Howdy!, Welcome once more. Merriam- Webster defines a miracle as an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs. I like to think of it as the undeniable meets the unexplainable. ☺️ It appears to me that much of my life has been about me praying for people or people praying for me. Sometimes I wonder if I would even be here, without other people's prayers for me. Life's different stages and phases seems to bring about different kinds of cares and concerns, and we seem to grow with those petitions.
Early on, maybe you can relate with the less make a deal with God prayers. My walk with God kind of started out that way. I remember being a dumb ass teenager and finding myself in a mess of trouble. The prayer was God help me out of this jam and I will do anything that God asked me to do, including becoming a monk☺️☺️. What I fail to realize as a teenager, is that life is just a series of mess ups and that I would always without fail need God to rescue me , and yes most times , rescuing me from myself ☺️. I think that most of us have found ourselves in a pinch or desperate situation from time to time and we try bargaining with our Heavenly Father. If God will do this, then we would be at his mercy. We even have some prayers that are so desperate, that we would want to trade places with a sick child. ☺️ The ridiculous truth is we don't want to know where we would be without God's mercy. I think that people who don't know Him, just don't realize just how merciful that He actually is. God has general grace, which is where He shares His creation with all, so people who aren't acquainted with God, still get the benefits of His sunshine, His rain, the air that they breath and how He just so perfectly placed the earth in the solar system, so we aren't burned to a crisp from the sun, or freeze to death and become extinct ☺️☺️
There is this saying that God is never late, He is always perfectly on time. We don't always understand His ways or even His timing, and somethings God just chooses to keep a mystery on this side of eternity. Sometimes our prayers are just to vague in nature and then we are unhappy or discontent, when God's answers the prayer in another whole different way , from what you had in mind. He is God and He knows better than we do. He's not a genie in a bottle, so He does what He sees fit with our prayers, even when its hard or we lack understanding. How many of us have been to a class reunion and so thankful that God didn't answer some of those prayers, and you are thinking , what a train wreck and I'm glad that I dodged that bullet ☺️☺️. Still if we are being realistic, God answers all of His kids prayers and we may not want to openly receive that, but they are all yes, no , or wait and not just yet. I'm probably a little difficult, or maybe just an outside of the box thinker, but what about those prayers that we whisper and then forget about. How about if you were praying for someone specifically and then you loose track or touch with them over the years . Maybe it's the prayers that are uttered by one of God's saints and they are called home before they see it comes to fruition , does that make the prayer any less valid? All through out scripture God made promises that people didn't get to see Him act upon, while they were walking the earth. Abraham was an old man when he died, but he never got to see that he was the father of many nations.
Seasons and prayers, it seemed that it was only yesterday, that my daughter was pregnant with their second child and the doctors saw anomalies on test results and weren't sure if he was going to be healthy or not and the stinker just turned eight years old.☺️☺️ There were many prayers offered for him in the womb. I think a lot of the time we think that having a healthy baby is just a given, until it's not! I applaud all of the parents who decided to see a pregnancy to full term, even when they know that the child is going to be challenged with mental, or physical problems and sometimes both. I believe that there will be a special blessing for them in heaven. Still there are countless couples out there who have endured miscarriage after miscarriage , some find success after much trying, and others give up or adopt.
The beauty of being a responsible parent is just that, you never stop interceding for your kids. There are the rather hard lessons of teaching them to share and to be truthful. You pray as they learn to ride their bikes and skin their knees and those prayers just continue through the awkward adolescent years of not feeling accepted, while trying to find their place in the world. The job continues to get more complex with dating and driving a motor vehicle. You wait with them at the mailbox while they wait to see if they got accepted at their first choice for college, or the hard sell on the back up school ☺️. Often before we get to all of the adult things in life, such as careers, mates, homes and kids, you may find yourself with a prodigal.
I don't know if I would call it a blessing or not, but I've been on both sides of the Prodigal. I've been a prodigal and I was just so blessed and fortunate, that my son wanted me to have a taste of what I put my parents through ☺️☺️. I've seen the pattern, so I kind of know how it goes. First up, everything is open for debate and a twist in interpretation . That means no absolutes about anything, everything is a debate. My prodigal is so special, that he can argue the point, even if he agrees with you☺️. I don't even know if I can even qualify as a prodigal if I don't make one bad choice after another one. ☺️It's the constant always swimming against the current and up stream, and scoffing at anything that sounds the least little bit like something traditional ☺️. It's my way, even when it makes little sense and taking the nine mile detour just to cross the street ☺️☺️. I'm still on the fence about if they push boundaries to see how much you love them, or if it's to inflict the maximum amount of pain on your heart, as they flush all of your hard work and parenting down the toilet. If there is a look that I'm familiar with, it's that dumb look of I wasn't trained or raised to know better. ☺️☺️. The coup de gras, finishing you off in royal fashion is to walk away from their faith. See !, I didn't vote for letting them figuring it out for themselves, because its just to important. Whenever you create a vacuum, you just never know what may choose to fill that spot that you vacated. Yeah!, they have to figure out their relationship with God, but not start with nothing. That !, to me just says that you don't care or value whatever it is that you believe in enough to share it with the next generation . Make no mistake, it's the most important thing!
True confession, I did all of that and a lot more, and truthfully, my son is an amateur in comparison, so maybe as a family tradition we are trending in a positive direction ☺️☺️. The things that I say here and the things that I say to my son comes from two completely different parts of my brain, because I always want to encourage him and I know that part of being a really good prodigal is to not take anyone's word for anything, but the joys of figuring it out for yourself . I know the story, the patterns and the cycle, so I have great hope that God is growing what was deposited early on in life and that there is an abundant harvest coming. I see signs of it coming, yet I still pray for him fearlessly and I would encourage you to do likewise and to never abandon the hope and the power of prayer.
Speaking of people praying for me and whether I would be here or not, that story just wouldn't be complete without a couple of near death experiences ☺️☺️. Sometimes I just think it's a wonder at all that we survive young and dumb. It's a combination that has put many in the graveyard, and again I'm still probably here because of other people's prayers, such as my mom and my grandmother. Thank God for praying mom's. While I've done plenty of the not smartest of things, the two that have left me the most panic stricken or the most lasting impressions is laying down a couple of motorcycles . One time the helmet cracked against the curb of the sidewalk. I don't have anything against those three states with no helmet laws, I just want to say good luck with that one! ☺️☺️Someone prayed, and I'm still here. No helmet, no head and no me! The other one that literally took my breath away was being trapped underneath a houseboat out at lake Meade in Nevada. Pitch black night, props running at one end of the boat and a storm pushing the boat against the bank, just like on the sea of Galilee☺️☺️. Terrifying to say the least. We move forward in life and probably not ever giving much thought to things that would have ever kept us from being parents or from preventing us from being around to parent our kids, but someone prayed and I survived the young and dumb years. ☺️☺️
People praying for me may seem insequential , but there are literally millions of people around the world praying for other people , and those prayers are from some of the most daunting of circumstances. There are souls out in the world who are depressed and not only depressed, but have tried to end it all. Some have tried multiple times and still aren't sure why they are still here, but someone is praying and God has a plan for their life. Someone out there has survived the most horrific of automobile accidents or industrial accidents and there's absolutely zero chance that they should have survived, and still be here, but someone prayed and again, God has a plan for that life. I say that God has a plan , and just never underestimate or discount just how important of a job it is to be a mom or a dad to a kid that you are uniquely designed to parent. Everyone isn't cut out to be a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist, but just know that it all matters, even if it's as mundane as to clean up after others.
I am a firm believer in prayer and I mean real genuine authentic, pouring your broken heart out to God with no pretense prayer. I think that prayer has become one of those things that we talk about doing, more than actually doing. I believe that God honors our prayers in ways that we can't even begin to imagine. Our prayers and tears are precious to God and I believe that one day He will redeem every tear and every heart felt prayer. We are so much more than what you see on the outside. God has placed in each and every one of us an immortal soul. It's immortal, which means that it moves on when the rest of us does not.☺️ Every soul will spend eternity somewhere and the choice is yours to make. There are souls entering heaven every day because someone prayed for them. I know that its not fashionable any longer to talk about the alternative, but heaven isn't the only choice or destination. There are people who I pray for, maybe not every day, but I'm mindful to bring them to God's attention, just like He's forgotten, but He hasn't, and still I whisper their names into the ears of God, in hopes that one day that they will know Him and the peace and joy that goes along with knowing Him.
There are people praying for us that we have no idea about, and may never know or get to meet. God Word says that the Holy Spirit makes petitions for us with utterances that only God understands. We will sometimes never know the outcomes of our prayers and all of the blessings that it brings with them. I get it , understand and realize how easy and simple it is to get wrapped up in the things of this world. The comforts and cozy things , that brings temporary pleasures and enjoyment. Here is not our home, so when we are busy praying for stuff, raises at work, a new car or home, or whatever it is, let's remember that all around the world that there are people who aren't as blessed as we are, and need our prayers. I've heard way to many stories of people going on mission trips, and talking of orphans eating from trash dumps just to survive. So!, when we pray, remember the orphans and widows, which is acceptable worship to God and remember that this is not our home. There is nothing wrong with stuff, it's about perspective, priorities and what we choose to position where. Ultimately its about keeping the main thing the main thing. We have to ask ourselves if our prayer lives have become a pretense, ? then what else in other areas of our lives may be slightly out of sorts.
There is God's grace and mercy , however I believe that there may be a great number of us who have benefited from other people praying for us, be it parents or whoever, and I wasn't sneezing at God's grace and mercy ☺️☺️. I started out with the definition of a miracle and maybe, just maybe the miracle is that we are being prayed over , and benefiting from other people's knee mail. There are probably countless stories out there of others who have survived young and dumb years, prayer may or may not have played a part, but never doubt the grace of God and just how merciful He is to those of us who are the least deserving and often most in need. Till Next Time ✌️ Peace!
