B: Believing Betty–Matthew 21:22: “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (NIV)
Before we get into the story of “believing Betty”, I turned to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary for a definition of the word believe:
- To consider to be true or honest
- To accept the word or evidence of
- To have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy, or ability of something
What do we believe? We believe in:
- Reports
- People
- Weather
- Scriptures
- Attitude of believing
Believing Betty is one such character who turned her belief into action by accepting and not doubting what she asked God for.
“Betty was used to going to the store for her mom and dad, but she had to walk a distance to get the things that they asked for. On one such occasion, she decided to browse before asking the manager of the store for the items she needed. Her eyes glanced at a cookie jar sitting alone on the bottom shelf.
When she asked the store manager how much it was, he said $1.75. Wow, Betty thought. That is a lot of money. (This, of course, was over 50 years ago when this amount of money was an exorbitant amount to an 11-year old girl.) Since she had wanted to get her mother something extra special for a Christmas gift, she decided that she could save and be able to have the money necessary to pay for this item in time for Christmas. There were only three weeks left so she had to work fast.
She asked if the store manager could save the cookie jar for her, and he agreed that he would set it aside until she had the necessary money. As soon as she got home, she made a plan to do extra chores and ask her neighbors if they had anything she could do for them in order to earn what she needed.
Luckily, Betty had a piggy bank, but when she checked what was inside, there was only $1.00 worth of pennies. She still needed $.75. She thought that getting the rest would be easy and decided to pray and ask God to help her find the rest of the money.
Betty checked with her neighbors and Mr. Simmons said she could take out the garbage for him. After doing so, he gave her a nickel. Mrs. Smith said she could sweep her porch and gave Betty a nickel. Her mom seemed surprised by Betty’s persistence to earn money, although she was not aware of what she wanted to purchase.
After two weeks of helping her neighbors, Betty checked her piggy bank. She had $1.70. She needed five more cents. She continued to pray and believe that by the time she went back for the cookie jar that she would have all the money to pay for it.
Three days before Christmas, Betty still did not have enough money. So she decided to talk with the store manager about her dilemma. She told him how she earned almost the entire amount by helping her neighbors and taking the money from her piggy bank. She also explained that she “believed” that God would answer her prayer and provide the rest so that she could give her mom the “best gift” of all.
Hearing her story, the store manager told her to wait while he went to the back of the store. As Betty watched him return, she noticed that he had the cookie jar in hand and presented it to her. He said, “I will give you the rest since you worked so hard by helping your neighbors.” He was impressed by the way she believed and did not doubt that she would have all the money necessary to purchase this special gift for her mom.
As Betty left the store, she realized that God answered her and provided the last few cents she needed to purchase the cookie jar through the kindness of the store manager.
You can see why Betty was so excited for Christmas morning when she presented her gift to her mom. She was beaming from ear to ear. Her mom loved it and would cherish it.”
I know this story is true because I was “believing Betty” and my mom absolutely loved and cherished the cookie jar so much that she told all of her friends how I earned the money and how I believed that God would provide it in order to give her that special gift.
Little did I know that when my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer several years later that we would talk about the cookie jar for one last time before she passed away. A gift that I will remember for the rest of my life.
So you see, if we believe and not doubt, God will provide what we ask for in faith and by believing that he can do all things.
Blessings,
Yvonne
