Pursuit of Prayer

A coworker of 15 years has become a dear friend. We have gone through a lot together, always supportive one another. Our lunch dates have been known to last for up to 3 hours and we are always surprised when one of us finally looks at the time. It's been a wonderful friendship.

But over the past couple of years, things have changed. She has become more and more withdrawn over time. She is busy with life, grandbabies, an elderly mother. My attempts at getting us together are fruitless. She is either too busy to make a commitment or cancels at the last minute.

After another rejected attempt to connect last week, I began to pout. My feelings were hurt. Why doesn't she value our friendship any longer? I have continued over the past two years to call, email, send cards and the responses I get are polite but very brief and to the point. I long for those long lunches where we shared everything with one another. Why do I even bother to try anymore?

Then I started thinking about my relationship with God. And how many days I get so busy with life, my responsibilities, my own desires that I don't respond to his promptings, his calls, his attempts to connect with me. How many times have I offered up a quick but polite prayer when what he wanted was to spend that long luxurious time with me. Time when we could get caught up and share everything with one another. I wondered, do his feelings get hurt? Does he get frustrated and just want to give up on having a relationship with me?

I know that when I am not obedient in heeding his call to prayer, it does indeed grieve his Spirit. But I also know he will never give up on his relationship with me. His love is everlasting, his pursuit of a relationship with me, tireless.

O Lord, forgive me for not being more responsive to your calls to prayer. I pray that I will be transformed into being the kind of daughter who runs to her Father's arms without hesitation and always with the expectation of precious time of communion with you.

Abandonment

Could I ever give myself with such abandon as this?

(mosaic by Daryl Lynne Wood)


Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all Your creatures -
I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,

For you are my Father.

prayer of abandonment - charles de foucauld

My Prayer

More holiness give me,
more striving within,
more patience in suffering,
more sorrow for sin.

More faith in my Saviour,
more sense of His care,
more joy in His service,
more purpose in prayer.

Philip Bliss

~~~

Prayer for Healing

Thy name is my healing, O my God,
and remembrance of Thee is my remedy.

Nearness to Thee is my hope, and love for Thee is my companion.

Thy mercy to me is my healing and my succor
in both this world and the world to come.

Thou, verily, art the All-Bountiful,
the All-Knowing,
the All-Wise.

a baha'i prayer

Follow Me

“Walking in the deep woods wasn’t what I thought it would be. But I learned something about myself. I went with a map. I went with plan. I had a focused destination and I walked fast and determined. When I got to where I was going, I was disappointed. It wasn’t what I thought it would be. But there was a clearing and a bench, a place to sit and rest and reflect. As I sat there pulling spider webs off my arms and plucking sticker burs off my socks, I realized this is how I have lived most of my life. Planning, charting my course, going my own way. The result is rarely satisfying. Yet I continue to do it again and again.

God speaks and I listen to His quiet voice: “Follow Me.”

Yes, Lord. I need to follow your path. Follow your way. I need to seek after you and bring my needs and my desires to you and trust you. Your way is always the better way.”


One week before the trip to Haiti, I took a 24-hour personal retreat at a place called Shantivanam so I could prepare spiritually. This lesson was one I felt God wanted me to remember for the trip. It certainly rang true while we were in Haiti. It turned out that the plans we thought we had were not God’s plans and I admit it was difficult to accept that at first. But I remembered this lesson and prayed. I felt my spirit, my heart surrendering to Him and His plans. Because His way leads to Everlasting Life. His way leads to salvation. His way brings peace to those who follow.

Thank you Lord for showing me how much you love me by preparing my heart for this trip. And not only for this trip but for the rest of my days with You.

Prayers like Incense

Beloved, do you know how precious your prayers are to our Loving Father? He longs for time spent with his children, just as you long for time spend with your earthly loved ones, only his love is greater and deeper and longer and wider than any love you have ever known.

In Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Cymbala writes, "Just imagine... you and I kneel or stand or sit down to pray, really opening our hearts to God -- and what we say is so precious to him that he keeps it like a treasure." Cymbala

Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spiritof God that is sent out into every part of the earth. He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. Revelation 5:6-8

Prayers like Incense

Beloved, do you know how precious your prayers are to our Loving Father? He longs for time spent with his children, just as you long for time spend with your earthly loved ones, only his love is greater and deeper and longer and wider than any love you have ever known.

In Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Cymbala writes, "Just imagine... you and I kneel or stand or sit down to pray, really opening our hearts to God -- and what we say is so precious to him that he keeps it like a treasure."

I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spiritof God that is sent out into every part of the earth. He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. Revelation 5:6-8

New Year's Prayer

What more can I add to the others who have so eloquently written New Year's posts about fresh starts and new beginnings?

I'm the one who thinks lofty thoughts, resolves, procrastinates, and then doesn't follow through. What hope do I have? Every year I make my lists - whether with actual pen and paper or just in my private throughts. Lists of habits to begin or break. Lists of goals to accomplish and relationships to work on. Losing weight, eating healthy, exercise, living well. Aspirations in my art. Where do I want to be a year from now in the areas of finance and family and work? I plan and plot the baby steps it will take to achieve my goals. How can I better love, encourage and inspire?

I read my notes. And then read again. A heavy sigh.

Then I lay my list aside and bow my head to pray.

Dear God,
All these goals and resolutions are useless. The plans I make can be interrupted with a single breath from you. You see my beginnings and my ends. You are already there, this place I will be a year from now. I have no hope of making any lasting change in my life without you. You are my hope. You fulfill all the aspirations I have. You breathe life into dying relationships and dying dreams. I give this year to you. This is the only resolve I can make.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Prayers welcome

I'm sending out this prayer request to all those who believe in miraculous healing and who are willing to pray with me.

Last week, my husband noticed a sudden change in the vision of his right eye. After a couple of doctors visits and several tests, we now know that he has had a "stroke" to the optic nerve in his right eye, anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. As of today, he has only a small amount of upper peripheral vision left in that eye and we are told there is no treatment. We can only hope that the swelling in his optic nerve will go down, that the blood flow will be restored with time, but this will be a matter of prayer and not a medical cure.

I appreciate all who are willing to pray with me.