A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford 
Yesterday morning I sat down at my computer and clicked on my internet icon. Instead of the AOL screen I expected , I got a completely blank page except for a tiny message in the upper left corner that said,
EPIC: too many requests
Huh? What’s EPIC? I’d never heard of it, and to my knowledge I hadn’t asked anything of it. I clicked off the internet, then clicked it on again. Same blank screen and tiny message: “Too many requests.” (Upon investigation, I learned EPIC is a book program for device readers.)
Once more I turned off the internet, and tried again. This time I got my familiar AOL page.
But my heart leaped with joy at the thought, “ ‘Too many requests’? Never! That’s certainly not what the Lord Jesus says when I come to Him with my many requests! All through the Bible His promises are written boldly and certainly: God not only wants me to come to Him with every burden I carry, but He commands me to ask Him for what I want or need! In Luke 11:7-11 .Jesus says,
“Ask, and it will be given to you;
seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives,
and he who seeks finds,
and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Jesus illustrates this with a charming example:
“Or what man is there among you who,
if his son asks for bread,
will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish,
will he give him a serpent?
If you then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father who is ing heaven
give good things to those who ask Him!
I woke up this morning wih a heavy burden on my heart, because the current weather forecast for this weekend is for dangerous, wide-spread snow and ice storms and heavy winds all through the South. But so many people in my part of the country already live in great hardship. In tears, I wondered, how could they survive this massive storm?
But then I am comforted to remember, “How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?” The great God who created me and loves me also created them, and He loves them. I can commit their needs, and mine, to His loving and wise care. I will ask, and He will answer.