I’ve always known that our Lord loves to hear what our kids have to say. And He loves to watch as their faith grows from their conversations with Him! During recent years, it has been a huge blessing to watch my students at Juneau Adventist School as they’ve become prayer warriors, not just for the usual things, but for others who now call us for prayer.
In the Gleaner some time back, we reported on Jason, one of our students who had to go to Anchorage expecting open heart surgery on an elongated aorta. He came home and reported "because of your prayers, I don’t have to have surgery!” Jason recently came back from his annual checkup and told us that his surgery may not ever have to happen!
Our prayer experiences show up in the most unusual ways sometimes. One day, during worship, I answered the phone. It was a telemarketer from India. I quickly and quietly explained we were in the middle of worship. He said, “Worship?” I replied, "Yes, we're at a Christian school. After a slight pause, in a strained and desperate voice, he asked if we would pray for him, that he had many financial problems, was in a failing relationship and that he didn’t want to live. The kids prayed for him. In an e-mail, he told us that after we prayed for him that morning, he felt a huge peace and comfort, and knew that God was there, and that he would be all right.
Another experience that shows how God works happened just this spring. We have a special group of elderly in our congregation who we pray for. One of them is Pablo Bartolomé, a dear, elderly Filipino gentleman with numerous ailments. "It is the prayers of the students that help me through these tough times," he said.
But what has been so great is that it has now become a common thing for members of the congregation to call the kids at school to ask for prayer. Someone’s sick, they call the school. Someone’s having a rough time, just tell one of the students, and get them praying!
What a gift and privilege to see our Lord at work in the lives of our precious students!
Nickie Linder, Juneau Adventist School teacher, seizes every opportunity to lead her students to her God who loves to answer prayers. (John Kriegelstein)
