Forty-nine years ago "Ask and ye shall receive" was our lesson in church.
As you can imagine at five, I could not quite get my thoughts around this. I did not ask anyone to explain it. I had always been encouraged to figure things out for myself.
I thought ok, if God does answer all prayers, I will give him a test and see if it's true. I told no one. This was between me and God.
Every day when I went to check the mail, I prayed. I asked God if He was real then He could send me an Indian doll, with a white beaded buckskin dress, and long braids.
Every day I went to the mailbox. Every day, there was no doll.
After a few months, I gave up and decided God was like the tooth fairy, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. Remember, I discussed this with no one! I still believed but did not rank Him at the top.
Many, many years later, I told a friend. We discussed it and it was soon forgotten.
My friend lost her son a few months later. It is never easy to lose a child but hers was an especially difficult loss.
A week after her son was buried, I received a package in the mailbox.
Inside was the most beautiful Indian doll! Just as I pictured all those years ago when I prayed!
A note said, "Gail, God really does answer prayers".
I cried.
