This is a week of prayers. Me praying, friends praying for me, us praying for each other.
I asked for prayer because this week was shaping up to be an intense one. Three of the kids were starting new sports, which meant lots of nerves, schedule changes, and hectic nights. Mike is crazy-busy with work and unable to help with homework and late bedtimes for our tired kids. I needed to have a hard conversation with a friend. I’m waiting on news from an editor and an agent. My writing workload is heavy right now, and I’m not making the progress I need to.
Even though the week could have been frenzied, scary, tedious, and exhausting, I haven’t felt like any of those this week. I can feel the prayers in a million different ways: peaceful instead of frantic when traffic made me really late to pick up Catie; calm instead of scared when I sat across from my friend and asked the hard questions; loving instead of rigid when the kids all needed time snuggling and telling the long stories about their days; hopeful instead of cynical when I still didn’t get the emails I’m so anxious to get; forgiving instead of angry when I felt overlooked and taken advantage of; inspired instead of defeated, even when I didn’t make the writing progress I needed.
This week has still been a tough one, but thanks to the prayers, it hasn’t felt that way. This is the miracle of prayer. Life is still ugly and hard and raw, but prayer changes the way you feel about the mess.
When my kids are leaving for school, and they’re scared they’ll fail their spelling test or fight with their best friend of get laughed at, I tell them I’ll pray for them. I also tell them they will feel the prayers. They will feel God’s peace, His love, His protection in those million different ways throughout their days. I ask them to note how they feel God and the prayers. And at the end of the day, they always have a story about feeling God. Even school can be a thin place.
One kid (I don’t remember which one because it has already been such a long week) recently told me being prayed for feels like a breeze. A reminder God is taking care of you. A reminder someone you love is praying for you.
This thought is why I love the above picture. Here, the five people I love and pray for so often, are standing on the windy seawall, just before a storm blew in. The sea breeze was blowing hard when I took this picture, swirling litter and making the fire dance. This was more than a breeze; this was serious wind.
May these five people always feel like they’re in a wind tunnel of God’s love. May they feel such peace, love, and protection they know it’s from God. May each and every one of them feel covered in prayer.
What about you? Who are you praying for today?
