Pray for 12, persevere till 16

Sounds like a real catchy title eh? Actually, this refers to our faith level in God. And if I were to revise the title a little bit, I would call it, "Pray for 12, persevere till 16 and more..."

I came up with this phrase when I was waiting for someone at a MRT station one day. We were supposed to meet at 8.30 a.m. but he didn't arrive on time, so I gave him several morning calls. And you've guessed it right! - I called him 12 times! But let me explain the process of the morning calls.

When I called for the 5th time, I prayed and asked God to intervene and get him to answer the phone on the 12th time. And as I called for the 6th time, 7th time, 8th, 9th..., I kept praying and kept focusing for the 12th. But when I arrived at 12th, he didn't answer. So it kept me thinking. Didn't the bible mention that as long as we have a faith that is as small as a mustard seed, we can move mountains?

But at the end of my thought process, I came to a conclusion that perseverance is key. Faith isn't just our demands to God or blatant and outrageous commands to Him. But it is by grace that God has given us this privilege to communicate and pray and ask him for requests. And many a times, God wants us to pray to him with that level of understanding coupled with the prayer requests that we have. We don't command God what he has to do. We just pray and persevere like how Jacob did.

And yes, he answered my phone call at the 16th time.