Throwback Thursday - A Post From The Past

This post was first published on 26/3/13. Quite apt to choose it now as I will be blogging shortly on The Prayer Course that our homegroup have just completed.

It's often said God gives three answers to prayer - "yes", "no" or "wait".......we seem to be getting the bulk of the "no" answers at the moment and it really does make me think 'why am I even praying?' I thought I'd be really clever and prove my point by specifically not praying and then if what I would've prayed for went the right way - case proved - circumstantial!

Don't misunderstand me and think I am losing my faith, I completely know God is there and loves me and cares about what I need, but I am starting to think what happens to us in this life is very much down to our own control and circumstances, the thing is..........I can't not pray!

I have developed such a relationship that even if the answer is going to be "no" I still find peace in having had the conversation and I know I will look back at this period of time in the future and make sense of the "no's"!

So I still pray, but avoid the specific subject of our want/need at the moment! I know many of my friends are praying for the same thing for us so I leave it in their hands! Pressure!

I have found recently the easiest way for me to pray is to elaborate on the Lord's Prayer something like this:

"Father, you are the one true God,

the only God who deserves all my praise & worship.

I pray that your world will be filled with people who follow you,

& every day your work will be done.

Thank you for all you've provided & continue to provide for me & my family.

Please forgive me for the things I've said & done that've hurt you & others,

help me to think before I act & help me to forgive others who hurt me.

Help me to not be tempted by things that are not good for me

& keep me safe from things that can harm me.

In your son's precious name. Amen"

Why pray? Because Jesus taught us to, and whether we believe it or not and even when it seems like God's not there, He is, and He's listening and it'll all be alright in the end, and if it's not alright, it's not the end!

Why Pray?

It's often said God gives three answers to prayer - "yes", "no" or "wait".......we seem to be getting the bulk of the "no" answers at the moment and it really does make me think 'why am I even praying?' I thought I'd be really clever and prove my point by specifically not praying and then if what I would've prayed for went the right way - case proved - circumstantial!

Don't misunderstand me and think I am losing my faith, I completely know God is there and loves me and cares about what I need, but I am starting to think what happens to us in this life is very much down to our own control and circumstances, the thing is..........I can't not pray!

I have developed such a relationship that even if the answer is going to be "no" I still find peace in having had the conversation and I know I will look back at this period of time in the future and make sense of the "no's"!

So I still pray, but avoid the specific subject of our want/need at the moment! I know many of my friends are praying for the same thing for us so I leave it in their hands! Pressure!

I have found recently the easiest way for me to pray is to elaborate on the Lord's Prayer something like this:

"Father, you are the one true God,

the only God who deserves all my praise & worship.

I pray that your world will be filled with people who follow you,

& every day your work will be done.

Thank you for all you've provided & continue to provide for me & my family.

Please forgive me for the things I've said & done that've hurt you & others,

help me to think before I act & help me to forgive others who hurt me.

Help me to not be tempted by things that are not good for me

& keep me safe from things that can harm me.

In your son's precious name. Amen"

Why pray? Because Jesus taught us to, and whether we believe it or not and even when it seems like God's not there, He is, and He's listening and it'll all be alright in the end, and if it's not alright, it's not the end!

What Will Be Your Next Facebook Status?

Disclaimer: "The following status' are not necessarily about me or my family. If they bare any resemblance to you or your family this was not intended to cause harm or embarrassment"

True Status: "My kids are annoying little brats who constantly wind me up."
Actual Status: "Just had a lovely family afternoon with my wonderful children."


True Status: "My husband & I barely talk and certainly don't have regular sex."
Actual Status: "Can't wait for my lovely husband to come home from work, 8 hours is too long to be parted from him."

If you use Facebook, which I suspect if you read blogs you do; you have probably read status' similar to the 'actual' ones above, when we all know the reality is probably nearer the 'true' status. You have probably even posted a status in order to show to everyone else that you have a near perfect marriage and children - I know I have.

When things are going good we want everyone to know what a wonderful time we've had, how little Jonny is just such a darling and loves his sister so much and nothing is too much trouble for our spouse. And d'you know what? There's nothing wrong with that, we should celebrate our ability to have raised half decent kids and stayed married for x no. of years. But when does it lose it's reality or interest to others?

I have written many status' and then deleted them straight away, after thinking, why do I want to air that? What is my motive? Am I looking for sympathy, attention, help.......

Then there are the 'awareness' status' which finishes with "99% of people won't re-post this, but I know my true friends who care about people dying from in-growing toenails will"

Well sorry, but no, I won't re-post that.  Not because I don't care about dangerous fungal toe growth, but because you have insinuated I may not care when I do, I really do.

Here comes the God angle. Are we trying to only show God our best bits, do we think we can hide the harsh words, the wrong thoughts, the bad behaviour from Him? I think in truth we all know that we can't. God has seen every snapshot of our lives from every angle. He knows every thought we have tried to delete. And when we have assured ourselves and our friends our life is perfect, He can see beyond that and knows the reality of every situation.

This shouldn't make us feel scared or worthless, on the contrary we should be thankful for the fact that our God knows every inch of our lives and still loves us. He has forgiven us for the times we have lied to cover up the mess we've made, and He loves us for times we have forgiven others for doing the same thing.

So next time you talk to God, be honest. Let Him know the true 'status' of your situation.

Praying For Fabrice Muamba

Why are our tabloid papers urging the nation to pray? Is it because of poverty, abuse, crime etc? No.  It is because a young footballer collapsed from a cardiac arrest during a match on Saturday.

Fabrice Muamba a 23 year old footballer is in a critical condition in hospital and the football fans want him to pull through and their first thoughts are prayer!

I don't follow football; I have an idea that two teams attempt to get a ball in a goal and whichever  team gets the most goals wins the game - that is the extent of my football knowledge!

I was shocked to see a young sports person - a fit and healthy young person being stretchered off a sports pitch with a heart attack! I didn't pray for him initially, I don't know if I should feel bad about that or not, I found the story interesting but I wasn't initially moved to pray.  Until I started to notice his family requesting prayer on twitter, and not in a desperate way, but in a faithful way, then my twitter time line seemed to be full of nothing but requests for prayer for Muamba.

The tabloids had headlines like "God is in control" and "Praying for Muamba".  In times of fear and crisis, most people's first thought is God, and it seems for now God is answering those prayers; Muamba is now breathing on his own and has spoken a few words.

I don't know if Muamba is a Christian, I suspect many of the fans that prayed for him may not be Christians, but my prayer is that God's truth is revealed to the people that wrote the headlines, the players that were on the pitch, the fans in the stadium.  Every single one of them is a child of God and loved by Him, and if last weekend's events brings even one of them into a place where they truly find God as their Father, then that will make headline news in Heaven!

The Post That Never Was.....

So, I just poured my heart out to you guys who may end up reading this when I realised there are only two people I need to talk to.

God and my husband.

God knows the score already, but I'm hoping he might let me in on how on earth I'm supposed to keep moving forward.

As for hubby, well, guess we just have to talk and keep talking.

I'm Alright

Our homegroup starts back tonight after having had it's 'Summer' break.  The thing I initially found most difficult and uncomfortable within our group is the prayer time. The question is put forward "so anyone got anything they require prayer for? Any problems or difficulties we can pray about for you?" "Uh, no. Definately not me, I'm alright."

I daren't let go of anything, good ole smiley me.  Then what annoys me more is that the praying starts and I think 'seriously? That needs prayer? Do these people know what real problems are?' Uh, no they don't, because I wouldn't tell them!

Don't get me wrong I have a fantastic and supportive homegroup and despite my unwillingness to share, I have a strong feeling I was prayed for regularly because now when I say "I'm alright" I think I mean it, and I think people believe me!

I suppose I didn't want to be the one, and there will always be one, who always has a problem, things are never quite right, 'woe is me, I can't get my toddler to use the potty properly.' Newsflash, everybody goes through that and just gets on with it, it doesn't need a prayer gathering. Of course you should pray for that if you are finding it difficult, but asking other people to ask God to help you out with toilet training your toddler? I don't know.

I'm not sure if this was the tangent this post was heading down, but it's here now, so I might as well go with it.

I guess I'm wondering at what point it is valid to bear your soul to your brothers and sisters in Christ and say 'you know what? I'm struggling, I don't know if I can get through this, will you pray for me?'

So homegroup tonight, "any prayer requests?" will I say "I'm alright"? and if I do, will I mean it?

He Loves It When You Call

Out in the car today, doing my usual long chat to God as I drove, I probably found myself rambling a bit, I was going over the things that had happened over the last week that I needed strength for and then was distracted by the awsome scenery and just had to give thanks for the incredibly beautiful world we live in, and then I didn't really know where else I wanted the prayer to go so I gave in and turned the radio on.........that was when God spoke to me. 

No, he's not moonlighting as a DJ, he's got enough on his plate at the moment.  It was the song that came on, that for me immediately was God saying 'thanks for the chat'.

The Feeling I Love It When You Call Years ago when this song first came out, our Pastor used it as an illustration in her sermon.  I know, imagine that, pop music in a place of God.  Well I'm still here and we weren't all turned to stone. (Don't even go there on the fact our Pastor at that time was a She)!

Anyway her point was God loves it when we call.  He is our Father, if we can't go to Him who can we go to?

Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. Jam 5.13

Pray for one another, that you may be healed. Jam 5.16b

Therefore, I desire that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. 1Ti 2:8

The line in the song 'what's the complication, it's only conversation' couldn't be more true about the way we communicate with God.  Just talk to Him!  He loves it when you call!

God Is The Keystone

A couple of weeks ago my husband bumped into an old 'school friend'.  This guy had always been pretty much known as trouble.  He was asking my husband how things were going, and knowing he was a Christian started asking questions about God. 

My husband came away from the conversation knowing that he had to understand there were reasons behind people's behaviours.  This guy opened up to him a little and shared some quite terrible things he experienced as a child, he was really feeling now an emptiness in his life, which he thought may mean he needed God.

Around the same time I met a lady who decided to come and find out what was going on at Church and came to our ladies that lunch meeting.  I recognised her as being local and it was nice to get to know her, I was impressed by the courage shown to just arrive on your own, without being dragged along by a friend.

A few days later whilst in prayer for these two people, God showed me a picture of a bridge starting at one side of a stream.  It was incomplete, piece by piece it was reaching across to the other side.  I think I take it to  mean we can reach out and pray for our unsaved friends and family on the other side of the stream, but we cannot complete the spiritual journey for them.  We cannot build it all the way across or it would not be strong enough.  It would collapse.

They also have to build their side of the bridge and come towards, what we through the Holy Spirit, are praying for them and teaching them.  As we pray and they come, we reach the centre where God becomes the most important central piece, the 'keystone'.

We can pray all we like for the unsaved and it is a good thing to do, and they can reach out towards what they feel is missing from their lives, but without God as the central point our bridge will collapse, we will not save them and they will not find piece.

So, keep building your bridges towards the unsaved, but don't take it as a personal failure or rejection if they don't respond and build their side back towards you and find God.

Don't F.L.I.P. out!

A few months ago I came up with the acronym f.l.i.p. as a way to help me with my daily life as a Christian.  It stands for f = follow, l = love, i = investigate, p = pray.  Not necessarily in that order, but the word p.l.i.f. didn't really work.

Those were the acts I felt as a Christian would be important to remember, Follow where I feel the Holy Spirit is leading me, show Love to all I come into contact with, Investigate God's word by reading my Bible or religious based web/podcasts & by no means least, Pray.

Talking of acts,I have never done an Alpha course, but I have heard that some courses teach the acronym a.c.t.s as a way of structuring your prayer life - I do not believe this is a very good one, because I have heard it a couple of times and can never remember the words, I only remember a = adoration! (if any one's memory is better than mine, or you know of any you want to share, please post it in the comments!)

Another one someone told me they got from Alpha was teaspoon, my mind immediately went crazy trying to think of what on earth the words would be, to which I was told quite simply, 'thanks, sorry, please' oh, right, the abbreviation for teaspoon t.s.p.

So when you pray you can stay focused by remembering to give thanks to God first, followed by sorry and asking for your forgiveness and lastly tell God what your needs are.

So your prayer could go something like: "Thank you for abbreviations, sorry that I can't remember what a.c.t.s stands for, and please don't let anyone come up with an acronym for s.u.p.e.r.c.a.l.i.f.r.a.g.i.l.i.s.t.i.c.e.x.p.e.a.l.i.d.o.c.i.o.u.s."

Friends Will Be Friends

Faces have been removed to protect the innocent!

Once a week me & my friends meet up usually for breakfast.  We are not your ladies what lunch on rivita and cream cheese, we like a good cooked breakfast and coffee and cakes!

We happen to be members of the same church, which does make our relationships and time together special.  We love a good gossip, ahem, I mean sharing prayerful concerns! 

Aside from my family these are the most treasured people in my life, they have laughed with me, cried with me and prayed with me.  Without a special couple of them I honestly dread to think of what today would be like.......if I was still here.

Although we all attend church and are Christians, there is no exclusivity and it is especially nice when we are joined by a non-Christian friend, as well as the opportunity to meet more people, it is great to show ourselves as perfectly normal ladies, who love a laugh and can enjoy the odd naughty conversation along with the best of them!

Sometimes to ask a friend along to Church can seem almost impossible, but to ask them to join you in a social setting is far more natural and our lives become our testimony.

I can remember a very lonely time in my life, when I was so consumed with a young family but I desparately wanted friends, friends who I would still have long after the kids had left home, friends who I could tell my deepest fears and shames to and know I wouldn't be judged.

I prayed and asked God for that, and boy did he deliver!  It might have taken quite a few years for these friendships to form and then a few years after that for me to fully accept that they also valued my friendship, but I think I am there now.

If you are a friend that is being leaned on, you are worth more than you will ever know.  And if you are leaning on a friend at the moment remember to thank God for their special role in your life.