Monday, April 26, 2010

Someone prayed for me today.

Prayer is a wonderful thing. I like praying. I don't do it as often as I should, but I feel more connected to God when I pray. I also just like talking to my Father. Often times throughout the day I will just say something to Him, chat about life. I want to be His friend and Him be mine. And the only way I know to be friends with someone is by talking to them. You can't ever get to know someone unless you talk with them. So, even though I don't pray enough, I know what a wonderful thing it is; it is beautiful.

It's also something we are commanded to do. Philippians 4:6-7 tells us, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." And when God tells me to do something, I try my best to obey. I fail, often. But I have to at least try.
We are also commanded to pray for each other. James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. We are also told to "Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2
I try to pray for others as much as I can. I know that this also makes me feel closer to God. Anytime I do anything that He asks me to, I feel closer to Him.
But I also feel closer to the person I am praying for. Whether it be someone I know personally or not, when I pray for someone, I feel a responsibility for them. I think that is part of why we should pray. It connects us.

And today, I felt connected.
I had a hard day today. I have been working on some things in my life that the Lord has shown me needed work. Okay, so I haven't been working on them like I should be, so God decided to kind of, ahem, make me work on them. And I have been struggling.
So last night when Hub told me he wanted to buy a car, and it would wipe out most of our savings, I kinda freaked out (silently). See, God has been showing me that I should be submitting more to Hub. And I have been trying so hard to hold onto the control in our marriage and it's a heavy burden to bear, especially since it's not mine. And God has also been trying to show me that money isn't as important as I keep thinking it is. We have very little, and most of the time it's quite fine by me. I know that our choices are seen as strange to some but because we are doing what God wants us to do, I can deal with it. Of course, we almost always have a safety net financially. Not much, but when we get our tax refund every year, I put it in the bank and save it. When our savings dwindle, I get nervous.
So, when Hub tells me he's buying a car and I realize how that affects our savings, I didn't handle it well. Last night was a rough night. I didn't sleep well. And this morning was a big struggle. I gotta tell you, it was one of the hardest mornings I can remember in quite awhile. I had to force myself to give Hub my blessing. And I wasn't nearly as gracious about it as I should have been. But I did it.

And as the day progressed, my burden got lighter and lighter. I realized that someone was praying, cause I sure wasn't. God was answering someone else's prayers, not mine. And I'm grateful and ashamed. I should have been praying; praying for Hub, who is making huge strides in taking his rightful place as the head of our family, and I should have been praying for strength for myself, and that I can learn to let go of money and rely on God. Okay, I should have been praying for a lot more than that, but you get the idea.

I have no idea who was praying for me today, and that's okay. I still felt it. I actually got to a place where I was completely peaceful about this whole situation. We needed a car. There is no question about that. And the fact that Hub was willing to step out and do it all himself is amazing. He has never done something like this before. And it's awesome that he did something knowing I wasn't completely on board; he's never done that before.
Okay, I know that sounded so strange. I'm proud that he did something that I was against. Wow! See, the praying worked even better than I realized earlier. What Hub did today was the right thing. I didn't want to see it, didn't want to let go of my issues, didn't want to do what I should have done. But he was able to do the right thing anyway. This is huge for us!!

I so totally don't know how to end this post. I'm sitting here stunned over what I just figured out. I'm a compose a post as you go type of blogger so things can end up not where I meant for them to when I started. Sooooo, thank you. Thanks friend for praying. Thank you for obeying God. Today it made a huge difference.
Okay, so praying makes a huge difference every day, today, the difference is in me. Yay!

4 comments:

Rachel @ Finding Joy said...

What a beautiful and heartfelt post.

Yesterday was a very challenging day for me, and yet, I too, felt this encouragement to keep going and hold me head high. There is true power in prayer!

Blessings on your day.

~Rachel

Natalie said...

Awesome! Thank you for sharing this. Blessings!

Mr. and Mrs. B said...

:)

Erica said...

Great post, thanks for sharing! :-)