When I first started writing publicly about him it was under the pen name Hercules. When I told him this he replied, “Barbara. It’s from thinking I was Hercules my whole life that I’m in the shape I’m in today.” We laughed, but it wasn’t funny because his body is in pain every day.

I went onto to tell him I’m praying for him and he chuckled, shook his head and said, “God has more important things to do than worry about me. Save your prayers for something important.” As we stood there in silence, I believe there’s a lot of people who think similarly to Hercules, but I pray over the smallest things and those prayers are always answered.

I’ve let go of how they’re answered.

Some may think it’s silly, but I pray over the weather forecast. I’m not a fan of storms and if they’re predicting strong winds, this girl is praying for God to calm the winds. (Matt. 8:26) The other night we had strong winds gust up without any warning and if you’re new here, my home sits underneath five Spanish Oak trees, at least 100 years old. Everyone who walks by loves these trees and admires their sprawling canopy, but I’m like, “Try living under them when it’s windy.”

My truck sits in the driveway unprotected and there are branches hanging overhead. During the storm, it was too dark to see my truck from any window, but I walked over to the kitchen window and lifted up a simple prayer of, “Please protect my truck from falling branches.” The next morning there were branches laying in the front yard, but we were protected from any damage. When I walked over to my truck, I couldn’t believe my eyes!

A branch had fallen on my truck, but it landed smack in the middle of the bed! I was amazed, and had to laugh as I removed the branch from the bed, but remembered that little prayer at the kitchen window and nodded my head in acknowledgement to God while saying, “That was you.”