Pray

For those not familiar with Nate and his family, you can follow the link by clicking on his name or in the side bar where it says praying for Nate and catch up with his story. His baby is continuing to flourish and his wife is getting stronger. Neither are out of the woods yet. Please continue to lift them in prayer. The Doctors have found MRSA on the baby's nose, but say that she is not yet infected. Pray that she won't be!

There are so many stories of people in need of the encouragement and prayers of God's people. A person could spend many days following the links of thousands of blogs...all personal testimonies of how they are suffering and struggling, but also rejoicing and praying. I've joined the prayer line at our church and receive weekly e-mails on some of the needs of our people at church. I don't say this to gain any kind of recognition of any good deed or to be holier than thou or to claim my prayer life is all that it should be. I am far from being a true prayer warrior. To be perfectly honest, there are times when I feel completely overwhelmed by the constant needs of our people. When I shower, I think over these requests in my mind, usually sobbing and crying out to the Lord. I try to put myself in that person's or family's shoes. How would I react? Would I draw nearer or farther from God? My heart breaks constantly for the tradgedy that occurs daily for my Christian brothers and sisters and for those that are apart from God.

It is then that I realize that I make this all a "me" thing, when it should not be me at all. I get all caught up in the pain and the sorrow and tend to miss out on the good that God is doing in the situation.

Then my heart focuses on God...to think our God hears all of our prayers, the spoken and the unspoken. He does so without being overwhelmed. He knows all of our successes, our failures, our joys and our pains. He knows our name and has claimed us as his children. He knows the beginning of the story and the end and gives us specific answers to our prayers and meets our needs ever so faithfully. Not only that, but when we are dealing with these things, He also promises restoration and peace.

I am praying for that hedge of protection, comfort, strength, encouragement, and healing, not only physical, but also spiritual and emotional, for all of us in need--myself included!