A Morning with Prayer

This morning started off like most of my mornings do. I got up and fixed my coffee, read my devotions, and got my boys up for school.  I usually wait until my boys are almost out of the door before I wake up my daughter. She is seven and she sleeps like she is seventeen. I went upstairs to wake her up but when I did she rolled over and told me she was sick. She said, “Mommy, I can’t go to school today, my throat hurts, my wrist hurts, my tummy hurts, my legs hurt and my feet hurt”.  I did not know how to respond.  She looked like a hot mess. Don’t we all when we first wake up.  Our faces are puffy and we usually have crusty particles in our eyes or even stuck to our cheeks and nose. Maggie had all the above along with Medusa’s hair and red creases where she had lay for too long on one side. This child is a wild sleeper. She kicks, she turns and she sweats.  She looked like she had a restless night; she always looks that way but today I wanted to keep her home with me.  Something inside of me said to wait. I rubbed her back for what seemed like five minutes, when I am sure in reality it was only 30 seconds. While rubbing her back I contemplated the very talented actress that she is. It has become hard for me, a seasoned mother, to tell when my little princess is faking a tummy ache and having a real tummy ache. I felt the leading of the Holy Spirit say “pray for her”. I thought, wow what a great idea, why didn’t I think of that first. I laughed at myself and then I said Maggie, “let’s pray”. She folded her little hands into praying hands, closed her big brown eyes, squished up her little nose and waited patiently for me to begin.

Our church recently held a revival and during the revival the pastor preached the importance of not only reading the word of God but praying the word when we pray.  So my prayer began. I prayed for Maggie from head to toe. I specifically prayed the prayer of the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ robe and the lame man that was healed to walk again.  When I was done, she opened her eyes, rolled over onto her back and said, “Well now it’s just my wrist and my throat and my feet.” I did not make the correlation until much later that the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ robe had stomach issues and the lame man received strength in his legs. But for that moment I thought okay Lord, what now? I glanced down at her wrist and saw a rubber band. I told her to take it off because I was sure that was making her wrist hurt. I then told her that when my throat was sore I like to drink something warm and I bet one of her daddy’s famous lattes would make her throat feel better. Lastly, I said if you get up and move around the blood will start flowing through your feet and I bet they will feel better too. She immediately sat up, smiled that adorable melt my heart smile and said “Ok Mommy”.  The rest of the morning was uneventful. She got dressed, drank her latte and bounced off to school like she had woke up feeling great.

When I returned home from the bus stop I took some time to think about what had happened earlier that morning. Why did I pray? Why don’t I usually pray when one of my kids are having a morning like this one? Honestly as a minister it is a little embarrassing to admit that my usual response goes something like this. “Oh get up, you are fine, you’ll be okay in a few minutes. You just need to wake up. Come on, we don’t have time for this.  Come on. Let’s get dressed, come on get up…blah  blah blah”.  Or I immediately give in because I am just too tired to debate the situation. But this morning was different. Why was it different? What was different? I pondered on these questions for a while and then the answer came.  For the last several weeks I have been praying for a deeper relationship with the Lord. I have been praying to hear His voice and to recognize it.  I have also been reading a wonderful book written by Joyce Meyer “The Confident Mom”.   All of a sudden I had one of those light bulb moments. It all came together in perfect harmony. Ask and you shall receive.  Don’t just be hearers of the word but doers of the word. Train up a child in the way they should go. Be still and know that I am God. Many years of scripture reading flooded my mind and I felt spectacular!

God’s way is always better. In our minds we know this, but to actually put it into practice takes a little more effort than we are willing to give sometimes.  I am proud to say that this morning I put in the effort. Not only did my daughter receive healing in her precious little body, but we actually saved time.  My 30 second back rub added to my one minute prayer equaled one minute and thirty seconds. When I compare that to debating with her on the fact of is she really sick or not and then pleading with her to get up and get dressed and the 10 minutes that would take; we saved over eight minutes. That is eight more minutes of snuggles and kisses and getting a good breakfast and getting her backpack packed and making it to the bus stop on time, which is always difficult for us. Those eight minutes were like gold to me today.

There really is power in praying God's Word into our lives and over the lives of our loved ones. Sometimes the fullness of the power is not manifested until later and sometimes it happens right away. I encourage you to pray about everything. Do not listen to the lie that you do not have time to pray and you must act now. Prayer is not only the best option but it actually saves time. It saves the time it takes for God to clean up our mess and then do it His way; His way is what happens when we just pray first and then there are no messes to clean up.

Philippians 4:6 (NIV)  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.