Prayer

from the mom

I finished Philip Yancey's book on prayer about a month ago. "Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?" is an honest book that did a lot for my sorry prayer life.

A couple of things that I needed to be reminded of were:

• Prayer is about developing a relationship with God not about always getting what we want. Sometimes we don't get the answers we want; He still wants us to ask.
  
• God communicates with us as individuals. He made us all different and there is no one formula. Some of us are morning people and rise early to pray. Others are mid-day pray-ers or evening pray-ers. Yancey reminds us that while it is useful to try new things that ultimately God cares that we pray, not how and when we pray. This was a comfort; I babble at God all day long. My focused prayer times are pretty sorry though. While I definitely want to keep working at that, I was reminded that my best relationships are those where I am communicating and being active at the same time. I discuss my husband's day at work with him while I fix dinner; I catch up on life with my friend Amy over scrapbooking; I talk to Sarah on the phone while I feed the kids breakfast or fold laundry. I don't think God is offended when I work while I pray.
  
• God can handle all of me. Scripture is full of examples of those who argued with God, complained at God, and otherwise engaged in what can be perceived as disrespectful. God would rather I communicated than give Him the silent treatment when life has thrown me for a loop. The Psalms are full of real feeling and God saw fit to have them included in Scripture. He doesn't mind if I ask "why" now and then. It is better than not talking at all.
  
• Using the prayers of others is ok. I used historic wedding vows when I married because I wanted to use time-honored words full of thought and meaning and not just the emotion of the moment to convey what I was committing to that day. It is ok to use prayers that are full of thought and meaning to communicate what I feel and think to God. I am pretty good at coming up with words on any occasion but sometimes it helps me focus on things I should be praying about and using historic prayers and Scriptures puts me in good company.
  

Most of all, I was greatful that Yancey was real. He describes his own prayer life as less than perfect and his book is full of honest doubts that ultimately lead back to belief.