Updates and the Power of Prayer
It still rattles me sometimes that I have friends who do not share my faith.
Please don't misread this as wanting to get rid of them, or not loving them as strongly as I do, but sometimes, it rattles me.
When I was growing up, I was baptized at age 4 even though neither of my mothers was very religious. My Fourth Mother, my Grandmother is filled with the father's love and she instilled that faith in me.
I really can't remember why, but I do know that the understanding of the power of prayer was one I had at a very young age.
To me - and not necessarily you or my friends, but to me, the power of prayer has always meant that God will hear your request, he will always be with you, but the resolution of that prayer, request, or problem, may not be your wish.
I've never seen God as the tooth fairy.
He won't always leave you a millions dollars under your pillow when you can't pay your bills.
He won't always make people disappear who have hurt you.
He won't always take away your hurt or pain, or even less, especially if you have something to learn or something to teach or something to hear.
As a little girl, our Pastor told us to wake each morning and before we rolled out of bed, the moment after our eyes opened to invite God in.
Ask him to walk beside you.
In doing that, we found the small ways on a daily basis that he was with us.
I remember being in youth group and I had just met The Accountant.
I had lied to get to that party, about who I was, how old I was, and where I went to school.
I felt bad about the lying and I told the members of my youth group about it and The Accountant.
Oddly, I also felt like God had been beside me the whole time.
The Accountant became not just a boyfriend, but a best friend.
That was no accident.
He may not have been the best friend I had prayed for, or the acceptance I prayed about, but he was an answer, an 11 year answer and a very dear best friend.
When I was sick a year or so later, The Accountant was the first to recognize it, and the first to demand I get help.
Without realizing it, God had been with me, and answered my small prayer, not with the acceptance I had been searching for, but with another powerful antidote - love.
I have a dear gal pal who questioned me last night after reading my post about what would happen if my prayers went unanswered.
If these families were not able to adopt those children, or those mothers were not pregnant.
I assured her, as best I could that God would hear our prayers.
My prayer for their joy.
It may not come in the form we have visualized, but he will have heard the prayer and would bless them with joy.
She seemed skeptical.
Today, at lunch she asked.
I told her.
One family found out they were pregnant, for real.
That is a real joy rising moment
She sat with her mouth open.
The other family, I said a bit sadly, will not adopt those children.
And then she, just as I prayed to God to help her find joy, came back with this,
"But you never prayed they'd get those children, did you?" I looked up at her, quizzically.
Her wording made me sound cruel.
"You prayed for their joy. That their hearts be filled with it. Contented."
"Right," I responded.
"And he heard that and will find a way for their hearts to be filled with it."
"That's what I believe."
"That's powerful prayer, alright."
Now, I don't think she'll start going to church or necessarily become a believer in the power of prayer, but I know she felt it.
The power of joy.
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