An amazing thing in our world is that even as small as people are - particularly children- God still hears their prayers. Even when they are small prayers, requests for a something small to help them settle in. For, example, an apple tree- a prayer from a five-year-old girl (whose name might be Abigail), who also happened to inconveniently live in an apartment with no private backyard in sight. So dear God, please find her an apple tree.

I don’t know if I've given you enough clues, but that is me. Except I'm no longer five. :)

I was lying in my bed, about to go asleep, praying with my Mum. Mum reached out her hands, listening. And then with the child-like faith that I naturally had, I prayed:
"Dear God, please give me an apple tree."

The faith that God encourages in us all, the one that was on challenge for me as a little child. I did not think about how this was going to happen, where God was going to plant it, if it would take up space. I just knew that God was bigger, and he would understand, and nothing could stand in his way. 

I probably got a desire for an apple tree from my time in Canada with my Grandma and Grandpa. Mum told me they planted the tree when they were a young couple hoping it would grow apples for their children. It never got enough apples for that generation, but the Grandchildren (including me) got heaps. Overall there were more grandchildren. That is where I began to love apple trees. and I was missing them there in Krasnoyarsk. 

Mum was a little bewildered when he heard me, scared to break it to me that that was probably not going to happen. Where would they grow? It was simply... impossible. But she would not tell me. How could she interrupt the prayers of a little child? How could she teach her child the underestimate God? I always had a right to ask God. Even with a seemingly impossible and useless request, God heard me.

But God does not think the same way we do. Why would he? He did not give me one apple tree. Not two. Not three. Honestly, I'm not sure how many he gave.
Walking distance from out home, near the market, past the ice-skating rink, there was a forest. Overgrown with shrubs and weeds, this forest would take your breath away. An abandoned orchard.

And it had been there for so long, and God knew that some little girl would want one. 
Mum was so amazed with this discovery. I was happy because I knew how much God loved me and had answered my prayers. It made complete sense to me. God had heard my prayers. 

These apple tree bring me happy memories, apart from those annoying clingy plants with prickly seeds which stick to your clothes. But everything else was amazing. We would pick the small apples, crab apples. Mum would take the home the apples and make the best apple pie in the world. And applesauce.

He'll never let any of us down. I know we can trust him with the big things if he can bother to help with the small as he rules the universe.


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