Why we pray?

This morning was one of those you tuck away in your heart and keep...While the shepherd was gone...my kids were here...and so the plan was B & G's for a late breakfast before they loaded up and headed out.   Got a bit of time talking to my  son before he went out to do chores...then got to talk to Heather and try to get the crink out of her back...I don't have good enough massage skills but loved just having some time with her until we heard this, "Mom, Come!" from upstairs!   I let Mom take the lead because sometimes...a certain someone might not wake up quite all the way and if she called for mom that is who she wanted.  However, her mom got to her and she heard me and hid...so I got to do my Fee Fi Fo Fum and sniff out one little Firecracker.   Hung out on the bed and just was there...just breathing them in.  Then Izzy like her mom likes to be stretched and so we grabbed her and proceeded to stretch her.  Can't believe she can almost make it all the way across the bed.  She then decided her mom needed to be stretched and so we stretched her and then it was Ahma's turn...oh I love that little girl...

After our stretching, she walked on her mom's back, and then it was decided to go downstairs and while mom was going to shower...her and I were going to fix breakfast...we went to the "store" in the basement and got meat and biscuits...If you haven't tried the Grand's frozen biscuits...I encourage you to do so...well unless you make them from scratch and then never mind...and so Miss Izzy Bell did the biscuits...laying them out across the pan.   We had a little distraction...but she got a shower taken all by herself...with only some of Ahma's supervision (okay I was right in the bedroom but she didn't know) she is 3 you know!!!  

Then LaLa made it back and it was time for breakfast...so when we gathered in the circle holding hands to pray...in an innocence of a child, she asks..."Why we pray?"   Have you asked or answered that lately?    I gave a quick because we are thankful...but it has been with me all day.   Why we pray?   I have a question mark because as a 3 year old, she doesn't always put in the words such as do...and as adults...we don't always put in such actions as "do" either!!    Why we pray?  Or even DO we pray?  

We continued on with our eating and Heather says something to which Uncle Lance who may or may not always be the best source of things you should say to your mom...tells Izzy..."Tell her don't worry about it!"   To which Firecracker quickly has those words from her mouth...and I reply that was on my calendar this morning!!   For those of you who read Jesus Calling by Sarah Young will know...those that don't read it...I share...Did I say I love these readings...

"DO NOT WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW!  This is not a suggestion, but a command.  I divided time into days and nights, so that you would have manageable portions of life to handle.  My grace is sufficient for you, but its sufficiency is for only one day at a time.  When you worry about the future, you heap day upon day of troubles into your flimsy frame.  You stagger under this heavy load, which I never intended you to carry.

Throw off this oppressive burden with one quick thrust of trust.  Anxious thoughts meander about and crisscross in your brain, but trusting Me brings you directly into My Presence.  As you thus affirm your faith, shackles of worry fall off instantly.  Enjoy My Presence continually by trusting Me at all times."

She says, "What you calendar say Ahma?"   And so I ask do you want me to read it to you.  To which she replies yes.   Lance and Heather are having another conversation while Izzy wants me to read this to her...they are speaking of Disney World and the like while I am reading this...and she intently listens to the entire reading as I read to her and she listens as though she understands every word I am telling her...oh that childlike faith...how they are such sponges...absorbing so much around them...Let it be the good she absorbs.
And I think of my earlier reading of this and my early morning time at my kitchen table...and I write:

"but trusting Me brings you directly into My Presence.   As you affirm your faith, shackles of worry fall off instantly."

This is a visual and such a great analogy as that is what worry seems to do...shackle us putting weights and limitations on us that we have no control...but it holds us back...keeping us from being free..free.from worry...What those shackles can do...they can completely entrap us making us unable to breath, to walk, much less be able to run...to fly...to soar.  They are self-bound shackles.  Ones in which we place upon ourselves.   Oh sure there are times that we also borrow other shackles from others or let them place more upon us...Why?

"As you thus affirm your faith, shackles of worry fall off instantly.  Enjoy My Presence continually by trusting Me at all times."

Faith--Trust--both KEYS to removing shackles...throw in Grace and a heart of thankfulness of what we have and not so much on what we do not have...The keys unlock even the tightest bound shackles allowing us to walk...The thing of these shackles...if you carry each days with you and do not let them go...soon you are in fact weighted down with a weight you could never bear...I know some say you do not know what I must endure--What I must bear--but will worrying about it make it go away...

I look at the scripture that goes with the reading today...

Matthew 6:34  "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

And in my writing...I stop and talk to Lance and when I go back I write on...
I stop and start wondering about Tim (note I put in wonder but is it worry?).   Will he heal properly, and what in fact will he be able to do for a while?   SHACKLES!  If  I practice what I preach, I will TRUST and have FAITH that the Lord will provide just as He always has even though at times we try our hardest to keep Him from blessing us...providing for us...taking care of the manna in which we have received...My Grace He says is SUFFICIENT!   SUFFICIENT..yes that means enough!!!

I realize our worries are small--the old if you put every one's problems in a big pile..we would probably just take our own out...Would we?   Granted there are those who seem to have it "better" but do they?   Or there are there are so many that seem to have it much worse?  Do they?  It is not my place to judge or to envy.  To worry about how my life is in comparison to others...My life is just that--MINE...I can choose to accept it and if need be change it...but it is the life I have been given.  And for that life I am thankful.
And then I read the remaining devotionals in Jesus Calling or the day...2 Corinthians 12:9 and Psalm 62:8:

"And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you.for My strength is made perfect in your weakness."

"Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him, God is a refuge for us." 

Pour out your heart...it seems I have done that...I heard someone say...anytime you and the Lord are talking...isn't that what praying is...sometimes pouring out our heart...sometimes just sharing a thankfulness...sometimes asking for help...but it is communion with our God.   There is a song by Big and Rich...called that's why I pray that I heard the other day...it is one of those songs that touches my heart...and it does make me think of why I pray also..."I'm begging for forgiveness...I want to make a difference even in the smallest ways I am only one person but I can feel it working I believe in better days that's why I pray..."

And really prayer is just spending and getting to know Someone you love...and speaking of someone you love the shepherd is home...and really I am not worried about what will happen tomorrow...I laughed as I read God Calling as the shepherd being in construction and ladders are a big part of his job...a big part that he is not supposed to be on one for 6 months or so...but it talks of "Should I plant your feet on an insecure ladder?...But I have asked you to step on and up firmly--then surely I have secured your ladder."

Finally I include a speaking of appreciating those you love...I share a picture of "Iz and Masey" as they call each other...they are so precious...

Thank you for this day!   No worries for tomorrow I pray...

lyp