Often in life we hear God speaking to us, not in audible form but in the small "coincides" of events throughout a time period. For me this has happened a few times this week and the central focus is on prayer. I have felt the call to work on my prayer life. I am good about praying daily but not always for long periods or about praying fervently for a need (either in my own life or someone else's). I have done a better job in the past year of praying for people when I say I will but it's usually a once a week kind of thing. You know during Wednesday night service. But I really have felt the call to do so more often.
My director, Ashley Coleman, sent out a Monday Mantra newsletter today and again, the central focus was on prayer. For us not to worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication let our requests be made known to God. Don't worry whether I have any parties booked for this week or this month. Not to worry about whether there is another person out there who is interested in joining me team and helping me to promote within the Thirty One business. Not to worry about anything. Instead, when I find myself worrying that is exactly the moment I should begin to pray.
Then tonight, as I sat down for a quick bath and some Bible reading I came to this - Luke 18:1 "And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint." In this passage of scripture "to faint" means to lose heart. When we are tempted and tried, we easily give up. Instead, it's in these moments that we should resolve instead to seek the Lord. To pray. I can admit that I don't typically pray when and as I should, especially when it comes to making big decisions in life but I am working on it. I am trying.
First of all, I have begun this week to pray for my children. I have decided that my children are both old enough that they should be falling asleep in their own beds and without mommy or daddy laying with them. Ethan does this well but Abby is still the "baby" and always wants someone to hold her. Luckily after telling her a few times to close her eyes, sit still and go to sleep she typically does. Now that I'm not laying in her bed but rather sitting on a chair in their room I am focusing that quiet time on praying for them. Praying over their sleep for the night, thankful for another day with them....but I have also begun to pray for the man and woman God may have made them to be, even now when they are still small. God has a plan and a purpose for their lives just as He does for ours. Will Ethan be a preacher? What joy would fill my heart to hear that he feels called to the ministry but it's too early to tell. Will Abby have the born talent to sing or play a musical instrument? Will she teach a Sunday school class? Again, it's too early to tell but I look forward to what the future brings for both of them. In the years that Josh and I spent waiting for them, wanting them and praying for them - we did promise that we'd return them to the Lord and that promise still stands.
It is my prayer this year that God will continue to use me to be a light in this world of darkness. That He'll use me in anyway He deems fit. But also that I will become a better prayer warrior. For my friends, my family, my church, my pastor and for all the needs that present themselves along the way. May I pray without ceasing and without fainting in 2012.
