Prayer Promptings

By Carin LeRoy –

Last week my husband was driving home from work during a rainstorm when our SUV tires started slipping on the wet road. Several times going speeds of 40-50 mph, the tires stopped gripping the road and the car started hydroplaning. My husband took the car in the next day to have the more worn tires in the front rotated to the back. New tires weren’t needed yet, so a rotation seemed to be all that was necessary to fix the problem. While the car was on the lift the mechanic said, “Look at these tires. The treads are separating; you definitely need new tires.” One hour and $700 later we sported news tires along with an unexpected expense.

Earlier that week we had driven 800 miles on those same tires in the rain. Yet the car did not hydroplane at higher speeds on the interstate. Later, while telling my daughter the story, she said, “I had this sense all day while you were driving that I needed to pray, and I didn’t relax until I knew you were home.”

Many times in life I have seen God’s hand of protection. Had we hydroplaned on the highway going 70 mph, disastrous results could have followed. The Lord prompting my daughter to pray all day could be what saved us from a terrible accident. James says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness” (James 5:16 NET).

Years ago while serving on the mission field, an older godly lady wrote a letter telling us she had prayed all night for us. God would not let her sleep, and her burden for us was heavy. She had a sense that it involved snakes. Weeks later when we received her letter, we couldn’t pinpoint the timing exactly, but we lived in an area with deadly and poisonous death adders. During our years there we had several dangerous encounters with them, yet God always protected us. Her prayers may have made the difference.

Do you ever feel prompted to pray? Does it become a nagging feeling in your heart and a burden in the day or night? Then pray. Even if it makes no sense, God must be desiring your prayers. Don’t ignore His voice. Whatever God has placed on your heart, pray until that burden subsides. God loves to involve us in His plans and purposes, and prayer is one of the important ways He engages us. Perhaps my daughter’s prayers saved us from a tragic accident. We won’t know this side of heaven, yet I believe we will be surprised to know all the ways God has used prayers to thwart evil, and to protect and help us. Let’s be diligent to heed the promptings of God when He asks us to pray.

PRAYER: Lord, teach me to pray. Give me the desire to pray more and to obey the promptings You place on my heart. Give me the diligence and understanding to heed Your voice in prayer when You speak.

QUOTE: “Prayer is God’s settled and singular condition to move ahead His Son’s kingdom. Therefore, the believer who is the most highly skilled in prayer will do the most for God. Men are to pray—to pray for the advance of God’s cause. The one who can wield the power of prayer is the strong one, the holy one, in Christ’s kingdom. He is one of God’s heroes, God’s saints, God’s servants, God’s agents. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened for you,” (Matthew 7:7 NET). The strongest one in Christ’s kingdom is he who can knock the best, and the secret of success in Christ’s kingdom is the ability to pray,” E.M. Bounds in Prayer.

Just Do the Next Thing

By Liz Cowen Furman –

Sometimes life comes at such a dizzying pace I am unsure how to proceed. Last fall was one of those times. We have a little family motel in Dubois, Wyoming, The Black Bear Inn, that we are working hard to rebuild. We work sixteen hour days all summer. When I arrive home in the fall, I generally sleep for a week.

But this year when I pulled into our driveway I knew it would be different.

We had invited an amazing college student from the Czech Republic to live with us and intern with my husband. I’ve worked the motel for several summers, which is usually the time a person would do fix-up projects like paint the homestead, etc. So to say that our house was in need of some serious TLC would be an understatement.

During the summers my husband is busy at work and in his off time he comes to the motel to see us and help there. So when I arrived home there was a mountain of work to make our house presentable to our new friend.

I sat down the morning after arriving home and made a list. It was daunting to say the least. As I pondered the task ahead the words of an old friend that had made our motel resurrection possible, rang in my head: “Just do the next thing.”

Every morning, I said to myself over and over, “Just do the next thing”, then prayed for wisdom on what to do next, plugged in my book on CD and went to work.

A few times during the next couple weeks I was amazed at how much I actually accomplished in one day by doing the next thing. So was my family.

In just two weeks I cleaned our house within an inch of its life; re-caulked the sinks and showers, painted and installed new flooring in one bathroom; cut, stained and installed trim for same; shampooed the main floor carpets; stained part of the house; cleaned off the deck piled high with detritus; cleaned out, furnished and decorated Martin’s room that hadn’t been used since he went to college (did I mention that a pack rat sneaked in undetected and died there a few weeks before I arrived home, AAAKKKK); moved the furniture in the living room; cleaned the yard and cut the weeds which filled nearly ten industrial trash bags; moved edging rocks in my garden that the snowplow had inadvertently moved the previous winter; and that wasn’t all.

I believe what my mother told me all those years ago is true: We can do anything we are willing to work hard enough to achieve.

So if you are faced with an overwhelming task just break it into little pieces, get a couple great books on CD then proceed with gusto to Do the Next Thing and you will conquer it as I did. Oh and do what James tells us to do…ask for wisdom on what the next thing should be (James 1:5).

School Supplies and Snowstorms

By Hally Franz –

Second semester of school is underway, and my sixteen-year-old sophomore has begun looking for a part-time job. He feels comfortable with driving now, so we’ve decided a job would be a good thing for him as the weather warms into spring. Hence, there is a new teaching opportunity. I am explaining how to approach a potential employer, fill out an application, and exhibit the skills and traits employers desire in their employees.

While many applications are online, there is still some of the paper-pencil variety. Thank goodness for Wite-Out supplies. I prefer correction fluid over tape, so as my son muddles through the tedious application forms, he has occasional errors that need to be “erased” or painted over. These tools do a good job of concealing the sloppy writing or wrong information so the correction can be in its place. However, a random shadow sometimes bleeds through, and the new writing may betray the error underneath. It’s as good as we can get.

Here in my hometown, we have been pummeled with ten inches of snow today, which ranks as quite a big snow for this area. Though it is an inconvenience, people always comment on the beauty of snows like this. Brown, dead grass and floral remnants are covered over. Ruts made in sloppy yards by new drivers are unseen. Dog toys and clutter is buried. An unsoiled glistening carpet resurfaces dreary yards with a brilliant white. When the snow melts or is sullied by tracks and machines, though, that perfect white layer is spoiled.

When Jesus washes our sins away, along with the mistakes, sloppiness, dirt and grime of our lives, we are made clean—white as snow. The old is eradicated leaving no trace of what existed before. We are made new in Him. More life-changing than a handy tool, more beautiful than a fleeting landscape, is the transformation He provides through salvation.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of salvation, for forgiveness of sins, for the promise of eternity, and for the joy found in being one of Your children.

“That is why we never give up. Our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new every day” (2 Corinthians 4:16 ERV).

Finding Acceptance

By Diane Mayfield –

Growing up in my family, I was not allowed to express myself, especially if my views differed from the rest of the family. If I challenged the establishment’s perspective, I was properly put in my place. Disagreeing definitely upset the apple cart. For that I would feel like a bad little girl. When a child is not allowed to express himself or herself, or is shamed when he or she does, a part of his soul is damaged.

Last weekend I experienced some healing.

I was at a weekend retreat with men and women that I dearly love. Sitting around the fire, the discussion turned to a controversial subject in Christian circles. The details of the conversation do not matter. What matters is that I stirred the pot. I expressed an unpopular perspective in the group. It was uncomfortable for all.

For a woman who has worked hard most of her young life to be popular and accepted, I was committing Christian social suicide. I didn’t plan it. It just came out of my mouth. I didn’t agree. I had a different perspective. It felt wrong to go along with the group.

I know for some, what seemed like conflict was very scary. For me, it was an honest discussion of differences. The evening ended with hugs and professions of love, but my concern was the aftermath. I wondered what the morning would bring. That was the real test.

I woke aware of the “bad little girl” image knocking on my door. I chose to not let her in the room. Instead I embraced the truth of who God says I am. I am enough. I am a princess. I have a redeemed heart and I wear a robe of righteousness. There is no condemnation in Him. Those were the truths I embraced as I sent the bad little girl out of the room.

The real test was at breakfast. How would I be treated? Would it be awkward? Would the discomfort of others be evidenced by the strain on their faces? Those moments open the door again to the presence of that little girl. But, praise God, the atmosphere was one of love and acceptance. We debriefed the conversation from the night before. Some expressed what they had learned about themselves. One of the men told me he appreciated that I stayed in the conversation and did not walk away.

I stirred the pot. I expressed an unpopular perspective like I had done many times before in my family of origin. This time, my Christian family helped send the bad little girl away by responding with love and acceptance.

I would never have tasted such sweetness if I had not risked being authentic and unpopular. I put aside my fear and offered who I really am. In return, I received the blessing of unconditional love.

Am I Real Yet?

By Charlotte Riegel –

I bristled while reading a blog post by an acquaintance. Her writing is gutsy, a bit raw at times, Velveteen Rabbit-real, and captivating. Because she has accomplished some things I aspire to achieve I thought reading her blogs might encourage me and guide me in the direction I choose to go. So I read, every post. I’m learning some things, about her and about me.

She’s beating herself up for not being ‘like this person’, not looking ‘as good as that person’, not being ‘a good enough mother’, not ‘doing more’. There is definitely an undercurrent of remorse about where she finds herself in life. I want to comment and give her some ‘life advice’, but I hesitate, choosing to play it safe. I want to be liked. Will she brush me off as a ‘know it all’? How can I possibly comment about her life when I haven’t walked a mile in her shoes? She is divorced and pines about being a single mom having to financially support herself. I sense she is focusing on the greener grass on the other side of the fence, and forgetting it grows over a septic tank.

Yes, I’ve been there. Not the divorce or single parent road, but seeing the greener grass and being blissfully unaware of the ‘crap of life’ that created the elements for the beauty I saw. It always exists. I often pined, and complained, and moped, eventually learning to take my eyes off all the others who seemed to have it better than me. I learned to focus on the goodness God had given me, right in my own backyard and under my roof. I learned to thank Him for what I had instead of complaining about what I wanted but did not have.

This shift in focus completely changed my attitude about life and about others. A few years after I embraced this concept God began surprising me with things I had previously longed for but no longer focused on. It was not about having or not having this, that, or the other, but rather about understanding where my focus needed to be.

Perhaps I’ll step outside my comfort zone and comment on her blog, and attempt to encourage her after some time in prayer over the matter. I need to explore the world outside my safe zone; become bolder without being a blinding, glaring light. I need to become more real.

Prayer: Lord, help me to know when it’s okay to be gutsy; real. Grant me courage to be a shining light without blinding the person I’m lighting the way for. I pray for wisdom and discernment to play it safe or to be bold for Your Kingdom’s sake.

“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16 NIV).

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