Brandon and Me
This summer, we enjoyed a wonderful family reunion with seven of our eleven grandchildren at our mountain home. We floated the river, played in the river, swam in a geothermal pool, played ping pong and badminton, jumped on the trampoline endlessly…well I didn’t do that … went to an outdoor play of Cinderella, played games, roasted s’mores, ate, and fellowshipped together for an amazing week.
At the end of the week, we headed down the mountain to spend Father’s Day at my daughter’s house, a little over an hour away. We had to take two cars. So, my husband drove one with three granddaughters, and I had the two boys in my car.
On the curvy roads, ten-year-old Brandon got carsick sitting in the back seat playing electronics with his cousin. We all stopped at a convenience store, and he and I hung out in the bathroom while he sat on a small trashcan with his head over the toilet. His natural brown complexion was pasty white, and I felt so bad for him, since I’ve been carsick many times.
We tried water, Dramamine, more water… as he began to yawn and his eyes drooped from the Dramamine…still he could not exit the bathroom. Then as I stepped outside the bathroom to call his mommy to tell her that we would be late for Father’s Day bbq, I heard a pounding on the inside of the bathroom door. That was Brandon and my agreed distress signal that he needed immediate help.
When I opened the door, there was my precious grandson standing in the middle of the small bathroom with a panicked expression, as he cried out, “Grammie, we need to pray!”
Why didn’t I think of that? Of course, we need to pray!
You can only imagine how my heart leaped for joy. I knew then that the commitment Brandon made to follow Christ at VBS earlier in the summer was rock solid. He knew the value of prayer and that God was the only answer to getting him out of that bathroom and us back on the road.
So, Brandon sat back down on the trashcan; I placed my hands on his shoulders and began to pray over my precious grandson. His cousins, who were now eating ice cream in the store, circled up, held hands, and prayed for him too. Soon we were back on the road and made it home with no further stops.
Now, I’ve been carsick many times and I’ve taken Dramamine, and all I want to do when we finally reach the destination is sleep. But Brandon leaped out of the car and joined the party as if nothing had happened! We had seen the miraculous answer to our prayers.
As I shared our story with several of the guests who are skeptics of the faith, they taunted, “So was he miraculously healed by God?” I could only turn to him running around the yard playing with his cousins and answer, “Yes, I believe he was!”
So, the lesson I learned from Brandon, who understood the healing power of prayer even while standing in a store bathroom: we need to teach our children and grandchildren how to pray in every circumstance, regardless of the surroundings.
And then, we need to stand firm in our faith and pray that God will heal our morally declining country just like He healed Brandon.
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14
Follow Janet Thompson on her website. Janet is the author of 18 books including Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: Hope, Help, & Encouragement for Hurting Parents, which was written about Janet learning how to pray Scripture for Brandon’s mommy, Kim.
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