One evening, as I was heading for my favourite spot to worship my Heavenly Father, I was stopped in my tracks to see my wife trying to help my youngest son with his French assignment.

“This is cool!” I thought. “I sure have a caring family!”

As I was about to sit down, however, I was troubled. I could hear my Loving Heavenly Father clearly tell me, “What are you going to do about it?”

“You mean my son? He’s in good hands! This is my time with You, and I’m looking forward to it!”

Now my wife is a native born American, and her first language is English. Although she speaks French fluently, the written form of the language comes more easily for me than it does for her, and God just wouldn’t leave me alone: “Is this what I really want?” He asked me.

“But, but… Isn’t it all about having a close relationship with you?”

“Helping others is like sending me living prayers. Prayers consist of words, which are good, but I need you to also take care of My children.”

I was then reminded of the following verse: “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” (Matt 25:40 NIV)

I had never seen helping others in quite this way before, and with a smile, I went to my son and asked “Can I help?”

“Don’t worry dad, mom has it all under control. Besides, you need your sleep.”

“I can save you and your mom some time,” I urged. “Besides, you are important to me, and your French grade is also important to me!”

It’s then that I offered my living prayer to my Heavenly Father, and I suddenly found myself filled with God’s presence. Since this time, I have been looking forward to offering living prayers everyday. There are sure many opportunities out there!

What about you? Do you take the time to offer God living prayers? You can do so by reaching out to those who need your help. You can also do so by reaching out to those who need prayer.

This Valentine, may we spread love through our living prayers. We sure will make a difference to those around us!

“Do you have time for me?”

Rob Chaffart

P. S. We took a short break from our regular series “Fear Factor” for this special Valentine’s story. We will resume this series on Monday February 15th. Sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused you.