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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me make decisions without going back and forth too much about what I want! Amen.
A woman whose people Jesus hadn't taught yet begged Jesus to save her sick little girl. "I was sent only to help the chosen ones of God," Jesus told her. "Lord, even dogs eat the leftovers from their masters' tables," she answered. Jesus saw how much faith she had, and He healed her daughter.

Decisions are hard. You thought you wanted the red backpack for school, but now you wish you'd gotten the one with superheroes on it. You have no idea what you want for lunch, but it's not what your mother made. An adult is waiting impatiently for you to decide something, and you're going back and forth, unable to make a decision.

Even Jesus might have had trouble making decisions once in a while. In this week's Gospel (Matthew 15:21-28), a woman asks Him to heal her sick daughter, and at first Jesus says no: He's really been concentrating on helping the Jewish people, and she's not Jewish.

Usually, either you make a decision or an adult makes one for you. Sometimes that's not what you want and you get upset, but you have to live with it. The grownups can only wait so long for you to decide.

The woman Jesus met couldn't wait, either. She needed Jesus to make a decision to cure her little girl, who was very sick. She pushed Jesus to help her - and He changed His mind and did save the sick girl.

In the end, some decisions don't really matter. You can carry your school supplies in any backpack, even if it's not your favorite. You need to eat lunch, even if it's not the lunch you wanted.

Some decisions are more important. Jesus' decision to help someone who was not Jewish changed His future decisions: Instead of just saving Jewish people, He saved the whole world.

It's a good thing Jesus didn't stand there going back and forth, but made a decision![[In-content Ad]]

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