Several years ago, our family had an experience that reminded us of the power of prayer. It was a Monday morning and I was trying to get off to work when we discovered that the water wasn’t working in our home.

To some of you, this probably sounds like a minor problem, but we felt pretty fragile at the time. Our young family had just moved into a new home and had already dealt with several repair issues. The last thing we needed was another problem to deal with. And you don’t realize how much you rely upon water until you have to go without it.

I won’t go into all the details but I will say it ended up being a long morning. As I asked around and made several calls, nobody seemed to be able to give us any answers why the water was not working.  After Steph and I talked things over for a while, I had an idea.

I called our little family up to the kitchen and we held hands and prayed. We had done pretty much everything we could think of, and now all we could do was to leave it in God’s hands. Probably around half an hour later, Steph came up from downstairs and asked, “Did you try the water again?” I said, “No honey, last time I checked it wasn’t working.” She proceeded to walk over to the sink and turn the faucet on. Of course, I was skeptical given the amount of times we had tried without success, but low and behold, it worked!

The best line, without a doubt, came from our 4-year-old son John. “God fixed it!” I love how little minds are so logical. He had heard the prayer, he had seen the result, and there was no doubt in his mind what had taken place – God had fixed our water problem! I said to Steph, why did you all of a sudden want to test the water again? She told me, “I just felt like God was saying, ‘trust me and try it.’”

God has given us many faith-building experiences over the years. Our Heavenly Father has come through time and time again. I feel kind of silly that I am so prone to doubt when God has taken care of us and provided in a million different ways, but I often do. What was memorable about this experience was that our kids got a first-hand experience in the power of prayer. Only God could have ordained and ordered things in this manner, and our kids won’t soon forget this experience.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-8: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” This simple verse is power packed. We need to take Jesus at his word!

If you are a child of the King, you have the privilege of asking your loving heavenly Father for literally anything. You may not get exactly what you asked for, but you can trust that God will answer your prayer according to His will. 1 John 5:14-15 says: “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”

Let me tell you the rest of the story. Later that afternoon, one of the water guys finally showed up. As it turns out, they had been doing some work in our area and had to turn off the water. They told everyone else about it, but had neglected to tell us. Even though we had experienced some extra stress that morning, my wife and I were not bitter about what had transpired. God had given our family a powerful lesson.

In the whole scheme of things, this story from years ago was just a minor problem. Earlier today I talked to a dear friend from India. He is a pastor who has faced much suffering and persecution that stem from his faith in Christ. Each day is a test of faith for him and his family.

Whether you are facing problems big or small, trust in God. He is faithful. He will never let you down. God even ordains our suffering and trials. Don’t believe me? Check out these verses (James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 4:12-19, 2 Timothy 3:12, Philippians 1:29).

No matter what you are going through, take it to the Lord in prayer. As you see the various ways in which God answers your prayers, it will only serve to bolster and increase your faith.

“Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 43:5).