Following are some reflections on Prayer that I shared with Women in Touch recently:

Prayer is the place where we acknowledge the fact that we don’t have the answer and God does.  It is a place where it is possible to live continually–a place of surrender–a place where we can sit in stillness allowing God the opportunity to work for us.  That place of quiet allows us to feel His peace; it allows us to stop ourselves from rushing in to try to fix the situation.  It is a space where we cease our scheming, our self-vindication, and our search for a temporary fix to the situation or a way to numb the pain.

Prayer stays our hand and keeps us from trying, through our own limited wisdom and judgment, to change something that may not be ours to change.  It allows God to provide an answer in His own way and time.  Through His unfailing and faithful love He is able to minister in that quietness to whatever cruel blow we have suffered.

How often we make it impossible for God to intervene on our behalf by taking up our cause, by crusading or staging the scene and spinning the event, when all He asks us to do is surrender it to Him.  May God grant each of us this silent power and submissive spirit, which will allow Him to do far more for us than we could imagine or ever do for ourselves.

 

Photo credit:  Julie Escobar