Category Archives: Prayer

Clumsy

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January 1st is a great time to begin again. All of us are good at pretending we have a clean slate then, and we love the idea of a fresh start. I determined to begin 2015 right, so in the first hour of the first day I grabbed my prayer clipboard and a new pen. Affixing a stack of notebook paper to it, I sat down to begin writing out a prayer.

OopsAs I plopped onto the couch cushion, however, my mug of coffee bounced and sent its contents up and over, onto the paper, clipboard, and couch, doing away with my clean slate before I even began.

I couldn’t believe I’d been that clumsy right off the bat, spoiling an otherwise perfect moment. But that’s the way life goes. Though I may be clumsier than most, all of us make messes now and again.

Sometimes I wonder about my Christian life, whether or not I’m stumbling through that like a bull in a china shop. Do I handle God’s Word with the utmost of care? Do I take him for granted when life is going well? Do I engage in prayer only when things go wrong? Am I quick to blame him for messes that are my fault?

I know he’s very forgiving of my many blunders and doesn’t hold it against me when I make innocent mistakes. But do I have a teachable heart that learns from them and determines to do better next time? And am I careful about what I believe?

Once my coffee-soaked papers had dried, I decided to use them anyway, as an object lesson, hoping they’d remind me to be careful with my faith and faithful to take care.

“Who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.” (Psalm 18:12)

Praising and Praying with Mary

Thank you for praying for little Anders. He had a crisis with his heart last night that was averted with quick, expert care. Pray for stability and increasing weight gain with each new day.

Something New

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Every December I pray the same prayer: Lord, please show me something new about the Christmas story.”

The cardsAnd then I watch for it. I think of it as a special game that God and I play together. He has “all the cards” but when asked, is willing to show one (or more) of them to me. I know he isn’t going to lay out the whole hand, but seeing even one of them means he’s letting me win one round of our game.

In past years he’s never failed to answer my prayer, sometimes in big ways, sometimes small. This morning in church, as the children presented a brief Christmas program, he showed me one of his cards. It was just a little one, but I appreciated it.

Shepherds and sheep.As a robed angel-boy announced to the shepherds that the Savior had been born, other angels chimed in with singing, and an invitation was given to “go and see” the new baby. The child-shepherds responded with this:

“The Lord will take care of the sheep. Let’s go!”

And there it was. The new card. I’d never thought about those sheep before, the ones “abiding in the field” outside Bethlehem with their “shepherds keeping watch over them by night.” The text says the shepherds immediately went “with haste” to find the baby Jesus.

Surely after their encounter with so many supernatural beings, none of them gave the sheep another thought as they bolted toward town. And though Scripture doesn’t include that line about the Lord being the one to take care of the sheep, that’s probably exactly what happened. I can’t see any of the shepherds volunteering to miss out on this awesome event by hanging back with the sheep.

We’ve heard the nativity story so many times it tends to move in one ear and out the other without making any fresh impact. To consider one small part of it we haven’t thought about before is to look afresh at this 2000-year-old story, even if it’s only something simple like wondering about who cared for the sheep after the shepherds ran off.

But an even greater joy comes in realizing that God generously answers the prayers of people seeking more of him and wanting further information about his story. I plan to keep watching in case God wants to play another round of our game, and thankfully, he’s ok with that. Actually, he has encouraged me to stay on the lookout and seems to enjoy revealing more of his story to anyone who wants to know.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. Please pray that our 11th grandchild will be safely delivered tomorrow.
  2. I’m thanking God for how really good I feel without the feeding tube!

Keep Talking

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I know my prayers are often blotted with selfishness and are off the mark. God must smile at my efforts the way I smile at a child trying to write her name for the first time. The effort is sincere, but the result is skewed. But she keeps trying, and so do I.

Why? Because talking with the Almighty, the One who has power over all things and owns the Universe, is a privilege beyond price. It’s a luxury more valuable than talking with President Obama, Bill Gates or Brad Pitt. God is the only One who can affect change not only in the world but also in the human heart.

Praying handsChuck Swindoll said, “There is no more significant involvement in another’s life than prevailing, consistent prayer. It is more helpful than a gift of money, more encouraging than a strong sermon, more effective than a compliment, more reassuring than a physical embrace.”

When Nate and I were first married, we didn’t understand each other very well. I expected things from him that he couldn’t give, mostly because he didn’t know I wanted them. For example, when I got emotional about something and started to cry, I’d long for him to come and sit next to me, put his arm around me, and sympathize. Instead he came with a list of ways to fix the problem.

I could have told him he was missing the mark and described what I wanted from him, and he would have delivered. But I thought he should have known it already, instinctively, or should have been able to read my mind, which of course he couldn’t.

But that’s the remarkable thing about prayer. As I’m babbling away trying to find the words to express my longing, God has already got it. He knows my passions, frustrations, wants, and needs. I talk to him because I love him for that and for how many ways he’s demonstrated his love to me. Also, I know he has the ability to affect internal changes, something even a powerful world dictator can’t do.

It’s difficult talking to someone who is dear to me but who I cannot see or audibly hear. The Lord knows this is hard but doesn’t want it to become a stumbling block to our continued conversation. Jesus even mentioned this dilemma to his disciples when he said, “Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” (John 20:29) That’s us.

And so I know he knows, which brings comfort as well as a desire for me to keep talking. It won’t always be this way, though. Some day I’ll get to see him exactly like the disciples did, as a mentor and friend, visible, audible, and talking directly to me. And I can’t wait!

“Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24)