I was once called to a home to pray for a seriously ill baby girl. Her four-year-old brother was I the room, and so I told him I needed his help to pray for his baby sister. He was delighted, and so was I since I know that children can often pray with unusual effectiveness. He climbed up into the chair beside me. “Let’s play a little game,” I said. “Since we know that Jesus is always with us, let’s imagine that he is sitting over in the chair across from us. He is waiting patiently for us to center our attention on him. When we see him, we start thinking more about his love that how sick Julie is. He smiles, gets up and comes over to us. Then, let’s both put our hands on Julie, and when we do, Jesus will put his hands on top of ours. We’ll watch the light from Jesus flow into your little sister and make her well. Let’s watch the healing power of Christ fight with bad germs until they are all gone. Okay?” Seriously, the little on nodded. Together we prayed in this childlike way and then thanked the Lord that what we had prayed was the way it was going to be. Now, I do not know exactly what happed, now how it was accomplished, but I do know that the next morning Julie with perfectly well.


Richard Foster, A Celebration of Discipline, HarperCollins, 1998 p41-42