The night before my wedding as I was drifting to sleep, I decided to ask God for a small favor. 

I was renting a nice, new, black Cadillac the next day, and I was concerned about it getting dinged up in D.C. We were getting married at a church on Capitol Hill, and even if you can find parking close to the church on a weekend, it’s all parallel parking — except for this one spot that’s almost never available. 

“God,” I prayed, “can You please give me that parking spot tomorrow? I would really appreciate it.” And then I fell asleep.

The next day, I picked up the Cadillac and drove to Capitol Hill to find parking, but I didn’t have to look. That spot — the spot — was waiting for me. I parked the car with ease, went inside the church, and told my groomsmen what had happened (the photo above was the actual moment I was raving about it to my groomsmen). It just seemed like a little way God wanted to let me know how intimately involved He was in the smallest details of my wedding.

The Reason to Ask for Little Things

There are cynical people who would read that story and roll their eyes. Some of the folks are agnostic about the power of prayer, and they would say that coincidences happen. Some of the folks are actually believers, and they would say I could make better use of my prayer time by praying for widows and orphans. In either case, notice what happens: They rob God of His glory in showing love to one of His kids in a small, but meaningful way.

James 4:2 (NLT) says, “[Y]ou don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.” Yet, as the next verse says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives …” Here’s the comforting thing about that: God is more than capable of telling us no when it’s not best for us. As my friend Bob says, “God might say ‘yes,’ He might say ‘no,’ and He might say, ‘I’ve got something better for you.'” I’m at least going to give Him the chance though.

But if I’m not even allowed to ask for the little things, I won’t be thankful to Him when He provides them in response to my prayers. So let’s not rob ourselves of the joy of celebrating when God says “yes” to our small requests. If He delights in providing little things, we should delight in receiving them.

When God is the giver, the gift is never small.

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