Most Certainly Not: Shift Your Prayer Paradigm

I read a post on my friend, Jodi's, blog a couple weeks ago that set me to thinking in a deeper way about how I'd been praying.

Basically, the post detailed an idea borne from a meeting of leaders in Jodi's church which encouraged people to evaluate their prayer relationship with God. Instead of thanking God for things that have happened and then providing Him with a laundry list of things you'd like to see Him intervene in, the group suggested you pray and thank God for things that are yet to happen from your list of needs.

I started thinking about that and I realized what a leap of faith it would be for someone like me to pray and thank God for the things I'm most fretting over...I will share that during that week I was overcome by unexpected expenses and not sure my ends would meet. Rather than beseeching God to deliver me from my brokeness, I prayed and thanked God in advance for seeing me through a squeaky time and that however it shook out, I know He had a hand in it and it would be okay. Within 48 hours, it was more than okay.

Law school is the other chink in my otherwise fortified faith armor. So, I've begun praying and thanking God for helping me find a balance between my life as a mom and my life as a law student. This whole law school experience so far as been "God's will"...that's what I say every time I'm required to leap from my comfort zone and EVERY step of this journey has been a ginormous leap.

The family attended church yesterday and it was a very engaging message from the pastor who has been with the church for 15 years and will be moving on this summer. I'm still mulling over his quip that we, as Christians, are judged by the way we treat the downtrodden and aliens in our midst. It occurred to me that he was more than likely advocating a velvet glove when, in my mind, it still stands clear that although God's laws supercede man's laws, there are still ways to be compassionate to those here illegally without advocating law breaking and bankruptcy for our nation's legal citizens.

So...think about the way you pray and especially when you pray for our troops. This strategy could open many doors that way.