For a long time praying, to me, felt like paper airplanes thrown into the air to an Almighty God that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around. Hope thrown into the darkness, into the expanse of the sky.
To me, the word “pray” was so overused that it seemed to have lost its conviction. Everyone says it. “We need to pray.” Does that really mean anything? Is it just something that we say to each other? Like we wish something better for them, but we aren’t going to make a casserole or physically help, so we tell them that we are going to pray?
What if our God wants to teach us to look to Him, so He patiently waits for us to ask so He can answer?
When Teddy was younger he snuck a bubble maker into his bed yesterday at nap time. He turned it on, and I heard the buzzing sound as bubbles were exploding from underneath the covers. He was in a mess. His eyes looked at me wide, not knowing what to do. When I saw him, I paused and asked, “Is anything wrong?” waiting for him to tell me what was happening, even though I obviously already knew and then I came to his rescue and helped him out of the mess.
I wonder if God waits for us to ask like that. If God wants us to learn to look to Him, so He waits for us to pray…He waits for us to ask.
God answers prayers. He does. I have seen it very specifically. God will answer your prayers too. It is not hope thrown into the darkness.
As we watch so many difficult things happening in the world specifically in Ukraine, the prayers you make to God are not wasted words. Pray for people across the globe. Pray for the people within your home. Pray for the smallest and the largest of things.
If you aren’t a person who prays, you aren’t alone. I actually think most people aren’t consistent prayers. Here is how you can start. Get a post-it and write down one thing specifically that you want to ask God for. Put it on your wall and return to that spot every day ask God to answer. Do this over and over, keep knocking. God will answer. It may not be in the way you expect, but God hears the prayers of his children.
If the Creator of the Universe hears and answers our prayers, I want to be asking Him for the needs of people all over the earth and within my own home, for your needs and my own- forever.
HLLF,
