Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. --Matthew 21:22
The weekend was spent with our landlord coming and going. Greg spent a good deal of President's Day replacing the carpet padding, bleaching the floor underneath, and laying the mostly dried-out carpet back down. But that night is when it started to stink. Really bad.
Greg was leaving on a short trip the next morning. The trip shouldn't have been a big deal--except that I was already seriously sleep deprived (for a variety of reasons) and David didn't have school that week (my weekly five hours of bliss). So Greg's trip felt like a big deal. And on top of it I was going to have stinky carpet. In my bedroom, where I sleep. And it was going to stink up the entire house in no time at all.
I simply did not want to (could not) deal with stinky carpet that week. Our landlord is a friend, and though it's easy to ask him for help, he's a busy man. I didn't want him coming and going at weird hours all week. And I didn't want the carpet ripped out in my bedroom. I had a feeling that if the carpet were removed, it would be weeks until new carpet was installed.
So that Monday night I got down on my knees and prayed. My nostrils filled with putridity, I said, "Father in Heaven, please don't let the carpet stink. Please don't let the carpet stink. Please, please don't let the carpet stink," and so on. There were a lot of other things I could have, should have, been praying for, but all I could think about was that stinky carpet. So I prayed and begged and pleaded with single-mindedness like I never had before. Except for the two thousand times I prayed and begged and pleaded with single-mindedness that Baby David would sleep. Which, by the way, he rarely did.
Twenty-four hours later that carpet stank no more.
I think I was due a favor, seeing as how all those prayers about David sleeping seemed to go unanswered. I suppose it helps that God is more likely to intervene with my stinky carpet than my child's divine free will. But I sure am grateful that intervene with my stinky carpet He did.
God loves us, and He even cares about our stinky carpet.
