The summer after we moved into our new house I was doing a bible study with some friends on Prayer by O. Halesby. One particular Wednesday morning of the study sticks out to me.  As I lugged the kids to church that morning, I could not have guessed how God would use what I was learning that very day to strengthen my faith.  We discussed the purpose of prayer and what we should pray for.   The lesson covered how God cares about the things in our lives that we may think are too small for Him.  We discussed how each thing we bring before God should not be for our glory but for His. I still long for this lesson to be constantly in my heart.  Oh, that God would give me the desires of my heart.  That He would place his desires within me.  That I would seek His glory and not my selfishness.

Using that study, God was teaching me to pray, to give Him my desires and to seek Him.  That particular day as I sat in the class made hectic by children running and playing around us, God’s word convicted my heart.  I was reminded to pray for God’s glory in my situation instead of seeking myself.  I could see the purpose of prayer was not to make requests so that I would be happy or satisfied.  I was to “commit my way to the LORD [and] trust in Him” (Psalm 37:3-5).  I should be asking for things not so I would get what I wanted or so my kids would obey me because I am their mom but so that God will be glorified. This seems so simple but it was huge to me.  If we are truly seeking God’s glory and His desires, we can ask with confidence knowing that God will bring glory to Himself.  In Isaiah 48:11 he says, “My glory I will not give to another.”  The outcome of our prayers may not be in the way that we ask or expected but God will bring Himself glory.

Later that afternoon as we were all playing outside.  My daughter, K, got tired of her bike and started to look for something else to do.  Infact she was just looking for something.  A four-leaf clover to be exact.  She had just read a children’s book with Daddy the night before about Eeyore and his friends looking for a four-leaf clover to change his luck.  K looked methodically through the grass for one.  After probably 45 minutes, K, who was not giving up, came over and expressed her longing desire to find a four-leaf clover.  I looked into those distraught and disappointed eyes and blurted out, “maybe we should pray for one.”

I couldn’t believe that flew out of my mouth.  My hands almost jumped up to my mouth as if to try and push it back in.  Oh no, what had I said?  Pray for a four-leaf clover?  How could something be more insignificant to God?  But in those 3-year-old little eyes, I saw the longing and frustration and knew what we were talking about at bible study was true; bring it all to the Lord.  Nothing is insignificant to God if it matters to us, and this mattered to K.  So there in the front yard we sat and we prayed for a four-leaf clover.  As I prayed, God reminded me of the wisdom that this request must not be for K’s happiness but for God’s glory.  So that’s what I prayed.  And I continued to pray throughout my day, “Lord if it would glorify you to make K a four-leaf clover please form one for her by your mighty hand.  If it would bring you glory to teach a little girl that you are real and you hear her please do this for her.  If this would teach her about prayer and you would be glorified please help her to find a four-leaf clover?”

I began to be confident that God would make her a four-leaf clover but my prayer transformed to be seeking God’s glory not the four-leaf clover. It was not so Kassidy would stop asking me about a four-leaf clover, it was not so that I could stop counting to 3 leaves over and not so she could have a “lucky charm”, but because it would show my K the very love of God that He is his infinite greatness would take the time to fashion a little miracle for His child.

Then doubt crept in.   “What if he doesn’t make her a four-leaf clover?  What would she learn then?  Would she doubt God?  Am I testing Him in asking?”  That night as I put K to bed, I gently reminded her that God knows what we need better than we do.  I explained that we might not find a four-leaf clover at all or it might take a long time.  Whatever God decides, we can always ask because God loves us and wants to hear our desires.  We just need to trust Him and whatever He answers.  We prayed together again.  This time K prayed too.   She rolled over and mumbled into her pillow.  When she was done, I asked her what she prayed for.  “Oh, just maybe a hundred four-leaf clovers or something,” she said with a shrug.  I had to giggle as I kissed her good night.

Again, I saw something in her eyes.  This time it was hope, a little glimmer of joy and excitement to think that God would do this for her.  I prayed fervently that night and into the next day.  “Oh Lord, please grant this child this lesson of your love for her.  Not for the sake of the clover but for the sake of her heart and your glory within it. “

The next day as I went about my day, I continued to pray.  As I walked back to the house from the backyard I thought, “I’m just going to look for a moment.” I paused and looked down and there it was.  I squealed, I jumped up and probably skipped to the house.  “I found a four-leaf clover, I found a four-leaf clover.  Look here it is!  God made you a four-leaf clover!”  K seemed excited but she wanted to find one herself.  I took her back to the spot I found it and sure enough there was one for her to pick too.

Over the next couple of weeks, we found four leaf clover after four leaf clover.  God is so good!  He granted our prayer.  One was enough but God continued to shower us with his blessing and remind us that He answers prayers.

We told my son, N, later that day.  In his excitement for her he responded “I’m going to pray for a five-leaf clover.”  I laughed and said there is no such thing as a five-leaf clover.  As I look back on this part of my memory it is vague to me probably because at that moment a five-leaf clover meant nothing to me.  It was as if I was saying, “God can make a four-leaf clover because they are rare but he can’t make a five-leaf clover because they don’t exist.”

We would sit out at the clover patch and count leaves.  Each time we would get to four we would be so excited.  Then one day N counted to five.  “No that’s not right, let me see,” I said.   There before my eyes was the impossible.  God was reminding me that he is the creator of the Heavens and Earth who spoke into darkness and then there was light (Genesis 1:1-3).  He can do all things!

I have found myself leaning on this clover memory as a pillar that has strengthened my faith and broadened my view of who God is.   God revealed a little of Himself to me in these answers to our prayers.  I now echo what Job said to the LORD in Job 42:2, “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

God is not just a God who does miracles for others or a God that protects us when we are in danger.  He is not limited to providing only our needs.  In those four-leaf clovers God showed me he cares about the smallest details of our lives.  He took the time to create something for my children and for me.  Our God is a God who answers prayers, prayers that we don’t even know are possible.

I saw God tangibly in those clovers.  I held in my hand an answer to prayer.  I tucked in a safe place a tangible memory of God’s blessing.  I hold in my heart that God loves me enough to give me this gift.

This answer to our prayers became a milestone in my faith.  I look back on it and remember the faithfulness of my God.  Now tucked safely in my drawer is my stone of remembrance of what God has done for me and hanging on my wall is a picture of my daughter holding her four-leaf clover, holding her answered prayer.  Seeing my God work in my life like this has set me to look for more four (and five) -leaf clovers, for more stones of remembrance.  However, I have come to see the four-leaf clover for what it really is- God’s blessing and His answered prayer.

This story is included in a series called Stones of Remembrance you can read the introduction to that story here.

Your Turn:

What are you asking God for? Are you seeking His glory in your request?