During a war, a battle was fought near a small village. One of the armies, when they saw that the battle was lost, ran away and left the nearby village undefended. The village was right in the path of the advancing army. Everyone in the village was very frightened, and they expected that the soldiers would attack and rob them. However, one old lady didn’t seem very worried. She just sat quietly and read some prayers from her prayer book.

    Her grandson asked, “Aren't you frightened, Granny? Tomorrow the soldiers will be here and they’ll beat us and may even kill us.” The old lady calmed him with a smile and read aloud from her prayer book. Then, she prayed, “May the Lord raise a solid wall to keep the enemies from this house.”

    The young boy was worried and asked, “But is that not asking for too much from God? Surely, it’s not right to pray for impossible things”

    The old lady smiled and said, “Grandson, my prayer doesn’t mean that I am asking God to build a stone wall around our house. We must put our trust in God. He will protect us if we trust Him. He certainly is able to do so.”

    When the soldiers arrived they all arrived with the motive to destroy. They kept destroying each house that came across their path. As they approached the devoted Granny’s house, suddenly they felt as though their hands became heavy and could not be lifted to destroy her house. Seeing this, more soldiers joined the soldiers to attack the house, but to their surprise, they, too, could not raise their hands to attack. Finally, understanding that there was a supreme force much more powerful than soldiers guarding this house, the attacking soldiers succumbed. They fell on their knees, asked for forgiveness and later even helped the villagers rebuild what they had destroyed.