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My forehead pressed against the glass door, I strained to look for Heather. A car pulled up that I didn’t recognize. I crossed my fingers and hoped it was Heather. To my surprise, Todd and his parents got out. Todd? Since when did he start coming here?
“Hi, Todd,” I said nervously, anxious to be near him. He is so cute and so nice.
“Hi, Stephanie. These are my parents. Mom and Dad, meet Stephanie. We go to school together,” he said as he introduced us.
“Hello, Stephanie. It’s good to meet you.” His father extended his hand for me to shake. That felt funny. I wasn’t used to shaking people’s hands.
Heather came in with her parents. While we were talking, I found out that Todd had been going to my church on Sunday’s for a couple weeks. I hadn’t even seen him there until now. He had been sitting upstairs with his parents during worship service, instead of coming downstairs to children’s church with the rest of us kids. Maybe he didn’t know our children’s church went up through the sixth grade.
Todd’s parents continued talking with Heather’s parents while we headed off to class. On Wednesday’s the boys and girls had class together. We took a seat at the same table. Just sitting near Todd made my heart beat faster.
Michelle and Denise were sitting together. Michelle nudged Denise, pointed to us, and whispered something. Then they both smiled at me. I was sure my face turned ten shades of red.
“How about we open up in a word of prayer?” our teacher, Mr. Singer suggested. “Does anyone have any prayer request?”
Lisa asked for prayer for her uncle who has cancer. Josh requested prayer for his parents. They weren’t getting along very well and he was concerned they might get divorced. Before I knew it, Heather’s hand was up in the air.
“Yes? I’m sorry I don’t know your name,” Mr. Singer apologized.
“My name is Heather. I’d like to request prayer for my father. He lost his job around five months ago. He thought for sure he would find another job, but he hasn’t yet.”
“All right. Are there any other prayer requests?” Mr. Singer asked. When no one answered we bowed our heads and began to pray.
I prayed for Lisa’s uncle, Josh’s parents, and for Heather’s father to find a job soon. I also prayed for Darla, hoping she would befriend Heather, too.
After Bible study was over, Todd and I walked with Heather upstairs to meet her parents. “I feel different,” Heather said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“After we prayed, I felt different. I don’t feel so worried anymore. I can’t explain it, It’s just different,” Heather said.
“God wants to carry our burdens. When we pray, we give our problems to Him and let him take care of them,” Todd explained to Heather. Heather smiled in understanding. I could tell that prayer had made her feel better.
“I want to get to know more about God and prayer,” Heather said.
“Why don’t you start reading in the New Testament, start with Mathew. That should help you get to know a little bit more about Jesus,” Todd suggested.
“I don’t have a Bible,” Heather said.
Todd began turning through the pages of his Bible and pulled out a couple pieces of paper. “Here. Take mine.” He handed her his Bible.
“You’re kidding?” Heather’s eyes lit up as big as bowling balls. Todd shook his head no. He was serious. He handed her his Bible gladly. “Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
“You’re welcome.” Todd smiled. He was so sweet.