Anita’s Rain Story

I love how children have such a strong faith in God. Children accept God will answer their prayers, in the same way their parents will give them the things they need.

Adults do not always have such childlike faith in their own prayers. This point became clear to me as we were travelling home in our car after our long trip away. The closer we got to home, the brown landscape reminded us that our beloved region had not seen rain for months, neither was any rain predicted in the ensuing weeks.

We talked about how sad it was when there was no rain. How the land suffered. How the animals suffered with no water or feed. We also talked about how hard it was for the farmers as their lives depended on the rain for their crops and how we in turn, depended on the farmers, for our food.

My daughter made an announcement! She had decided to pray there would be rain that day. I just went along with her. “Yes, Lord, we pray it will rain soon.” I knew it would not rain. I had already checked the weather report. I felt at the time, it was a total waste of breath and to call on God’s power seemed such a naïve request. Meteorologists know best after all, and as a scientist myself, I trusted there was therefore no chance of rain.

After praying, we drove on in silence. I concentrated on looking at the dry road ahead through the dusty windscreen. My daughter drifted off to sleep.

You can imagine my disbelief when spots appeared on the windscreen. I was astonished. They were rain drops. Before long, I was forced to flick on my windscreen wipers. It was pouring! My daughter woke up with the sound of the rain on the car roof and I excitedly said, “Look Anita, it’s raining!” She blinked at me and calmly responded, “Of course Mummy. I prayed for rain.”

My daughter still knows that every time she prays for rain, or anything else, God will hear her prayer. I want more of her faith in my life.

Kylie’s story