Farewelling summer is met with a touch of sadness in our house. My husband, myself and our two boys adore the warm, summery and luxuriously long days. We enjoy daily swimming or surfing, even if its just for 5 minutes after dinner. We love coffee on our back deck with the dog passed out in the sun. There is often a paddling pool up in the back yard for the boys and the sprinkler is on. We go to bed absolutely spent and happy. We love everything about summer days. Well, almost everything…

There is one thing we will be quite happy to send on its sweet way at the change of seasons. You see, with the beach on one side of our house and marsh land on the other, we get many mosquitos. I don’t just mean the occasional mozzie. I mean plagues of the little tyrants. They quite literally suck! We hate them and yes, hate is a strong word. They wait in the dark places during the day. They are waiting for our heads to hit the pillow so they can circle in waves. Occasionally they stop, but without fail, just before we slip into slumberland they are back. Touching down on our foreheads and making us swipe at ourselves like crazed lunatics. Every so often it get so dire that my husband gets up out of bed (shock horror) and initiates the blood bath on our bedroom ceiling armed only with his underpants and a flexible yet firm book.

A mosquito is such a tiny creature but nonetheless, its perseverance and persistence get results: our blood! In 1 Thessalonians 5 v 17 it tells us to be persevering in prayer. I can’t think of anything much that is more persistent than a mozzie. You can even threaten to kill them, but they just keep coming back.

Again, in Luke 18 v 1-8, Jesus tells us to be like the persistent widow who drove the judge crazy for her cause so that eventually, through her persistence, not because he even cared, he granted her request. Furthermore, God tells us to be like Jacob, who wrestled with God. “I will not let go unless you bless me” he said. To be honest, I sometimes find it a bit strange that our all loving, all powerful God would want us to be this persist and this desperate in prayer, but when Romans 12 v 12 says “be faithful in prayer,” Colossians 4 v2 says “devote yourself to prayer” and Ephesians 6 v 18 says “pray in the spirit on all occasions”, you know it is something God wants from us.

A quote that my friend recently put on social media today caught my eye. It said, “Are you praying about it as much as you are talking about it?”.

Over the last little while my prayers have been pretty desperate. At times, I have thought that maybe it’s just not the will of God and wondered about giving up. Although, when you want something enough, you’ll keep at it. Like the mosquitos drive for blood, I have a need in my life which until it is granted, I will not stop. I know God is teaching me lessons along the way. Lessons of patience, lessons of trust, lessons of grace. I have prayed persistently, although I haven’t yet prayed about my need more than what I have thought about it. So I’m keeping at it because I believe that the word of God is the truth and is power and the blood of Christ means that I can pray directly to the creator of the universe. How incredible is that?! Yes, I am going to keep praying persistently because I don’t think I’ve reached the annoyance level of a Lauderdale mosquito yet! After all, in comparison to an infuriating mosquito, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?

By Rachel Cooper