K. Sundberg was proudly written in the inside cover.
Prayer in bold cream font stared me in the face from across the front of the worn book.
I opened it and smiled.
Highlighter marks from her.
Underlining pen marks from me.
The book has been read & re-read ... and is being read again.
Again because I don't believe you can ever be at a place of contentment with prayer.
Again because I am surrounded daily by people, situations, circumstances where {praying} is the best thing you can do.
Again because prayer isn't the same day, after day, after day.
It changes with the seasons.
But at the same time, it's constant.
It's that relationship.
It's the peace.
It's grace.
..............................
Prayer.
Not just for some.
For all.
Friends.
Co-workers.
Family.
Neighbors.
The woman you meet at the same intersection every day.
The garbage man.
Your pastors.
The people that have it all together, but really don't.
The homeless man holding the sign.
The person you married.
Your dad.
............................
I'm reading this book again.
And I'm being reminded that prayer is what it's all about.
To believe that God can reach us and bless us in the ordinary junctures of daily life is the {stuff} of prayer. {pg.11}
...............................................
I want to be prayerful.
Prayerful because I choose to be prayerful ... not because I have to be.
Prayerful on the behalf of myself & others.
Prayerful to experience God.
The truth of the matter is, we all come to prayer with a tangled mass of motives - altruistic and selfish, merciful and hateful, loving and bitter. Frankly, this side of eternity we will never unravel the good from the bad, the putre from the impure. But what I have come to see is that God is big enough to receive us with all our mixture. We do not have to be bright, or pure, or filled with faith, or anything. That is what grace means, and not only are we saved by grace, we live by it as well. And we pray by it.
~ Richard J. Foster Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home
4 comments:
I love how you cycle through your books. You take them off the shelf and {make} the time to look at them, read them, study them, write things down from them. And then you share it, and start the process over. Wishing I was better at that. Thankful for the prayers you might say for me.
Prayer is difficult for me. Not because I don't want to pray, but I want to be more consistent with it and make it more than just something I do before meals and before I go to sleep at night. It's something I'm always working on.
I've read quite a few of Foster's books, but not the one you mentioned...another book to add to my need-to-read list:)
Thanks, Lindsay, for always stretching us to be more like Jesus! Jesus always took time to get away from the hustle and bustle to commune with His Father.
I needed this reminder to take it all and leave it at Jesus' feet in prayer.
Amen! This post inspires me to be more on my knees...and made me smile because ALL day long we can do just that...talk to GOD! Sweet blessings!
P.S. Thank YOU for being a true prayer warrior..and for all the prayers you've said on my behalf! I am blessed by YOU!
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