Prayer at the Food Giveaway: Right on Time

by David Fawcett

Here’s a first in our history of praying at the food pantry.

We had four high-school aged boys come through for prayer. Usually, we see adults or families with little kids. Rarely do we have teenagers come through. And never do we have that many at that age come through in the same group on their own without parents twisting their arms to come in.

At the urging of one of them, the four friends, who are all underclassmen attending two high schools in eastern Prince William County, agreed to come in right before we wrapped up at noon and shared with us what they wanted prayer for. They all had a faith as evidenced by them turning their palms outward as they sat in pairs facing each other to receive prayer. The one boy, who initiated this, said he’s the only Christian in his family.  

Prayer requests were for strength, patience and consistency. Two of the boys provided specifics on what they needed patience and consistency for in their lives. One of them even asked for feedback on what to do.

As he shared his concern, he answered his own question by saying that he prays for God’s will to open and close doors. If for nothing else, we were able to offer confirmation for this young man.  

They were all grateful for the prayers as we spoke encouragement into their lives and praised them for taking this step. I don’t believe any of them are currently attending a church, but we told them about our service times and our youth group and that we do the food pantry the second Saturday of every month.

Before they left, we gave each of them Bibles, three English and two Spanish. One of the young men started to leave and then turned around and asked if he could have another Spanish-speaking Bible for his younger brother.

In a time when teenagers are more under attack than usual with all the world’s noise out there due to social media, it was heartening to see these young men give up some time to let someone pray over them.

Overall, we had 12 come through for prayer. Requests for health and for family. One woman’s daughter was being deployed to the Middle East on the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier.

What a blessing to be able to pray for these people, especially those four young men. Just when we thought we were done for the day, they came in. It’s a reminder to me about two things: The importance of being on God’s schedule, not mine, and that He is always on time.