Laundry Mats & Homemade Candy

To my readers,

Our dryer doesn’t work properly.  Despite its age, the dryer can only take a small load at a time.  Now, when I say small load, I literally mean a single pair of jeans at a time.  It doesn’t make for the most conventional way to wash clothes, however, we made do until this summer.  With all my siblings, an aunt, and my parents all living together, it makes laundry day especially difficult. 

Because of this, I gladly go to a little hole in the wall Laundromat.  Every time I go to this laundry mat, a sweet old lady tries to sell me homemade candy.  I don’t use the term “sweet old lady” sarcastically; I genuinely mean she is a sweet old lady.  Though the last thing I want to do at a laundry mat is buy candy, she is always there soliciting her candy. 

There is this parable that Jesus tells in the Gospels about prayer through the image of a neighbor.  He gives a setting that if you needed bread at midnight to feed a guest, you would go to your neighbor and knock on his door.  He continues to say that you would keep knocking despite all his responses until he finally gets up to give you what you need because of your shameless persistence.  He then closes with,

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.  Keep on seeking, and you will find.  Keep on knocking, and the door with be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds.  And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Luke 11: 9-10, NLT.

Normally if I get one “no” or a “closed door,” I just quit trying.  I think if we are all honest, I am not alone in this statement. 

What if we prayed with shameless persistence? 

Normally we become shameless when we are completely desperate. What if we prayed as though we were desperate? What if we treated people and situations, we would normally pray for once, as something so important, we cant help but continuously pray for them?

I believe we would not only start to see the world change, but our own hearts.

As we start to focus on God and pray for Him to move, our hearts become more focused on the things that affect his heart.  We start to notice the hurt and pain around us.  We see this broken world that is in such need of hope and love that we can’t help but become desperate that God would move.

This last time at the laundry mat, I bought a candy.

What would the world look like if we desperately sought after God?  

Simply,

Tex G.M. Rule

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.  Keep on seeking, and you will find.  Keep on knocking, and the door with be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds.  And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Luke 11: 9-10, NLT.