Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Praying


As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, 
I will show them marvelous things.
 Micah 7:15 (ESV)

Dear Sister-Friend,

This week, due to minor surgery, I had the opportunity to crawl under my shield (my blanket) and indulge in the presence of the Lord through prayer, journaling, reading the Word, enjoying Christian literature, listening to sermons and "face-booking" with beloved sister-friends.  I love how the Lord will take something like surgery and turn it into a gift.

The greatest gift-lesson that I came away with is the reminder of the awesomeness of prayer.  I am by nature a mover and shaker, fix-it, let’s do it, kind of woman.  Even with my leg wrapped, I took a moment to get up and dance! 

However, this week the Lord reminded me that I can stop doing half of what I do as a mother and simply turn to Him in prayer.  That translated to less teaching (aka nagging), cleaning (oh yeah!), playing, running around to take kids to various activities, and even … our family devotion times.  For goodness sake does it have to be so long, I can hear my kids chide! (LOL)

Here is a very simple and seemingly trivial example, but for me it was profound:

One of my children has a habit of leaving the soap soaking in a small bowl of water.  With five children in our household we purchase lots of soap and shampoo so this innocent childlike behavior was “bugging” me.  My first reaction was to take time to teach (Ok …NAG) my child about being considerate, responsible, and blah, blah, blah.  Instead, each time I saw the soap soaking in the bowl of water I simple prayed that the Lord would lay it on his/her to put the soap away properly.  Today, after his/her shower I found the soap in its proper place.  To me this was a small but profound victory!

Your turn:
Take sometime today to hide under your shield and indulge in the presence of the Lord.  Here are two links that may inspire and encourage your prayer life to a greater depth beyond soap J:




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Holy Lord,

We were created to fellowship with You, each of us has a unique place in your heart that only we can touch.  If we are to busy that can not take place.  Father, cause us to live within the healthy boundaries that you have set for us, not doing to much and not doing to little … but simply listening to Your gentle voice and following your leading as we raise our children for Your glory.  

In Jesus’ Name,
Amen

Note:
A special thanks to my dear friend Erika of  Erika Thomas Typografix who taught me the concept of "my shield aka my blanket." 

After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. 
And after the fire the sound of a low whisper…
And behold, there came a voice to him …
1 Kings 19:12 and 13b


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