The Greatest Gift....

This mother's day...I got the greatest gift ever...and it wasn't from my husband or my son! This gift came from my Mother in Law...who offered her services so I could go to church and listen to a VERY dear friend give a special Mother's Day sermon! This was probably the first sermon I have heard in full since my dear son was born...and I feel it such a blessing to have family close, and family that is so giving of their time that I was able to do it!

My friend gave a sermon, on to me what would be one of the scariest subjects to speak on, about unanswered prayer...It was actually titled "Wisdom in Prayer", and she gave no pretenses about being able to give a complete and simple answer as to why it seems that some of our prayers go unanswered...

Anyone who knows Tom and I personally, know we struggled with this over the past couple of years...and tried to find answers in some books, but were completely put off by the answers given, or the cute little package they were given in...

But this friend, gave an eloquent sermon that reminded us that "God is God and we are not"... this is so HUGE when you think about prayer and what it actually is...It is us asking for God to do something, whether we preface it in the name of Justice or Fairness, etc...we are ultimately asking God to do something for us...for our benefit, or a loved ones...and we are not God...some may find this disheartening as if praying is all for not if God is going to do whatever He does whether we pray or not...But the bible shows many instances where God was moved by prayer...in the Bible God instructs us to pray and we see the power of prayer play out in numerous examples throughout the bible, as well as in our own lives I am sure...so in no way am I saying not to pray...BUT pray with the wisdom of these two verses that my friend spoke on...

Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God..." and Jeremiah 29:11, "11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

This post is what I got out of the sermon...you may or may not agree...If you would like to listen to it, I will post it online when our church posts it on our website...You may get something totally different out of it...and even my friend may have intended something totally different from it...who knows...I found it powerful...and an eloquent way to put into words the personal journey I have been on these past couple of years...I would say in the past two years my prayer life has taken a whole new turn from what it was in the past...prayer is so powerful...I still pray with a hopeful heart...but I am no longer afraid to admit in prayer that I have no idea what to pray for...I usually pray for the desires of my heart...and also pray for the strength and wisdom to see God's will in whatever the outcome...