Chemotherapy kills bad cells and good ones. Surgery causes injury to repair injury. Physical therapy moves muscles that hurt to make them hurt more so they'll ultimately hurt less. It's a bizarre science, full of contradictions and oxymorons.
This week I began my prayer time with a confession.
Busyness and competing priorities had clamored for my attention, enticing me, like Jack of the beanstalk fame, to exchange what was precious for a handful of beans. Each morning my prayer time had grown shorter, more haphazard, and less focused. Instead of entering into a dialogue with my Father, I had settled for throwing half-formed prayers at him in passing, like a beauty queen throwing candy to children in a Christmas parade.What drew me back from my helter skelter approach to my quiet time was a growing loneliness for his presence. Like the child of a traveler separated too long from the father she loved, I missed him. My prayers were ineffective, and life started to unravel along the edges.
Be still and know that I am God, he whispered into my ear.
"I'm sorry, Lord. Forgive me," I whispered back.
And later that day, my doctor wrote an order for the traction device.
it would successfully immobilize my busy self.
Be still and know that I am God.
Really?
"But I got it, Lord," I argued on the way home. "I'd like to point out that it was me who came to you and confessed that I haven't been spending enough time in prayer."
It's not punishment; it's potential. Just think what we can accomplish as we meet together in prayer for 30 minutes twice a day. Just think!
"He who prays much, accomplishes much," Leonard Ravenhill observed.
"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed," (Mark 1:35).
I wonder how many other "inconveniences" I'd view differently if I stopped complaining and trusted God instead?
How about you? If you're facing something you'd never choose for yourself, will you ask God to help you trust him to use it for good in your life?
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purposes" (Romans 8:28).
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God has a way of getting our attention. I am def one that feels inconvenienced with many things in my life..... need to give more time to HIM
ReplyDeleteAmen Lori! I always hate myself when I haven't spent enough time with God. And what's most maddening is that it brings me so much peace when I do. How in the world do I let myself get distracted from Him? I hate that you have to be in traction. However, I'm excited about what God will do while you are!
ReplyDeleteIt is a mystery, Mari, why we struggle so much with something that has such obvious and immediate benefits. It has to be spiritual warfare. I"m glad that "greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world."
DeleteOh my goodness, Lori, I am sort of chuckling - with you, of course - because isn't it just like God to grab our attention this way? I followed this post from the links at the bottom of your latest, and I think it's what I needed to read today. How's that pinched nerve? More importantly, how's your prayer time lately? I'm taking a lesson from this post. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for asking, Becky, and for entering into the irony that God often uses to make a point :) My pinched nerve is better, and my prayer time is equally improved. Every time I buckle into my traction device and buckle down to my prayer time, I see results -- I feel better, inside and out. Amazing what happens when we obey. In some ways, I hope I'm never completely "healed." How good God is to lead us in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
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