At first, I wasn’t too concerned. There was only one significant mole hill I could see, and it was close enough to our neighbor’s fence that my yard was not really affected. Over the course of a week though, the moles in the backyard began to move quickly into other areas, destroying the grass everywhere they dug. If you aren’t familiar with moles, let me just say, these critters are relentless diggers and will multiply and expand very, very quickly. Pretty soon, my yard was so full of patches that I knew I needed to address the situation head on.

The only problem was I hate killing animals. And not just animals, but bugs, critters, fish, and anything that lives (yes, even plants). So, I began looking for any remedies for our mole problem that would not be harmful to them in any way. Guess what I found? Yup, nothing. Nothing with a strong enough success rate I was willing to try.

Have you heard of the arcade game “Whack-a-Mole”? Well, that is a real life solution to a mole infestation. How disturbing is that? (I know my fellow animal lovers can relate!) Even my father-in-law suggested I hover over their active tunnels and holes with a shovel in hand and wait for them to pop their heads up. Yikes! I needed a solution that was less….. disturbing.

So, against every emotion in me, I went online, ordered two highly successful and top rated mole traps. And, after a few days, my package arrived.

Emotionally, I could not force myself to even open the box. So, there it sat on top of my dryer, sealed in its original packaging, waiting for an animal killer to open it up and let it do what it was created to do. You all may think this is dramatic, but for someone who will purposefully walk around ants, killing a mole with a trap that I will have to set myself was horrifying.

A week went by.

And then another.

Still the mole traps stayed nice and warm on my dryer while I tried convincing myself moles were not as bad as they seemed. Maybe I could co-exist with these critters in my yard peacefully? And surprisingly, moles can actually be very beneficial. But, I’ll leave it to you to research on your own.

After two weeks of attempting to find a better solution of ridding my yard of moles, I decided I could not bring myself to kill these living creatures. This led me to the only solution I had left. A solution I should have considered at the beginning.

I went outside, stood over the mole tunnels, and prayed out loud to my Creator and to the Creator of the moles.

“God, I know You made these moles. And from what little I know of them, they have simultaneously softened my yard (which I love), but have also killed my grass. I don’t have it in me to set traps for these animals, and because of that, I am asking You to remove the moles from my yard instead. So, because of Your power within me, I declare with the authority of Jesus that these moles are no longer welcome through these tunnels and will no longer destroy my yard. In Jesus’ Name, amen.”

The moles were gone overnight.

 Weeks went by without any sign of mole activity anywhere. I was in awe that the Lord answered my prayer and prevented me from ever using my mole traps (which I returned to the shipper, by the way). I celebrated and praised Him every time I looked out my window and saw the patches of dirt that were once mole hills weeks earlier. Everything in me felt loved, cherished, and heard.

However, it wasn’t long after that I was outside playing with my children when, again, I noticed a new and fresh mole hill along the neighboring fence of my yard. That’s when it hit me.  I had stopped praying for a mole free yard after I experienced my overnight miracle a month earlier. I stopped what I was doing immediately, stood over the mole hill, and prayed the same prayer I had prayed before.

Prayer is not a one and done solution. In fact, the Lord tells us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes. 5:17), “continue steadfastly in prayer” (Col. 4:2), “pray at all times in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:18), and “in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Phil. 4:6).

It is so easy to forget to engage in daily prayer with God, especially if we are living in the blessings of His answers. But, we cannot afford to be deceived that once the Lord answers a prayer, we are no longer obligated to acknowledge what He has done. On the contrary, our lives should be filled with prayer in everything we do, and we should continually invite the Presence of God into our situations. Prayer was never meant to be a “one and done” solution to life’s problems or challenges. Prayer is to be an ongoing conversation and surrender to the One who controls our destiny.

As I look through the stories in Scripture, there is only one remarkable testimony of God’s “one and done” solution:  the death and resurrection of Jesus. It took one Death and one Resurrection to forgive us of our sins once and for all. While we are always living in the blessing of God’s redemptive mercy, we can trust that what He did for us on the Cross was and is always completed. After all, the Bible does say, “ For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ” (2 Cor. 1:20).  This is the only solution that welcomes us into the eternal glory and honor of God’s answer to our sin. It is the only story that invites us into a continual praise of the One who set us free. This “one and done” Solution was given to us so we would no longer be bound by our sin; however, we must not forget that it is because of this “one and done” Solution that we are also able to “pray without ceasing” in every area of our lives.

Including the infestation of moles.