Prayer

My place of refuge

Psalm 18:1-3 “I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.”

Has this ever happened to you? You are in a conversation with people and it is a lighthearted and friendly atmosphere. Then a certain subject is brought up and it turns on a dime. You are on the outside because you know that you are absolutely in the minority in the conversation in your view. You feel as if you are in the middle of the backlash of a storm. You wonder what just happened and you marvel that it happened so fast. All of a sudden you’re on the outside looking in and it feels cold and lonely. It can happen anywhere, with anyone. Even your husband or wife, child, best friend…..someone in the same household. That is when it gets really tough. You can’t retreat, you can’t hide….or can you? Psalm 46:1 gives these comforting words: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” I love that it says, “very present.” As in right there with you when things are going down that catch you completely by surprise.

It happened to me today and it was very uncomfortable. I wondered what God wanted me to learn in it, and then I realized he wanted me to do what I always do when I want to rid myself of hurt and anger. Pray. I took a deep breath and prayed for a spirit of love, forgiveness and understanding. The Holy Spirit came through, came down, calmed my heart and mind, again…….

I realized that they aren’t the enemy, they are just people……. and yet, I felt the mark of the enemy on it just the same. I felt his cold breath just outside of the circle, waiting to see what I would do. The truth is, sometimes people just aren’t nice. Like my Mom always says, “People fall into generally two categories, nice and not nice.” I would have to agree.

Get in the closet!


I couldn’t believe I found this image on Google. This is the exact little lantern that I have in my prayer closet (shed)

I have fallen into an interesting rhythm with my prayer times. I notice that it has become extremely necessary; something I miss when I don’t get it. I miss my time with Him like I would miss someone I really love if I were away from them.

I would want to get on a plane, make a phone call, drive all night, just get there, be with them, drink in their presence, look into their smiling eyes. It has become something I need. Not a duty, or a requirement. But a privilege!

When I work my long shift and don’t have the time in the mornings I feel a pull toward evening to go out….light my candle for a few moments, thank Him for the day, and for His indwelling comfort, making everything possible.

Sometimes days are so packed with activity that we have to remind ourselves to take a breath! Caregivers experience this all the time. During those times our very actions become like prayer. Niches of prayer carved out here and there, when someone is sleeping, or perhaps when driving somewhere, red light prayer, standing in line prayer. But God hears them just the same.

I am thankful, so thankful for this. It has made me closer to Him, more able to trust Him with my life, more able to encourage others to take this step. It settled into my life gradually and quietly, this habit of prayer, and changed me forever.

“But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.” Matthew 6:6

Counting answers….


I recently bought a prayer journal. I have always kept a journal, but as I finished my last one awhile back I sensed the need to close that particular way of journaling. Having a blog has fulfilled something in me that journaling once did, plus I have a weakness in my right hand that makes it impossible to write for a prolonged period of time.

I love this taking note of prayers. It makes me realize how many things I have taken for granted; how many prayers He has answered through the years that I have forgotten. But I don’t want to forget.

When you really start to pay attention to what you pray and how many times He answers, it fills you with a gratitude that does something to change you from the inside out! It’s like what happened just this morning. I was struggling as usual in my prayer time. Many times I have been wondering when I am going to start my “real ministry” my “life’s work”, you know, that undefinable “thing” that God really wants me to do. I prayed when I turned fifty last year that I wanted to make the second half of my life count for eternity, really put my life on His altar.

Here it is 6 months later, and not much has changed, or has it?

I wondered, what am I really doing for Him? Who am I impacting? What do my small words matter? Maybe you feel the same things as you walk your child to school, fix a meal, clean the house, commute to work. My answer came as soon as I opened my email this morning! It might as well have been sent from Heaven.

I realized through that email that whatever we do, if we do it as unto the Lord, He blesses it. When we are a child of God that little thing matters because He sees our heart, our true motive. He takes that action that we might think is very small, and multiplies it with His Holy Spirit. He sanctifies every action and makes it an act of worship. Because we love Him, he notices it! That other person is blessed too as a result. So take heart today, you may feel your many tasks go unnoticed, but God notices every one!

“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.” Col. 3:23,24 NLT

He answered my prayer this morning in the words of a dear friend who has been blessed and comforted by my blog. She and her husband are going through a very scary health issue right now. Just the fact that I can give her any comfort at all, means the world to me.

So I am counting answers to prayer today, starting with this morning’s email #231, my brain worked last week and I learned some new things at work #232, Mom has turning point with her knee #233, I did not have to do the task I was dreading at work #234, my brother is having success with his diet #235, good prayer times #236, blessings of more rain on the roof #237,Praying with gratitude that He hears every one #238 and sometimes just trusting in the silence is an answer……..

Join Ann along with me and many others here to continue counting our gratitude:
holy experience

The Doctor will see you now…..


“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he touched my mouth with it, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven.” Isaiah 6:1-7

The vivid imagery here is something beyond what the creators of Avatar, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and Star Wars combined could come close to capturing!

The throne room of God; in our wildest imaginations we can’t conceive of what it would look like and yet the Bible describes it very clearly several times as a physical place. Angels described here aren’t the chubby little cherubs like we see in the Hallmark store either. There are several different kinds, and they all have different purposes. Anyone in the Bible that has ever encountered one has fallen on their face and trembled in fear, and then tried to worship.

When Isaiah approached the throne he was dismayed because he didn’t feel worthy. But because of our redempton through Jesus we have Open Access Plus to The Throne. Sounds to me like the best kind of insurance we could ever have. He is the burning coal placed on our lips straight from God’s Holy throne-fire.

We have all heard statements like these:

“I’m sorry, we have no record of you here.”
“We have no vacancies at this time.”
“We don’t have an opening but we may have a cancellation.”
“There are no rooms available.”
“I can’t seem to find your insurance information.”
“Your card won’t go through.”
“You will have to wait.”

But God’s Throne is always open and we can be assured there is a reservation with your name on it. No waiting. All we have to do is accept the invitation!

“Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

I lift these dear ones up today before the throne: Elaine, Rick, Will, all standing in the scary place of waiting for upcoming tests and results, my brother for his diet, my Mom for her ongoing recovery, Sebastian for recovery as well. Join me at the throne today for healing for these and many others.

More answers to prayer….

I am back, just in time for Multitude Mondays!
Got to enjoy a few clear days after many days of blessed rain. This is the new Marina that my brother worked on and saw through to completion…..we got to walk along the docks and see the fruits of much hard labor. Yet another answer to prayer. Blessing #199

I have missed blogging! (in spite of Dad’s painfully slow dial up I managed only two posts.) There hasn’t been much time for introspection, yet I received another blessing from the Lord that I hadn’t expected. I learned that He remains steadfast when time is squeezed out from the day and there is little time for quiet. Day started early and was packed with activity. Bedtime was cherished and before I could say a prayer, I felt myself drifting off….But I should have known He would meet me there! “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” Matt. 18:20 He reminded me that every blessing, every task done for someone else becomes a worship and a prayer all it’s own when it is done with a heart that seeks to please Him. God looks at our heart. He peers deep inside to seek out our true motive, and when He finds it seeking His help, His grace, He finds it pure and blesses it. That was blessing #200

So I received many blessings in helping my Mom back on the road to her recovery….I found Him there at every turn.
He was there at pajama day at school when we weren’t sure how it would go in special needs class, it went wonderfully, and she was so proud to show her PJs to her friends!#Blessing 201
Blessing #202
He was there when a room became available just in time for my Mom at this wonderful facility. Here she is at therapy, and will not be happy if she sees this photo of her without her hair done and no makeup! She is getting ready to bat the beachball. I can’t say enough about what a healing positive place this was. You see very few at this place lying around in beds, days start early are are filled with activity geared to getting people healed! The therapists really inspired me! Everytime I went in there Mom was visiting someone new. One lady in there said that as soon as Mom walked in she saw the light of Christ in her and just had to get to know her.

When I grow up I want to be like her.

Head therapist Mike was a wonderful guy, but he was a real taskmaster. He didn’t let anyone slack off. The first day my Mom heard Christian music playing in the therapy room and she said, “Who’s the Jesus person?”

Mike said, “I am, and I’m the boss, so I can play it here!”

She said, “Alright! I am at the right place.” #Blessing 203

Food brought from friends and family on several occasions #Blessings 204-207

A very special evening spent with a cousin and wife I hadn’t seen in too long, and so many laughs! Blessing #208

Mom coming home in a record breaking 9 days after surgery! At 80 years young that is miraculous and a testiment to her great health and positive outlook, and of course to the power of prayer! Blessing #209

Of course coming home is always a blessing…..I count this along with all the blessings from the past two weeks, I came home to a totally rearranged living room. My very artsy friend took some liberties and I am glad she did, I never would have thought to put the bookcase as a room divider! Blessing #210

The list keeps growing for me and so many others!
holy experience

Answers to prayer….


“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” James 1:17

My Mom is doing phenominally well after only 12 days post knee replacement. Therapists are amazed, and so was everyone in rehab. After being there only 4 days she was home. The therapist that came to the house said, “There is no point to me being here, you are well ahead of schedule!” I was not surprised….

Direct results of prayers lifted by many kind hearts…..So many answers during the past two weeks, it will be impossible to think of the past two weeks without thinking of these small miracles.

Kind friends my Mom has not seen in 20 years, showing up at rehab to visit. A brand new (FREE) toilet chair provided, oatmeal raisin cookies baked and brought over at just the right time, (my Mom had just said the day before that was the only thing she was hungry for!) A vacant room at the rehab my Mom said she wanted to go to coming open the day she was to be released from the hospital….and so many more!

Friends, they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams.” Henry David Thoreau

There is an eye that never sleeps
Beneath the wing of night;
There is an ear that never shuts
When sinks the beams of light.
There is an arm that never tires
When human strength gives way;
There is a love that never fails
When earthly love decays.

A love that never fails by George Matheson

Eat, pray, vacuum


Anyone who is having troubles should pray. Anyone who is happy should sing praises. Anyone who is sick should call the church’s elders. They should pray for and pour oil on the person in the name of the Lord. And the prayer that is said with faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will heal that person. And if the person has sinned, the sins will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so God can heal you. When a believing person prays, great things happen. (James 5:13-16 NCV)

I don’t know why but some of my best prayer/praise sessions come when I vacuum. It amazes me how God breaks through at the most common everyday moments sometimes. I put in my headphones, pull up a worship playlist on my IPOD and off I go. I am even starting to look forward to my “vacuum sessions.” When God shows up even the most menial task becomes a form of meditation. There is something very wholesome, even Holy about “working with your hands.” Menial tasks become anything but menial when done as a form of praise!

I love my rainbow vacuum cleaner!

In the morning….

Image “Morning” by William Barclay

I like to think that all of the prayers we offer to God rise through the clouds and mingle with the strains of Heavenly praise as they float across that sea of glass and reach the very Throne of God. There they fuse together with the very pulse of Heaven itself as they enter God’s own heart.

The Bible says that God collects all our prayers in a golden bowl. If that is true, then not one prayer will ever be missed. God hears the smallest whisper, sigh, however faint. The gift of the Holy Spirit insures that even our very breath is recorded and known, so that we may never have to worry that He doesn’t know what I am going through down here. “Down here” is the same as “Up There” to Him.

Sometimes as I go about my day I think of our times together in the mornings just God and I, and I can’t wait for the next one. They are like survival islands in my life as I hop from one to the next, each time growing closer to that green shore, that place of ultimate safety where My Shepard waits, His arms held out for me. I know as long as I keep my eyes on Him there is no need to fear.

As I lit my candle this morning I thought of other prayer times over the years, they leap out like beacons marking time…..I thought of when my Mom and I prayed in front of the fire in the mornings before school. I was having such a difficult time, but she would grab my hand and we would huddle together before the warmth of the fire and pray. Even all these years later I can still feel her hand clasping mine, and hear her voice. Then I would get up and go. I know her prayers followed.

I thank God for my praying Mom today.

Something we can all do….


We all pray whether we think of it as praying or not. The odd silence we fall into when something very beautiful is happening, or something very good or very bad. The ah-h-h-h! that sometimes floats up out of us as out of a Fourth of July crowd when the skyrocket bursts over the water. The stammer of pain at somebody else’s pain. The stammer of joy at somebody else’s joy. Whatever words or sounds we use for sighing with over our own lives. These are all prayers in their way. These are all spoken not just to ourselves but to something even more familiar than ourselves and even more strange than the world.
By Frederick Buechner

Prayer……its something we can all do! At any time of the day, and He will hear.

Psalm 5:3
My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct my prayer to You, and I will look up.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; in order that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.” Colossians 4:2-4

Good advice from Brother Lawrence…..


My dear sister in the Lord, I sympathize with your difficult situation. I think that freeing yourself of your present responsibilities for a while and devoting yourself entirely to prayer would be the best thing you could do for yourself. God does not ask much of us. But remembering Him, praising Him, asking for His grace, offering Him your troubles, or thanking Him for what He has given you will console you all the time. During your meals or during any daily duty, lift your heart up to Him, because even the least little remembrance will please HIm. You don’t have to pray out loud; He’s nearer than you can imagine…..From The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

We are all going through some kind of “difficult situations” are we not? There are times when we can’t seem to lift our head above water, we tread frantically, lots of motion but getting nowhere. Sometimes we struggle with an issue so long that we no longer have even the words to form for prayer. God knows your heart anyway. I take great comfort in this.

Sometimes we think our needs are trivial and we hesitate to bring them before God. After all, He sees the starving child in the streets, abused and alone…..Yes, He does. But He also sees us, and He cares about our every need. No prayer is trivial to Him. He takes our every concern to heart. Just the fact that we bring it up gives Him great joy.
Philippians 4:6-7 – Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (NKJV)