I was sitting at the table with a young girl and we were both drawing with crayons. Suddenly, she slammed the crayon down and said, “This one isn’t working!” I noticed that the end that she was trying to use was covered by the wrapper. All she needed to do was flip the crayon around and use the working end. Before I could suggest this, she looked me and said “I know what we have to do! We need to pray.” “Dear Jesus”, she prayed, “fix my crayon. Amen.” Then she picked up the crayon, the correct way this time, and started drawing. “See?” she said, “We need to pray more.”

God wants us to pray often. He wants us to turn to our heavenly Father first. How often we try to solve problems on our own! We so often say, after we have tried everything humanly possible, “All we can do now is pray”. But prayer should be the first thing we do in a time of need!

It is not easy for us to “not be anxious about anything”. Although it is good use of our minds and means to plan ahead, use resources, and use common sense, worry is still a sin. When we are worried and anxious, we are not trusting in God. We should have childlike faith that God can and will “fix the crayon.” God cares for us and blesses us!

When we pray, God wants us to come to him with any request. We first come to him with prayers of thanksgiving, knowing that he will provide for us. When we pray, we are close to God. Our God is SO big and we are so little! God beat the devil, his number one enemy. We still fight the work of the devil every day, and, without God, we will fail. But God fights for us, and he gives us peace.

The peace that God gives us comes from his love for us. This love he gives us is free and undeserved. He knows that we struggle with sin and still he forgives us, every time. With this forgiveness comes a peace that is unlike any other! We are confident that, because God sent his Son into the world to beat his number one enemy, we are free!

This peace that God gave us, through his son, Jesus, is like a fortress around our heart and mind. When we put our eyes on Jesus by reading his Word in the Bible and by coming to him in prayer, he wraps us in the peace that we are truly forgiven and will receive the blessings of heaven. May we be daily reminded, during this Christmas season, of the true peace that baby Jesus brings to our hearts!