Answers to Prayers

If you have less than ten minutes to give a quick lesson on prayer ... how do you make a quick impact?

Start with two balloons. One is blown up and the other is not. I told a story from the scriptures about a family that had a problem to solve and went to the Lord for help. We started talking about how the Lord answers our prayers.

Somewhere towards end of the story, I popped the first balloon. Why you ask? Well, first and foremost, it about gives the kids a heart attack, which I find completely entertaining. However, the real reason is to demonstrate the fact that the Lord doesn't usually send these massive and loud answers. Man, life would be so much easier if He did! We would know exactly what to do and when to do it.

While the kids shared some of their experiences with getting answers to prayers, I blew up the second balloon just slightly. I ended with the fact that the Lord knows we can't really learn and grow unless we figure out some things for ourselves. Let the air out of the second balloon nice and quiet like ... and end with the thought that we can only receive answers during those quiet little moments when we open our hearts and minds to that small voice inside.