http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-hamlin/make-good-on-a-promise-to_b_737210.html
"...An old friend was letting me know that her long-time babysitter had just been diagnosed with colon cancer and was going into the hospital soon for surgery. "Prayers!" I typed. "I'll keep her in our prayers." What else do you say? How else do you respond to really bad new? The thing is: do you really mean it, and are you really going to do it?
In this case, of course, I meant it and I was indeed going to do it... But you know what? Good intentions, that usual slippery slope, got delayed. There were lots of pressing matters and other people who needed to be prayed for: my sister-in-law's cancer treatments, my kids at loose in the world, my dad's shaky health, the ballooning home equity loan, the mess in the Middle East......But I needed to say that prayer for me as much as for her. Praying for others is at the heart of prayer. As has been often pointed out, the Lord's Prayer is in the first-person plural, not singular. Praying -- and I don't think I'm any better at it than anybody else -- is a joint effort. Faith is about compassion, and how compassionate can you be if you don't pray for others?
... When you pray for someone, you learn to love them, and you think of them all day long."
This week I had a chance to respond to a prayer request from a friend. Even though I was on the treadmill when I received the message I said a prayer where I was about the issue. An hour later when I got home, it was still on my mind and I really wanted God to move so that she would be comforted in knowing that God does hear our prayers. So I prayed again and joined in agreement with my friend. A few days later I found out that God gave us exactly what we asked for that night.
This is something I have been working on for a long time. And it's something I have been on the receiving end of many times in my life. There is something comforting and desirable about hearing a friend say they will pray for you and knowing that they will actually do it.
The best is yet to come,
~Adwoa
No comments:
Post a Comment