When in Doubt, Pray

When my daughter was young, we were active in a local church. We tried to teach her to have a relationship with the Lord and pray regularly. She has always been a kind-hearted and loving child, and frequently felt led to pray for her friends and family. Animals have always been a part of our family, and we’ve always treated them with kindness and care. So it was not surprising to me that she often prayed for a beloved pet.

At one point, a Sunday School leader told her she should not pray for animals, only for people. She was confused, and I was disheartened, to put it mildly.

It was and still is my belief that a loving and caring God understands the heart of a child. The lesson we were trying to teach was that you can take all of your cares, concerns, and worries to the Lord. Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition and thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

If we devalue the prayers of a young child, how can we expect them to feel confident praying as a teenager facing the tremendous pressures and uncertainties that come with that age? How can we hope they will approach God with life-altering decisions in the future if we tell them God doesn’t care about something they love and care about?

If we teach them to turn to God for every concern, they will grow in their faith. Their beliefs and prayers will naturally mature as they do. I don’t think we should ever discourage a child from praying. We do need to make sure they understand prayer is not a magic lamp to grant them any wish. But talking to God about our worries, however small those worries may seem to someone else, is something we are never too young or too old to do.