Life. It passes quickly. There is a saying that the days are long but the years are short. It is already March. We are in the 3rd month of 2017. I don't even know what we have been doing for the past 2 months. Well, I do know that basketball and baseball have consumed our afternoons. We make it a priority to be at church every time the doors are open. But other than that, I have no clue where the time has gone. Seriously...poof...2 months...gone!
So much has happened this year, yes in 2 months, that is out of my control. Both good and bad. I am learning to let go of things that I have no control over. This is hard for me as I'm sure it is for many of you reading this. I like to fix things. I see things that most do not and cling to those things. In my life and in the life of others. Have you noticed that the more you try to "fix" the more complicated life can get? The more frustrated you become. You get tired. You get stressed. You worry. You question things. Have you noticed that you may worry about it or talk about it more than you ever consider praying about it? We are so quick to pick up the phone and make a phone call to "share" our new problems. I'm sure at some point we are guilty of picking up the phone to post our problems to social media for the world to fix or perhaps counsel us. Maybe feel sorry for us. But that's not how we are to handle life's problems. If anything, it only makes it worse. I've seen this first hand.
Years ago, many years ago, I was a prayer warrior. I had incredible faith. Don't tell me that someone passed away because I would certainly go and pray for them to rise up. Couldn't walk? I would be the one that would pray for you to get up and walk. Nothing was impossible. Absolutely nothing. I had a prayer closet that I spent many hours a day in. It was absolutely amazing. During this time, someone very near and dear to me was struggling. If you know me, you know that I love fierce and if someone I love is hurting, I will do whatever it takes to make sure they are well or taken care of. I watched this person spiraling downward and very fast. They were lost. They were desperate and they needed a miracle. So what did this ole gal do? I prayed. I got on my knees in my bedroom at my parents house and prayed. I don't mean a 5 minute prayer but 5 hours of prayer. It was intense. It was as if God was sitting beside me. I was having a face to face conversation with our Lord and Savior. I cried. I cried out on behalf of this person that I loved so dearly. I remember my dad telling me that I couldn't spend all day praying because I had classes to get to for college. I told him that college could wait because this person was in desperate need of prayer. How many of you know that prayer is a powerful thing? I don't know how many days or weeks or even months passed before this person finally "woke up." I remember exactly where I was when I got the phone call that they had been baptized in a horse trough. I wept. What was really amazing is that I was at a revival at The Assembly of God in West Monroe, LA and I saw a vision of this person walking towards God. As if God had His hand out and took this person in. This time that person didn't resist but ran towards God. He was tired. He was tired of the life he had been living. He told me that he could literally feel my prayers. My prayers didn't go unanswered. They didn't fall on deaf ears. My time spent on my knees was not wasted time.
I'm not sure at what point things changed. My walk with God wasn't what it had been. I began to make choices that weren't the best for my spiritual walk. I was on that same slippery slope that my loved one had been on. This time, we were walking side by side. I wasn't there to help him. I was along side encouraging those bad decisions. How could I spend hours in prayer for this person then turn around and partake in the things I was praying against? Months passed and this person decided he was tired of running from God. He made a commitment to Him and never ever looked back. He's been living a faithful life ever since that day. But one thing he told me, "I couldn't feel your prayers." I don't care how lost in sin you are but if you ever hear those words, they will knock you off your feet. They will draw emotions out of you that you didn't even know you had.
Many years later, I was in the same situation with another loved one except this time, my faith wasn't that of a child. I remember telling myself, "I prayed one person through, so I can do the same for this person." But my prayers were never the same. I remember the words that were spoken many years prior, "Laurie, I couldn't feel your prayers." I continued to ask myself why I couldn't pray like I had years before. Those words were spoken almost 20 years ago but I can hear them like they were spoken yesterday.
There is power in prayer. There is power when we are humble before our God. On our knees crying out to Him. Desperate for a miracle. Desperate to see Him move mountains only He can move. Desperate to see Him heal. Desperate to see Him break chains of addiction. Desperate for Him to save the soul of a loved one. Desperate for Him to heal a marriage. Desperate.
He never left me. I am looking forward to that day where I can call myself a prayer warrior once again. If you find yourself in a situation that seems impossible, I encourage you to hit your knees in prayer. Don't pick up the phone. Don't make a status update on Facebook. Just simply fall to your knees before our God Almighty. May you never hear the words, "I couldn't feel your prayers." I hope that no one will ever have to wonder where I was during a very dark time in their lives.
Prayer changes things.
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