking me something over and over, God’s the opposite. He wants us to ask Him over and over.
There’s a story that Jesus told in Luke 18 where there was this widow who persistently asked for what she needed. You should read it, it’s not that long of a parable. This lady kept coming to this judge (who didn’t fear God or respect man) asking for justice and the judge kept saying no. But eventually he gave into her requests because he didn’t want her to “beat him down by continually coming to him with her request.” Jesus then said, “that if an unrighteous judge (who didn’t fear God or respect man) did that, wouldn’t God give justice to His elect who cry to him day and night? And won’t He (God) do it speedily and without delay?” That’s what it says, go check it out for yourself.
Actually, the parable starts out (in verse 1) by saying that He (Jesus) told the parable “to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” Did you catch that? It says, “always.” So if there’s a situation that you’ve already asked God to intervene in or if there’s a request you’ve made that’s still burdening you and you haven’t received the answer... keep asking. Keep asking and then keep asking. And then when you’re done, ask again. Jesus said it, not me: )
Love Ya,
Jim
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