We woke up to a flood.

While staying at the short-term rental property we own in Florida, the news warned of a nasty storm. High winds. Rain. Thunderstorms. It was widespread, too, covering the entire state of Florida on the map forecast.

Greaaaatttt, we thought. A weekend of rain on our vacation. It sounded bad, but not BAD. You know? Worst case, I thought mayyyybeee the power would go out for a few hours.

That night, we peered out the patio doors before bed, surprised that the rain wasn’t as heavy as predicted. It was windy, though.

John contemplated going outside to tie down the four Adirondack chairs on our dock, but the wind wasn’t moving them an inch. We paid a premium for those durable, hefty chairs, and they were living up to expectations. Plus, this wasn’t the first high wind storm we’d seen come through, and they stayed put every time.

So, we decided they were fine and went to bed.

Around 6am, a loud noise jolted us awake. (We never did figure out what caused it, but it sounded like a palm tree hitting the house.) Startled, we shot out of bed and looked out the window. Nothing.

Still unsettled, we moved to the living room and pulled back the curtain on the patio doors. My mouth dropped. Panic increased.

The canal water was IN OUR YARD. Halfway to the deck. The last time it flooded this high, we had a near miss with Hurricane Idalia—a category 3 turned 4 storm. This was not a hurricane AND flooding wasn’t predicted. Yet, there our dock was, underwater.

After the initial shock passed, I noticed only three chair backs above the surface of the water.

“I should’ve tied them,” John sighed. “We’ll have to buy another one.” He went outside to see if he could save the other three, which were clustered near one of the dock posts near the edge. But, it was still dark, and the water would have been up to his waist. It wasn’t worth the risk.

I pulled up Wayfair to see if the chairs were on sale. Nope. No sale. They were even more expensive than what we originally paid. After a year of a LOT of extra expenses and investments, the thought of buying another chair gave me instant anxiety.

In my sleepy state, I prayed. “God, you know where that chair is. When the water recedes, I believe we’ll find it. Help us find it!”

And then, with nothing else we could do, we went back to sleep.

About an hour later, my alarm went off. I popped out of bed to assess the current state of the backyard in the early morning light. Whew. The dock was still underwater, but the water was lower, and we still had three of the four chairs.

Just then, I saw a man across the canal, assessing his own backyard. As he approached the edge of the canal, I watched him crouch and pull something out of the water.

Our chair!

How did it cross the canal without sinking? How was it still at the surface? Do they float?

Questions swirled through my head as I yelled to John, “The guy across the canal found our chair!”

John ran outside and waved to the man. “That’s our chair!” he called out. “I’ll be over to get it!”

What were the odds that I happened to look across the water at the exact time our neighbor rescued the chair? Really. What are the odds?

Thank you, God. I knew it was Him. He heard me. He helped us.

Sure, the guy might’ve figured out we owned the chair. It could’ve been returned to us. That’s possible. But God allowed me to SEE how He answered my prayer.

Thank you, God. Thank you for showing me you care.

Yes, God even cares about chairs.

Praying for the Little Things

Have you ever thought that a situation or request wasn’t important enough to pray about? That maybe God wouldn’t care? That you should stick to the bigger stuff?

My hand is raised. I have. But guess what? Those are lies.

The Devil—our enemy—wants to keep us from developing a close relationship with God. If the enemy can convince us that it’s not okay to pray about lesser things, he wins, because it means we talk to God less often.

Here’s what the Bible has to say about praying:

• “Never stop praying.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17, NLT)
• “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7, NLT)

We can pray about EVERYTHING. Did you catch that?!

That’s a powerful and true statement for us all.

Don’t reserve prayer for your biggest asks, hardest times, or greatest needs. Ask Him anything, for any reason. Trust the words of 1 John 5:14-15 (NET):

“[14] And this is the confidence that we have before him: that whenever we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. [15] And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, then we know that we have the requests that we have asked from him.”

Now, that doesn’t mean God will always say YES or give you what you want. He knows what you need better than you do.

God Is Able

Praying with confidence means praying with faith in God’s ability to do ANYTHING, whether He chooses to or not. Because…

“With God’s power working in us, he can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of.” (Ephesians 3:20, ERV)

Behind every prayer, my heart believes God is able to do anything I ask IF my ask aligns with His will. And remember that ANYTHING can be more than we think possible or less than we think God will care about.

So, don’t put limits on God’s ability.

Don’t limit what you ask Him for.

And don’t be surprised when He answers—whether that answer is what you asked, more than you expected, or different than you hoped. Because it will be exactly what you need.

What’s important to you is important to God.

So, when you pray, let God know that what’s important to Him is important to you, too.