Don't Forget to Ask

Since childhood, I have struggled with a stammer. At school I hated reading in front of my classmates.

Family members were impatient, and friends teased me by asking me to say words I couldn’t pronounce.

My speech problem became a joke that I learned to laugh about as well. Then, one day, while reading my Bible I began to notice the word ‘ask’.

‘That’s it,’ I thought to myself. Jesus told us we could ask for anything in his name and he would do it.

In prayer, I began to cry out, asking God to take this aggravation from me. His response came when I stumbled across a website dedicated to people who stammer.

It suggested that sometimes stammering can be made worse by not breathing deeply enough before speaking.

‘Really?’ I thought. Could it be that simple? I began to remind myself to breathe deeply before speaking, and my stammering problem slowly went away.

We all have personal issues and unfortunate life circumstances that God wants to help us with. What are we holding on to that can be given to him?

Whatever it is, if we trust what Jesus promised in John 14:14, we can pray daily, asking for help. Then we can wait expectantly for God’s answer.

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for allowing us to approach your throne of grace through prayer (Hebrews 4:16). Amen