Wow! I got a lot of long comments on that last post. It was actually very encouraging. Throughout the day, in the hospital, my blackberry would beep with a new message and I would have a chance to read through the comment. It was encouraging to not only know that people were really praying for my Grandfather, but also because I was able to get some good feed back on why other people pray, even though they might feel like I do sometimes.
I'm pretty tired now so I'm not going to go deep.
I did want to share the joy of my heart. My Grandfather went in for a 3rd surgery, and his spine was leaking fluid still. From the time they started the surgery to the time they went to patch up the leak, God had healed it and they did not need to do the patching. When the surgeon came out to talk to us, he held his hands up in the air and said, "He's going to be ok. I cannot take credit for this. It is all God."
They were expecting to have him in ICU for a few weeks and even on a feeding tube, and directly after the surgery, he was taken to a regular room! They said tomorrow he can sit up and eat!
My heart is so glad that my Grandpapa is here on earth for a while longer. I'm so grateful for the family it has brought together. (I get to see my cousin tomorrow who I haven't seen in nearly 5 years!).
I knew that God could have healed him. I didn't have a doubt in my mind. But I'm so grateful that He CHOSE to heal him.
One other thing floating around in my head tonight:
I read Facebook statuses regularly. I can read them on my blackberry so I can do it throughout the day. There are SO many times I read statuses that say, "Please pray for my grandfather..." or "Need prayer". I always dismissed them with my usual:
-"God's will is going to be done wether or not I pray"
-These people don't care if I pray or if I comment that I'm praying just like the 16 other people who have just said the same thing."
-I don't want to seem like that person. The person who is so quick to say, "I'm praying."
I was really convicted today. Even though I got a lot of "I'm prayings" on my facebook. Every single one of them meant so much to me. I was sad and worried and confused. And I wasn't looking for someone to say something ground breaking or different or moving (which sometimes I feel pressure to say to someone else), but just every little "praying" that popped up, encouraged my heart.
I was convicted that I am too quick to judge and write people of as insincere.
I was also convicted that I need to be that person who takes a few minutes out of my day, to stop, to pray, and to encourage. Even if it is just a drop in the bucket.
Thank you all for your prayers and for your sweet comments:-)
Monday, February 1, 2010
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reading all this in retrospect of the weekend (I had no cpu access all weekend) I have to say that I know where you're coming from on your prayer life. For me, personally, the thing I get hung up on is personal bible time or "quiet" time as so many people call it.... for some reason it's never been a particularly amazing time of revelation. When God shows me something spectacular, it's not because I'm sitting there reading 4 chapters of the book of 1 Coronicles for the hundreth time in my life, it's Alina telling me that the sky is very big (and me realizing that even my 3 year old understands in some slight way how big God is), or when I have a dream about something odd and talk to Brent about it (and he picks it apart and explains what it means to me - and its usually something special). Maybe its my creative spirit that bucks against the formality of the regular devotional time... I don't know
ReplyDeleteI guess what I'm trying to say is that so many people think of prayer and quiet times and such as normal religious activities, even I do usually... but God is bigger than our boxes. He uses the "normal" things like prayer to touch us sometimes (like with your grandfather) and then strange things other times to relay the same message "I love you!"
Makes me smile to think about how big our God is and how many times He's broken out of the boxes that I continue to create to try and put him into.
Helen Joy, I just got caught up on your last two posts. I feel EXACTLY the same way about praying. I hate praying in groups out loud. I really hate hearing other people pray. It literally makes me angry. All of their "Dear Heavenly Father Protector of the Good and Sovereign and blah blah blah" as though God NEEDS to hear that. He's God. He knows He's awesome.
ReplyDeleteI'm also like you in asking for prayer in that I don't actually believe it when people tell me they're praying for me and I usually ignore it when I see someone asking for prayer on facebook. (I did not, however, ignore yours) :)
My gift is not prayer either and my prayers usually consist of conversationally talking to God like we're having a discussion over margaritas or something. I know that sounds sac religious but in all seriousness God would know it if I suddenly started talking all flowery to Him..He'd be like,"Hey. Stop acting like a moron. Go be Laura."
Glad to hear that everything went well. Our grandpas mean so much to us here too!
ReplyDeleteWhy pray? Why ask for answers instead of looking for them yourself? Why beg God to take away the opportunities He's given, even though their packaging may not appeal? Why request that others be stripped of these same blessings in disguise? Why do we believe in only good and bad, instead of problems that make us stronger?Why pray? I pray to know Him.
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