God and Me-I've Prayed

This week has felt like it has been full of lots of uncertainity and unknowns. We've been working on selling our house and moving to a different town that will be more expensive as far as housing goes. And we've been dealing with delays in Conleigh's adoption process.

Today, I was looking through Discipleship Journal for my quiet time. The last article started with a verse from Phillippians, chapter 4 verse 6. It's a verse I memorized a long time ago probably at VBS or some other church event. A verse I guess I haven't really thought too much about because it seemed old hat to me.

"Be anxious about nothing... But in everything, through prayer and supplication, make your requests known to God." While I wouldn't say I've felt overly anxious, I have had some frantic thoughts flying through my mind, especially in the house department. My brain has really been on overdrive trying to figure out a way for us to find and afford the "perfect" house as we relocate. As I thought about this verse it was a good reminder of the Biblical model for thoughts like these. Frenzied thoughts should lead to prayer, prayers that lay a specific request before God, prayers that are full of supplication (thankfulness), a thankfulness that comes from remembering the ways God has provided for you in the past.

And then that's it. You leave it alone. I sometimes think we believe that God will be more likely to answer our prayers if we pray them multiple times. Or if we ask others to pray for us. It's like we think God is keeping a prayer tally somewhere and once we hit a certain number, the prayer is automatically answered. Truth be told, a prayer prayed once with a heart that sincerely believes God has heard our passionate request and will act on that in a way that is in our best interests is a perfect prayer. Can we repeat it? Certainly. Can we ask others to join us? Yes but those things are more about connecting us to God's presence in our lives than in His willingness to act on our prayer. There is something about praying a prayer once and faithfully believing that "I've prayed it, God has heard it, He will act in a way that shows His love for me"." So today, I prayed like that. About a house we'd really like to be in a position to purchase but are not in any position currently to buy. About Conleigh's file. I've prayed it, God has heard it, and He will act in a way that shows His love for me.