JOHN 17:9
I met Laura in seventh grade. We were on the swim team together. I realized instantly that she was a really cool, really unique person. But after a while I started noticing cuts and bruises on her arms. When I questioned her, she would shrug off my questions. One day Beth from my church “met” with Laura and talked with her for me. Beth told me that the best thing I could do for someone who does not want to be helped is just P.U.S.H.: PRAY UNTIL SOMETHING HAPPENS. She said our most powerful words are those we use in talking God. She and I prayed for Laura for months. In ninth grade I moved to a swim team on the other side of town and no longer saw her. Sometimes we called each other on the phone, but after a while we stopped. I still thought about her and prayed for her and so did Beth. One year later I met Laura at a festival in town, and we were able to pick up just where we had left off. She told me she cut herself because of everything that was going on in her family … and that she had not wanted to open up because she was afraid. She had started visiting a church with a friend, and her outlook was changing. She was wrestling through what she did and did not believe. Being with her made me smile because of what God had done because I P.U.S.H.ed.
Michelle Palacio, 15, Alpha Omega Academy, Charlotte, NC
Lord, I want to believe in prayer enough
to keep praying even when I can’t see results.
One day they will come, and I will see the great work
You can do when I have faith.