The Incredible Power of Prayer

On my way over to South Dakota from Montana, I was listening to some Christian talk-show. Someone said that they believe that they believe that the they believe that the thing that will surprise us most in Heaven is how truly powerful prayer is. I believe that with everything within me.

I have recently been praying for a handful of my lowest performing students. And I can tell you that since I began to pray, they have all shown signs of academic improvement. In particular, two boys have just been wowing me.

One, an incorgable kid named M, has just done so much better this week academically and socially. We did a project where the students wrote a story in the same format of Laura Numeroff's If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."
The project was designed to give the student's a visual representation of the economnic principle of unlimited wants. Well, M's illustration for the story was wonderful. He made a monster truck and worked the entire forty-five minutes--a modern day miracle for him. I had to stop him from working and get him to rotate to the next class. It was so neat. You should have seen him glow with pride as he saw his picture on the wall. He participated and was not a disruption today too. Praise God.

In addition to Michael, K has just improved so much these last two days. In the past, he earned such low grades, I thought about giving him a G instead of an F! He simply never puts forth any effort and doesn't pay attention. He also lived within a tight shell--likely my most reserved student. But these last few days were different. He completed his illustration, though I admit without a lot of enthusiasm. However, he did complete it, for which I was thankful. But today, I was blown away. I got him to laugh in the hallway more than once. Furthermore, in Social Studies, he completed an activitity we did and actually paid attention during lecture. In fact, now that I look back, I realize that in class today, he was trying hard. At the end of the day, I told him that he had received his second 100% on an assignment in two days and that if he got one more, it would equal a test grade. He beemed. Seriously. That smile so touched my heart. But what really almost moved me to tears happend after school. I was waiting outside as my kids bordered their buses, as I usually do. I was talking with a student when I heard a kid shout, "Bye Ms. Brendsel!" I was stunned when I saw that it was K--addressing me without first being spoken to, for the first time ever. He waved, grinned, and dashed away. I saw a glimpse of Heaven and the boy God has called him to be.

Father, I thank you that these are your children, not mine. I thank you that you are a God that answers prayers and can move mountains with your pinky finger. Continue to work wonders in the lives of these babies.

B