On Fridays, our family rhythm has us going around the breakfast table and each person sharing one specific thing they are thankful for, and one specific prayer request. We’ve been doing this for years now, and it has been interesting to see how both of those things have evolved over time. Our kids are growing up, and as they are, their understanding and capacity for reflection is deepening, and one of the small ways we see that deepening is through this little exercise.

Of course, we do this so that we can praise the Lord for His goodness and petition Him for the needs in and around us. But it’s also a good way for us to know our kids better – to know what they are thinking and feeling, what has made them happy and what might be making them anxious. In a way, these prayers of thanksgiving and petition are a kind of window into the hearts of our kids.

But they are also, I think, a bit of a window into the heart of God. Take this week  for example.

There we are, going through the same kind of ritual we do every Friday, and from the children we get three prayer requests. One prayer request is for the upcoming DiscipleNow Weekend with our church, that all the students would be safe and grow closer to each other and to Jesus. Then comes the next request, this one aimed at Ukraine. We prayed for peace and for the end of aggression. And then there was one more, this request for an upcoming science test that day.

Three kids, three requests: DiscipleNow, Ukraine, and a science test.

And God heard them all.

Now, of course, from a human perspective, you could easily force rank these requests in order of their importance. But as we prayed that morning for global, world-altering events, then for soul-shaping moments for a group of students, and then for an average run-of-the-mill science test that happened to be concerning to one young man, we were confronted with this beautiful reality about the heart of God:

God is not dismissive of our prayers.

Yes, some of them are big and some of them are small, but no matter how small one of those prayers might seem to us God does not dismiss it. He does not roll His eyes or shake His head. He knows there is a science test just as clearly as He knows of the atrocities in Europe.

So is the war in Ukraine more important than the science test in Nashville? Of course it is. And because it is so much more important there is all the more reason to marvel at our Heavenly Father’s love and care for all of His children:

Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
    my hope comes from him.
Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
    he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
    he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, you people;
    pour out your hearts to him,
    for God is our refuge (Psalm 62:5-8).

We can come to the Lord without the insecurity of thinking what is in our hearts is either too big or too small; we can pour it all out. Pour out the anger and anxiety about the war, all the hopes for the weekend, and even the little worries about the science test. Pour it all out and know that God receives it all.