Prayer Makes Things Better

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, June 6.

By Gina Wahlen

Do you like to hear mission stories?

Jayden is a 10-year-old boy in Kenya. He likes to hear mission stories in Sabbath School every week. He not only likes to hear mission stories, but he also likes to tell mission stories.

Jayden eagerly nods his head when the teacher asks if he would like to tell the mission story in Sabbath School next Sabbath. He receives a copy of the Children’s Mission quarterly to read at home. During the week, he reads and rereads the mission story until he can remember it by heart. Then on Sabbath morning, he stands up in Sabbath School and tells the story to all the boys and girls.

So, when the mission story was about a girl in Alaska, he carefully read and reread the story all week. Then on Sabbath, he stood up and told all the children about 11-year-old Olivya. He told about how she missed her dog when she went to the Polaris summer camp in Alaska. He told about how the camp counselor prayed with her. He told about how prayers made everything better.

Jayden likes mission stories. He also likes to pray. He knows that prayer makes everything better.

Today’s mission story is about how prayer made everything better for Jayden.

Something very sad happened when Jayden was seven years old. His grandfather died. Jayden was very sad. Grandfather had been so kind. He had helped many people. He had also loved Jayden very, very much. In fact, Jayden was pretty sure that Grandfather had loved him more than any of the other grandchildren. Whenever he and Grandfather had spoken by phone, Grandfather had always said, “You are my favorite grandchild.”

Jayden couldn’t believe that he would never see Grandfather again. Jayden couldn’t believe that he would never talk to Grandfather again. He cried and cried. He had trouble sleeping at night. He had bad dreams. He had loved Grandfather more than anything in the whole world.

One day, he felt so sad that he tried to do something bad to himself. But two cousins stopped him. They told Father, and Father brought a Seventh-day Adventist pastor to the house. The pastor sat down with Jayden and had a long talk with him.

“God gives life,” the pastor said. “It’s up to God to decide when is the best time for life to start and when is the best time for life to end. God knows the best time for everything.”

Then the pastor prayed with Jayden.

Jayden was glad to hear that God knows everything. He decided to just leave everything to God. He would trust God’s wisdom and God’s timing.

Jayden began to cry less. He began to smile more. The bad dreams stopped, and he was able to sleep at night. Life became good with God.

Today, Jayden still misses Grandfather. But he is no longer sad. He has hope. He knows that one day Jesus will raise Grandfather back to life and they will have a wonderful reunion. He can’t wait for that day.

“I surrender everything to God,” he said.

One of the mission projects for this quarter is a school in Kenya where children can learn about the God who gives hope to the sad. The school is called Merisho Advent Community Nursery School and is located not far from Jayden’s home. Thank you for giving generously to this important project.