prayer...

Then Jesus said, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. Matthew 11:28-30

So far this year, prayer has been on my heart. I feel like my answer to everything is 'just pray about it.' Honestly, that can be a good and bad thing. What I mean is, sometimes the I'll just pray about is only said or thought and not carried out. Do we sometimes use the phrase 'pray about it' or 'I'll pray for you' as a way to end a conversation or as something to say when we have no other words? I know I do and have the greatest intentions to really war in prayer for someone's situation, but sometimes it just doesn't get done. I feel really bad about this, honestly sick when I see how powerful prayer can be. When I sort of take it for granted, it makes me sick because it is just diminishing the power of our Great God.

Last week in my Bible Study a woman asked for prayer for her job search and her relationship with her husband. She said they were struggling with communication and financial/job stress was really wearing on them. Of course I sincerely told her I would pray for her and even led the group in a prayer for her needs. Did I forget to pray for her situation over the week? Yes! So this morning when we met again I asked her how things were going and she told me that God had totally answered her prayers and that she had some leads for a job and that her relationship was going really well and that they were attending church together! She then thanked me for praying to which I said you're welcome and went on. I AM DISGUSTED WITH MYSELF. Because I was in the presence of ladies at Bible Study, I just sat there and sort of took credit for her answered prayers (even though we all acknowledged about how GOD had heard the prayers of the group) when I didn't even pray. Now I am SO very thankful that despite my ridiculousness, GOD cares for her situation and HE delights in answering her prayers and giving her the desires of her heart.

Delight yourself in the Lord and HE will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

I am a little scared to publish this post because I am being pretty honest here. BUT, I do desire to be a prayer warrior for my family, friends, bible study members, youth girls, and others. So, I leave with a commitment to pray more. To (try to) pray constantly and to delight myself in the Lord.

Pray without ceasing. 1 Thes. 5:17