Bless you all for these beautiful replies & testimonies.
Certainly Jesus loves chickens, He seems to have an affinity to small, lowly, humble things -- the falling sparrow, the widow's mite, the one lost sheep, the quietly ailing woman in the large noisy crowd. He used a rooster to preach repentance to Peter! And chickens sure are humble birds, they scratch & peck at the ground, they bathe in dirt, the live lives of servitude to man. Jesus likened Himself to a broody hen who cares so well for her chicks.
The people on the prayer team at my church have become accustomed to getting my requests for prayer for my flock. I remember one man telling me afterwards "I never prayed for a goose before!" I pray knowing there is power in it, power to change the world. But I also know that I live in a fallen, imperfect world where not everything that happens is God's will. His will was for us to live in perfect obedience to Him and He made a perfect garden for us to live in. It was our own choice to sin that brought death & illness, thorns & weeds, hardship & trouble.
Still, I pray knowing that God can make a difference. Sometimes He changes the circumstance, sometimes He changes my ability to deal with it. And He causes all things to work together for good and brings purpose & redemption to our troubles, providing the sugar to make lemonade from life's lemons. Even if the other night I had come home to a scene of total carnage, Jesus would have still deserved my thanks & praise. But it sure would have been a whole lot more difficult to do so! It's the least I can do to offer Him thanks when circumstances are to my liking, and especially when I believe it is a direct result of divine intervention in answer to prayer.
