Today I was reminded about the power of prayer.
I admit that I am not that faithful in prayer. I have so much to praise God for and it is like I forget to talk to him. It always upsets me when I don’t immediately think to pray, but today was different. A friend needed prayers. I have some of the best memories with this awesome friend, and our friendship is one that I really enjoy. But like many of my friendships I have not appreciated it enough, I have not called enough, and I hadn’t been there for her. She has been fighting hereditary chronic pancreatitis for three whole years. Three years! Today she underwent a very invasive surgery that lasted hours, it is called a Total Pancreatectomy with Auto Islet Cell Transplant. A long name for a long surgery. The doctors removed her pancreas and transplanted her islet cells into her liver, and now she is in recovery. If you want to know more about the story she writes a very informative and brave blog, Soup of the Day. Visit her blog and become educated about this illness. Though I have not been a part of her fight, I have started reading her blog and through this challenge it is easy to see how much her faith has grown. It is beautiful to see someone growing in their faith. Praying for her today reminded me of how much I trust in the Lord and how much I love him. I am just so thankful for his Grace!
During our struggle with infertility I would go through stages where I felt close to God, and then I would feel distant. The closest I ever felt was when I was crying out for him to help me. I needed him more than I needed anything else. You would think now that our prayers have been answered I would feel even closer to him, but it’s different. I’m not in a state of depression or feeling lost, I just feel happy. Now I only pray for Thing 1 and Thing 2. I don’t pray as often as I should and I definitely don’t praise him as often as I should!
After hearing Whitney was doing well after her surgery, I remembered how to Praise God! I just felt overcome by joy. I know she has a long road ahead, but I can’t help but feel God has answered all of our prayers. And I also can’t stop Praying! I am like a praying machine today and I am loving it! I realize now that I need to devote a specific time to pray and praise God everyday. I also want to pray small prayers to him throughout the day.
I am ready to stop talking about things, and start praying about them.
I have decided to be faithful in prayer.
Please say a prayer for Whitney! She is still in recovery and I know she would be thankful to have your prayers.
I love that image. It is so very true and puts things in perspective. It is unfortunate so many of us – most of us (me included) think of prayer LAST and not FIRST, as it should be. Will we ever learn this lesson?! Brad and I are starting to fast once ever couple weeks to enhance our prayer life. We started last week when my mom got a call that there is a big mass on her lung and she needed further testing to see if it was cancer. Eek. We just fasted for a day, from dinner to dinner. That’s how we’ll start since we have never really fasted before. For that day fasting for my mom, I definitely felt closer to God and communicated with Him more that usual. When I felt hunger pains or thought of when I last ate, I talked to God. I prayed and cried out to Him. I felt like I actually was in commune with Him all day! So we are going to fast for a day to start every other week. We’ll fast/pray for different things as those days come. Some of my friends are even fasting but in different ways, kind of going along with the idea of Lent…giving up something they want for Jesus. One is giving up all sugar and she craves it so bad, but it brings her to focus on Jesus when she is craving it.
I’ll pray for Whitney!
So glad to hear she is in recovery! Still praying. Just couldn’t sleep yet without knowing how she was doing.