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Peace through prayer

A young girl came to the church a week ago and asked to speak to me.  I was on my way out, but stopped and invited her in.  It was so unusual for a person of her age to stop by.  We sat down and she began to tell me about herself, how she had always felt close to God as a child, often praying to God throughout the day, but now she felt empty inside. 

As she had grown she had encountered other children who didn’t believe in God or prayer and who told her she was foolish to do either.  Wanting to fit in, she decided that they were right and she stopped believing and praying.  Lately, though, she was feeling increasingly empty inside.  She wanted to return to prayer and find her way back to God, but didn’t know how.

We talked a while longer and I tried to encourage her to simply open her heart to God the same way she had as a young child.  Prayer is not something you need ‘special words’ for, but simply an open heart.  The peace and presence she was longing to return were much closer than she suspected.  We prayed together and she left, hopefully to try prayer out for herself.  I haven’t been the same since.

Max Lucado wrote, “The worrisome heart pays a high price for doing so.  Worry comes from the Greek word that means “to divide the mind.”  It saps us of today’s strength and energy.  Paul offers a two-pronged answer:  “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything.  If you do this, you will experience God’s peace.”  Leave your worries/anxieties with God and trust that God will take care of them, even as God takes care of all creation.

It’s so much easier said than done.  As children we willingly trust God, our parents, adults in general, to take care of us, but as we grow, we begin to worry.  We think becoming an adult means we have to take care of every part of our lives.  In turn we tend to move away from seeking God’s grace and peace; we don’t pray as we did when we were children.  Oh, we ask for things, but we don’t leave our needs at God’s feet and return to living each moment.  We worry that maybe God won’t fulfill our needs, that there’s something more we should do, that maybe God is angry with us, and on and on. 

Peace,
Pastor Betsy