Have You Asked?

We all face struggles in life – some that are difficult and traumatic, and some that are just bumps in the road of life that cause temporary frustrations and discouragement. My youngest son Zachary had one of the latter struggles. He had no major catastrophe going on in his young life, but he was struggling on the baseball field.

Although always an active and energetic child, quickly succeeding at whatever he determined to do, Zachary could not hit the ball when he was at bat in baseball. Occasionally – okay, twice – he was successful, evening earning a game ball. But there was no consistency to his rare hits. He dealt with the frustration well throughout the season. In fact, as a rookie straight from tee ball, it did not seem to bother him at all… until the tournament began.

In three tournament games, he was 0 for 9 on hits. By the third game – a double header – he was clearly upset about striking out every time at bat. From the bleachers, I watched his struggle get harder and harder for him, and I pleaded with the Lord during his last two attempts to please let that ball and bat connect. But the Lord chose to let Zachary fail. I did not understand why at that moment, but I trusted the Lord and knew it was time to have a talk with my little guy.

After that game, I asked Zachary if he had ever prayed about his struggle to hit the ball. He admitted he had not. I suggested he pray and ask God for his help. After all, the Bible tells us that sometimes we do not have the things we want because we have not asked God for them. I followed up by cautioning him that, while God always hears and answers our prayers, it is not always the answer we want. God may have a reason to keep Zachary from hitting.

He asked why God would not want him to hit the ball. I suggested that God may want him to learn patience and perseverance in his struggle, or God may want him to show his teammates a Christ-like response to a difficult situation. We cannot know for sure, but we can know that God’s answer to our prayers is the best answer. And God certainly wants to hear about our struggles and bring them to Him, asking for His help.

So Zachary, and the rest of our family, committed to praying for a hit in the next game, but we also trusted God’s perfect plan and would be content with whatever happened.

At his next and final game of the season, Zachary stepped up to bat. All of his teammates seemed to sense that something was different this time. They rallied behind Zachary and all started cheering for him like never before. “Let’s go, Zachary, let’s go!” was repeated over and over as he stood before the pitcher.

The ball was pitched, and a sound was heard – the sound of a bat hitting a ball! Yes, Zachary had made contact and hit the ball into the field! His opponents struggled to get to the ball and finally threw it to the first baseman, but not before Zachary arrived there safely. A similar scene was repeated when he was up at the plate again. He hit the ball, and although he did not make it to first base before the ball did, he was able to advance a runner who later scored.

God had answered Zachary’s prayer with a giant “YES, Zachary, I will allow you to hit that baseball, and not just once, but both times you are up to bat!” What a testimony this was to Zachary, to see that God heard his prayers and gave him the help he needed to hit the ball!

It was also an answer to my own recent prayers for my children to see God at work in their lives. God’s timing is perfect. Had Zachary not struggled all season, we would have missed this opportunity to seek God’s help and see Him working so clearly in Zachary’s life.

I know more struggles will come up in our lives, and some of those will be as our sons play sports. Perhaps next time it won’t take as long as a season of baseball for us to remember to ask God for His help!

“Yet you do not have because you do not ask.” James 4:2d