A Good Example

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, May 10.

By Andrew McChesney

S

erene loved her big sister, Nehe. Whatever Nehe did, Serene followed. Nehe was everything to Serene. Serene was 2 years old, and Nehe was 6.

One night, Serene crawled into bed with Nehe as she always did. The two little girls lay in the dark bedroom in their home in Korat, Thailand. Serene looked at Nehe and saw that she had closed her eyes. That wasn’t unusual. Nehe always closed her eyes when she wanted to sleep. But Nehe wasn’t lying still as usual. She was folding her hands.

“What are you doing?” Serene whispered.

Nehe opened her eyes.

“I’m going to pray,” she said.

“What does it mean to pray?” Serene asked.

Serene and Nehe’s family were not Christian. Like many people in Thailand, they worshiped other gods. But Nehe had started going to a Seventh-day Adventist school, and she was learning at the school how to pray to the God of the Universe.

Nehe told her sister that prayer was talking to the God of the Universe.

Serene liked the sound of that. “I want to pray, too,” she said. “Show me how to pray.”

Nehe told Serene to close her eyes and fold her hands. She said this was how she prepared to talk to the God of the Universe.

Serene folded her hands and closed her eyes.

Then Nehe said she was going to call on the name of the God of the Universe and talk to Him silently.

“When you finish talking to Him, you say, ‘Amen,’” she said.

Then Nehe closed her eyes and folded her hands again, and she fell silent as she talked to the God of the Universe in her heart.

Serene couldn’t hear what Nehe was saying. But she knew that Nehe was talking to the God of the Universe, and she also wanted to talk to Him. So, she closed her eyes and folded her hands. Then she prayed for the first time in her life.

“Dear God,” she said, speaking silently in her heart where no human ears could hear. “Please help me to be kind to my friends and family. Amen.”

Serene smiled happily when she finished. She liked talking to the God of the Universe. She decided to talk to Him every day.

And she has.

Today, Serene is 5 years old and is studying in kindergarten at the same Adventist school where her big sister learned to pray. She talks to God every night when she goes to bed. She asks Him to help her to be kind to her friends, family, and kindergarten teacher. She also asks Him to forgive her sins. “I’m sorry for the bad things that I did today,” she says. “Please forgive me. Amen.”

Then she falls sleep.

In the morning, when she wakes up, she often thinks about God right away. She loves to think about God. As she lies in bed, she wonders if God is watching her. She wonders if God is looking at her right at that very moment. She’s sure that He is. The Bible says, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3, NKJV).

Before jumping out of bed for her favorite breakfast of noodle soup, she whispers, “Thank You, God!”

Serene studies at Korat Adventist International School in Thailand, where many children, like her, come from families who have never heard about God. Part of a Thirteenth Sabbath Offering several years ago helped build the school. Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering this quarter that will help other children in Asia also learn about the God of the Universe.