Category Archives: Prayer

True Freedom

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Attending the “True Woman 12” conference in Indianapolis turned out to be 3 productive days of discovery and challenge. One of the most impacting moments happened on the first day when a parade of conference volunteers entered the expansive convention center floor carrying something unusual: a paper chain, nearly half a mile long.

As we watched over 100 women snake their way down the aisles and around the perimeter carrying the colorful construction-paper chain, we were told that the name of each person attending the conference was written on one of the links, along with a prayer specifically written for them. Those prayers had been prayed over us during the last month by 150 women who hoped we would be nourished and uplifted by “True Woman 12.”

Since there were 8200 of us at the conference, that meant each of those women who made the links, wrote the names, recorded the prayers, and prayed them, did so for over 50 women apiece. But most significant was that these women were praying from their prison cells at a correctional facility in Arkansas.

As we took in the magnitude of their gift, those 150 women wanted to connect with the 8200 of us in one more way, too. Some of them recorded prayers for us on video, and we watched as they passionately asked God to bless those of us sitting at the convention center. I was so bowled over by their kindness toward a mega-crowd of strangers I can’t even remember what they said. But God heard and began acting on their requests well ahead of our arrival to Indianapolis.

We had one more gripping surprise, a real-time greeting from these same women. As the video screens clicked on, suddenly we saw them and they saw us. These sisters in Christ, who would have loved to attend the conference in person themselves, didn’t let that “not” get in the way of blessing all of us, waving their arms wildly in a greeting.

Making that chain and praying those prayers wasn’t rational and, by the world’s standards, made no sense. But 1 John 5:1 says, “Everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.” Because of that, these prisoners reached out to us with the love of the Father, which was absolutely spilling out of them. We were delighted, and surely God was, too.

Humbled and stunned by their depth of caring, we were amazed at what happened next. Two women came on stage with gladness and joy written all over their faces, telling us they had both been prisoners with the incarcerated women on the screen. Taking the mic, the first woman said something I’ll never forget. “I was in prison for 12½ years…. the best years of my life.”

She could say that for only one reason: while she was behind bars, she met Jesus Christ. From that moment on, no chains could bind her, and by her own testimony, he had made her a free woman.

“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)

At Peace

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I live near a busy super-highway and know where I am at any given mile by the signs I regularly pass along the way. One billboard I frequently pass 9 miles up the pike says, “A world at prayer is a world at peace.”

Really?

If the whole world would just pray for peace, would we never have another war? That doesn’t ring true. Maybe the sign implies a meaning beneath the surface. Maybe if the world would be full of people who pray, then no matter where we were or what was going on, our core would be at peace. That makes more sense.

One of the most impressive examples of this kind of peace is recorded in the Bible, the story of the first person murdered for his faith in Christ. His name was Stephen, and as he was being tried in a kangaroo court filled with false witnesses swearing to crimes he didn’t commit, Scripture describes his face “as that of an angel.” (Acts 6:15) How could that be? Amidst the venom, accusations, and lies, how could his face be radiating inner peace?

Immediately after that, as he was dragged out of town to be killed, his prayers continued and so did his peaceful demeanor. It lasted from before the first stone hit him until he died of the wounds they inflicted. This kind of unflappable calm defies logic and can only be explained as supernatural.

But that’s thing about prayer. If we’re communicating with Almighty God, we are linked with the supernatural. Once we admit that, anything can happen, even an experience of supernatural peace while being murdered.

To pray for this kind of peace is a good idea for all of us, even though our stress can’t compare to Stephen’s, and the Lord invites us to ask for it with gusto. In both the Old and New Testaments he says, “Seek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34:14, 1 Peter 3:11)

We’re not just told to look for it casually, glancing left and right in hopes we’ll get some, but to steadily and hotly pursue it. Both Bible passages also say that seeking this kind of peace from God is a key to “loving life” and “seeing many good days.” And who doesn’t want those?

Sometimes turmoil seems to dog us and be lurking around every corner. When it takes us by surprise, our first natural response is to frantically work to rearrange the mayhem around us rather than breathe a prayer for God’s peace. We wonder how whispering a few gentle words into thin air could do anything significant to bring calm in a crisis. But there is a reason why it can work: it’s God himself waiting at the listening end of our prayers.

So I guess that highway sign had it right after all.

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer.” (1 Peter 3:12)

Chatterbox

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My 3rd grandchild was born 3 months after my husband died. Although Nate knew about the baby’s approaching birth, he never got the chance to meet him. He sure would have gotten a kick out of this little guy though, because Micah holds his own in conversations with adults. Although he’s only two, he’s a regular raconteur.

Tonight was a perfect example. After returning from an afternoon at the beach, Micah and I took a fussy baby Autumn on a walk while their parents organized dinner. I pushed the stroller, and Micah maneuvered a pint-sized scooter as we moved down the quiet road chatting about life.

Micah: Looka dat bike. Two seats! Dat bike has two seats. It has two seats.

Me (cutting in while he’s still talking): Two people can ride together.

Micah: Yeah, two people ride together. They ride together. Two people ride. Dat bike has two seats. It has two seats.

Me (again interrupting): You’re good with that scooter, Micah. You know how to do it.

Micah: Yeah, I’m good wit dat scooter. I’m a good scooter. I’m good. I got a scooter. Sissy got a scooter. It’s Sissy’s scooter. A good scooter. I’m a good scooter.

On and on we conversed, though 95% of the words belonged to him, as if he was on a radio broadcast wanting to fill dead air. While little Autumn cooed at passing trees, the 3 of us walked the neighborhood for 45 minutes, and Micah never once stopped talking.

There’s a parallel here between God and me. Often I start our chats with a “Dear Father…” and don’t stop talking until the “Amen.” It might be 5 minutes or 55, but it’s always yak yak yak. Requests aside, does this sort of lopsided conversation do anything for our relationship? Maybe it’s an example of Ecclesiastes 6:11: “The more the words, the less the meaning.”

But I don’t think so.

I absolutely love it when Micah talks to me. I watch the expressions on his pudgy face, his little boy mouth struggling for words, the hand motions making a point. And when he’s back in Florida, I’ll miss our chats a great deal. But what I’ve just realized is that it’s not really the talking I’ll miss. It’s the talker. And I’m fairly confident it’s much the same with God and me.

No matter what goofy things I say to him, no matter how I struggle with the words, no matter how unbalanced the dialogue, his love for the one doing the non-stop talking is stronger than his love of the conversation.

Sure, he probably wants me to listen more than I do and meditate on what he’s already told me. But when he said he would always love me, he didn’t add, “…unless you talk too much.”

I’ll never stop telling him I’m really happy about that!

“A king wants to hear the truth and will favor those who speak it.” (Proverbs 16:13)