Is that all?

Is that all?

It was an innocent question from a 4 year old's point of view ... 

and I was reminded of it this morning at church!

I remember it clearly, we were sitting in the living room on the gray couch that was kind of picky ... I remember how the furniture was arranged and my mom and dad must have asked me how my birthday was, or which present was my favorite or something along those lines, and my response was, 

"is that all"?

I really don't think I was trying to be ungrateful or sassy, I just wanted to know if the presents were over or if there were more! 

I wasn't afraid to say it, I wasn't afraid to ask my Daddy if he had MORE for me!

However we got to the point of that question, I asked it, and for whatever reason, there was more ... and it was 

EVERY LITTLE GIRL'S DREAM

it was an

EASY BAKE OVEN!

Now I could bake cakes just like mommy did! 

I was so excited!

What I was reminded of in church this morning was that my 4 year old self was not afraid to ask my earthly Daddy

"is that all"?

Today at church Pastor told a few stories ... 

One of them was this:

and the other was that sometimes we pray speaking to God as if He can only hear us if we speak with "all the right words" rather than as if we are having a conversation with a friend. 

Do we approach God formally as if we might do it wrong, 

"our Gracious Heavenly Father ..."

or do we speak to Him as if we are speaking to our best friend or our earthly Daddy?  It's not that God doesn't deserve our reverence, but it isn't found in "how" we come to Him! If we have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior, He has sent His Holy Spirit to indwell us! He lives within us, He knows our deepest desires, He knows our "hidden" sins, He knows our hopes, our dreams and our fears ... He WANTS to have an intimate relationship with us. He wants us to approach Him with the faith that He can move our mountains, He can heal our deepest hurts and He can calm our greatest fears! He wants us to have the faith that He has our best in mind, and that even though we don't always understand, or it doesn't always make sense to us we can trust Him! He wants us to approach Him as we approach our earthly fathers, without the fear of asking 

"is that all"!

When Pastor reminded us of that, I was instantly a 4 year old child, sitting on a picky couch, innocently asking my loving earthly Daddy "is that all" and because I wasn't afraid to ask, I received.

HOW MUCH MORE DOES MY HEAVENLY FATHER LOVE ME?

If I can approach my earthly father and ask him "is that all" and expect that he has more to give me, how much more could my Heavenly Father give me, 

if only I dared to ask HIM

"is that all"?

I want to learn to pray as a child. When life is too much for me and I feel like everything around me is falling apart, when I feel I can't do this anymore and I am frozen in my fear, or anger, or pain, I want to fervently and reverently pray 

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

trusting that He will put those letters together, 

knowing that He will put those letters together 

because He knows my heart better than I do.

I also want to learn to PRAY BOLDLY!

I want to pray, speaking to God as that little girl in my childhood living room spoke to her Daddy. 

I knew I was my Daddy's princess, I trusted that he loved me, I believed that as much as it was in his power he wanted to give to me exceedingly abundantly more than I asked not because I was asking for "more" but because of his great, great love for me!

If at 4 years old I could trust that my earthly father had that much love for me, that I could boldly ask him for more, if I could approach him with faith and not fear, why oh why can't I trust and believe that his love can't even begin to compare to my Heavenly Father's love for me?

I want to fully trust and believe that I can approach God with prayers that are 

EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY beyond that which I can ask or think!

I don't believe that He is a genie in a bottle who will just hand me anything I ask for, but I also know that I need to have faith that my God loves me with a love that exceeds any love I have ever felt here on this earth. That He knew me before I came to be (Psalm 139:16) that he knit me together in my mama's womb and that He has never nor will He ever leave me or forsake me!

I can approach Him boldly and without fear! I can ask Him 

"is that all"

and I can expect

GREAT THINGS

from Him! 

So tonight as I fall asleep, I will pray

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

and I will follow that with

"is that all"

knowing that He will put the letters together, and He will answer

EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY

above what I ask!

I will trust FULLY that however He answers my prayers He has all things planned for me ... for my good and His Glory!

Goodnight Abba Daddy ... is that all?