Prayer: absurd or vital

Oswald Chambers writes on October 16^th “In the natural realm, prayer is not natural but absurd. We have to realize that prayer is foolish from the commonsense point of view.” 

I used to ponder and feel a bit hopeless when I would hear people in my church circle say that God answers prayers.  I theoretically believed that and at times would see a prayer answered of mine or someone I knew, but I had a sense of hopelessness when I thought about the miracles of people’s lives in the Bible and compared it to mine. Often when I would read the stories of the Bible and contemplate how the people lived and yet saw their prayers answered, I wondered why I was expecting to see God answer prayers of mine when I had so much in material possessions. How can I see God answer prayers when I am working so hard to have a comfortable life? Why would He want to answer prayers of mine that would just make my life more comfortable and produce less of a life of faith in me? If I’m not praying prayers aligned to His will then I can easily get discouraged that I don’t see my prayers answered and thus I don’t think God cares about answering my prayers.  My entire perspective of Him changes as I get focused on unanswered prayers.

The more I ponder who God is, I am evermore convinced that He wants to hear every detail of our lives. Put yourself in His position for a moment. Imagine you have created a human being, from dirt.  You could create anything you wanted and you chose to create an entire race of little people. Why would you do that? You must have had something wonderful in store for them if you would take something so basic as dirt and make something so intricate and beautiful as a human being.  If you put all your heart into creating such a magnificent being, you would surely want to have a relationship with them. And I don’t just mean put them on a planet and hope they do okay. After creating such a being you would want to make sure they know how beautiful and lovable they are. You would want them to talk to you and cry with you and laugh with you. You would want them to ask you for anything.

I remember a few months ago telling a dear friend that I was praying for her.  She sighed and said that she would need more than that to relieve the stress she was under. That won’t stop me from praying for her. I will pray all the more for her and that her revelation of God changes. Another conversation I had lately I mentioned how I was praying for something in my life. The person responded, “Don’t bring the Lord into this, you just need to…”. Of course, the easier route would be for me to take my life back in my hands and “do” whatever I need to do to make things more comfortable, but how on earth can I truly see God working if I do everything myself and do it the way someone else thinks I should do it. Well, that is fine if others choose not to involve our Creator into the very details that He desires to be a part of, but I will ever more fervently talk to my Creator.  I know He cares about the littlest to the biggest facets of my life and it is not a copout to say I am praying about the seemingly insignificant decisions of my life. I mean what I say and I depend on that being the most important conversation I have in my life. God hears my stuff first! And I wait for Him to show me what to do and where to go. I live a life of faith and I will not put my trust in man.

Free to be me

Daily life here on the island can be "normal" just like living back in my comfortable surroundings in the States. "Normal" living tends to creep up on you no matter where you live or what your surroundings are like. The first few months living here were exciting because it is a new place, new culture, new people and new challenges. I call it the "honeymoon" stage of starting something new. Then over time the "normalcy" of daily life tries to yank you into living without a purpose.  One of the symptoms of "normal" living is you forget to express gratefulness. A hopeless and ungrateful attitude tends to slide in and if you don't nip it in the butt right away then the full-blown way of "normal" living sets in. So, I sensed it sneaking up on me. I was reminded of my weapons of fighting this draining way of living and I immediately began expressing gratefulness to God for the smallest detail of my life to the weightiest detail. I also began serving people around me. There is no greater joy than to be completely free to be me. One of the ways I can do that is if my perspective of every day life is centered on God. God has blessed me in so many ways and I get to be a conduit of sharing those blessings with anyone that comes my way. So, I set out to do just that.

I swept up some water that flooded our coffee shop a bit. I was weeding in our garden while I fought off sand-flies. Later I got to comfort some dear friends by praying for their youngest daughter who is in a hospital in another country. I made lunch for Jeanne and I. I did laundry by hand on a washboard in the bathtub. I filled our water jugs. I started organizing another friends business files. I typed some emails to friends. I made some coffee for a few peeps who needed a kick in the afternoon. I paid some bills. I hit a dog on my golf-cart (he was totally fine, just nipped him...someone scared him right into my cart). I hugged a friend. I told a hard working girl here that she looked beautiful. I explained to a man on a motorbike that I wouldn't be his girl because I will only be the girl of my husband (wherever he is). I fed some iguanas. I turned off my A/C so I could hear the rain pounding on my roof.

I went about my day looking for ways to be me and bring joy to whoever came across my path. I went about my day being content in the fact that I am 100% cared for by God. He is looking out for every detail of my life so that I can be free to me.

Are you free to be you? What things are weighing on you that you need to leave in God's hands? He is listening to every word we share with Him. He wants us to be free to be who He has created us to be. May this sweet picture of my niece be a picture etched in your mind today that there is no joy like being free to be ourselves.