Life has been a huge struggle for many years for my family and me. Today hasn’t been any different. Things have not been good financially. And in my finite mind I don’t see a way out. I love word pictures so I often picture our family inside an enclosure with cement on all sides and we just keep running into the walls in hopes to find a secret compartment or door to open, but it never does and we are only getting bruised up and damaged.
What does this have to do with prayer? Well, everything. In the good and in the bad, we are to be praying to God. Pray without ceasing. This is where I am at. I have always prayed, but have I really. Do I believe when I pray? I never doubt that God can do things, but I doubt that He will. I have allowed my families circumstances to get the best of me and I have allowed fear to overtake me. Is this what it means to be broken? Maybe.
I was reading my devotional, Streams in the Desert, by L.B. Cowman, for the day and it was appropriately on prayer. God has a sense of humor! I want to quote parts of the devotional; because I couldn’t say it any better than she did.
“Prayer is the link that connects us with God. It is the bridge that spans every gulf and carries us safely over every chasm of danger or need”. (pg. 412, Steams in the Desert) No one can ever take this away from me. I am so grateful for that. Everything else may go, but my connection to God will never be stripped from me. Now if I could just remember that every single day.
“In your prayers, above everything else, beware of limiting God, not only through unbelief but also by thinking you know exactly what He can do. Learn to expect the unexpected, beyond all that you ask or think”. (pg. 413, Streams in the Desert) Wow, this quote hit me hard. I know that I limit God. I only see what is obvious or feasible in my own mind. Sure I see Him do wondrous things for others, but that surely can’t happen in my own life or the life of my family. Like I said above, I believe God is capable, but I truly doubt that He will do anything in my life. I have limited God and this isn’t okay.
This has been a struggle for some time in my life and until God is through with me, I assume it will always be something I have to be guarded against. I must always remember that I serve an amazing God and that nothing is impossible for Him.
Wrestling prayer can wonders do,
Bring relief in dire straits;
Prayer can force a passage through
Iron bars and heavy gates.
Frederick William Farrar
(pg. 413 Steams in the Desert)
