Growing up you could have told me over and over again to choose happiness instead of sadness, bitterness and resentment. Every now and then adults would tell me, “Oh it’s not that bad, things will get better”. Even today I continue to hear, “it can only get better from here”. So often I want to say, “How do you know?”
How do they know it will get better? What if it only gets worse? What if I haven’t suffered the worst thing I could possibly suffer? I sometimes think people say these things because it is the only thing they can think of to say. More and more I read and hear people telling others they will pray for them. I know I do. But how many people actually say a prayer? I can tell you on many occasions I have forgotten to mention the particular person in my prayers. Whenever possible I will write the person’s name down in my journal or I will check in with them to see how they are doing. In situations I think are emergencies (God tugging at me to drop everything and do it now) I will pray in that moment.
All in all if we were perfect at prayer our days would be filled with only prayer and no time to listen to the pain others are walking in. There is so much suffering in the world today keeping up with it can be a full time job. I am not sure how God does it all.
Can the simple gesture of prayer help? I think it can. To know someone cares. To say the words as personal as “I will keep you in my prayers” or “I will say a prayer for you” can help. It can help not only the person receiving the words, but those giving the words. In today’s busy world, the likely hood a person will remember to say a prayer at night before they go to bed is slim. Too often we fall asleep from complete exhaustion. I know I do.
Regardless of where a person is in their prayer life, they will remember. Whether it in the car, after the kids go to bed, doing laundry, waiting for football practice to end, sitting in church, or just a moment of silence, they will remember.
A flash of you will appear in their minds and the simple words………..”I will pray for you” will be whispered. A remembrance of the pain you are walking through will have them praying for you. It might not be the day or the hour they had told you, but it will be in Gods time. The prayer for you doesn’t have to be perfect and it doesn’t have to be spoken. The prayer is the givers, the receivers and Gods. Prayer all at once or prayer spread out over time. It’s all good prayer!
For those of you who have suffered more than I will ever know, remember whether it be today, tomorrow, or yesterday………………….I have prayed and in God’s time will be praying for you.
Luv, luv,
Julie
