Ask and You Shall Receive

Value: Love

Sub value: Faith, Devotion

The podcast of the story on Saiprem podcast at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1498462/episodes/12741412

Once upon a time, there lived a very poor couple who had four sons and two daughters. The man of the house was bedridden due to an illness, hence there was no source of income in the house.

It was the lady of the house who had to manage the household within their meager means. It was a constant worry and juggle for the woman to run her household and provide the basic necessities for her children and her husband.

Her dire circumstances compelled her to appeal to the shopkeeper of a nearby shop, to give her some groceries on credit.

With great trepidation, she humbly approached the shopkeeper and explained the situation of her family to him. She had hoped that he would oblige her with the credit on food items, but to her dismay, not only did the shopkeeper refuse to help but also retorted that she seek help elsewhere.

A gentleman at the shop noticed this woman’s woeful plight and offered to help the woman by paying for her groceries.

With great reluctance, the shrewd shopkeeper asked the woman to put her shopping list on the weighing scale but laid a condition that she would be able to take the groceries, which equaled the weight of her shopping list.

When the woman heard this, she bowed her head and closed her eyes, as if in prayer. She took a piece of paper and wrote something on it. She then put that piece of paper on the weighing scale carefully with great humility.

As soon as the woman put that piece of paper on the weighing scale, it tilted down as if the piece of paper had taken the place of weights on the scale.

Both the shopkeeper and the gentleman stared in open-mouthed amazement as the scale went down and stayed down with the weight of the paper.

The bewildered shopkeeper looked at the scales and started stacking the groceries on the other side of the scale, yet the scales did not balance. He continued to load up the groceries on the other scale, for the scales to balance. But, to the astonishment of the shopkeeper and the gentleman, the scales would not balance at all!

Confoundedly, unable to fathom this ongoing scene, he pounced on that piece of paper from the scales and looked at it; his bewilderment gave way to awe and reverence.

The piece of paper was not a grocery list. It was instead a prayer that said, “Dear God, you know of my needs, and I am leaving this in your hands to give me as much as You want.”

Speechless at the miracle which he had witnessed, the shopkeeper quietly gave her the food items that he had put on the scales without billing her. The woman profusely thanked the shopkeeper for his goodwill and kind gesture then went her way.

The shopkeeper discovered later that, the scales had broken under the weight of that mysterious piece of paper. Therefore, only the Lord knows how much a prayer weighs.”

Learning

Through prayer, a person can address the Lord, his/her feelings, and mind. Prayer is a way of having a personal experience and intimate connection with our loving Lord.

God is willing to listen to us and responds with love and concern, all the time. The method of such calling our Lord is PRAYER.

Those who have faith in Lord, generally pray for Him. Prayer can be done during worship or can be done silently in our minds. If we pray to the Lord with sincerity then He shall answer to our prayers immediately. Those who love God have full trust and faith in Him. And He answers their prayers.

(Source: http://gita-blog.blogspot.sg/2013/01/have-intimate-connection-with-your.htm)