Hungry

This is what my heart has been looking for. This is what my soul has been needing. I think of prayer sessions at church in the middle of the week as "soul food". I think about wholeness and health as three aspects: body, mind, and soul. Its been a constant struggle for me because when one aspect is deficient, I feel a loss of balance. Whenever I feel a loss of balance my focus starts to shift else where and anxiety creeps in.

I feed my body with food, my mind with His word, but what do you feed your soul with? How do you heal a broken and wounded soul? Prayer and fellowship with those who are going through the same thing I am going through has been a real blessing to me and is helping me grow spiritually.

Tonight we paired up into twos and prayed with each other about our pain, worries, and hopes. I feel God restoring my heart and my life.

Bing! The MIcrowave Prayer.

Grant is leading out in prayer sessions on Wednesday nights. During prayer sessions we are studying different prayers in the Bible. We are hoping to learn how to pray better and to be connected to God on a deeper level. Ever feel like your stuck in a rut? Sometimes when I say my prayers at night before I go to bed I catch myself saying the same thing and in the same order. The "microwave prayer" as Grant calls it. Before my prayers would go like this "God thank you for helping me make it through the day, help me to a have good nights rest, forgive my sins, oh and can you be with . . . " I think its because I'm really tired at night and I just want to go to bed. Regardless the prayer is still sad, eh?

Today we studied the Believers prayer in Act 4:23-30. Peter and the other disciples pray for courage and boldness to witness and God answers them. We broke down the prayer and learned that how to pray better. There are three parts to a prayer. The three P's: Praise, Problem, and Power. The first part of a prayer is praise and glorifying God. No problem is big enough for God to fix. He made the heavens and earth. When I think of how grand and amazing that is, it makes me realize that my problems are really small compared to what God can do. The second part of praying is presenting your problem to God. God loves it when you give your problems and worries to Him. Letting go and giving Him ultimate control is what He wants. By doing so you'll be able to experience more than you could have ever imagined. The third part of prayer is power. Asking God for the strength and power for whatever it is you need.

I really believe there is power in prayer and that God will answer you. Sometimes maybe not in the way that you want or when you want, but He answers in His own very way, in His own perfect timing. Just my thoughts . . .

Prayer at Cafe By The Park

Interesting thing just happened! I'm sitting here at a Cafe By The Park putting my presentation together for Wednesday and I met a fellow named Paul. Paul is visiting from Panama and we got to talking about work and than about church. We got into the conversation about what we believe and our faith journeys. We prayed for each other out in public. I've never done that before. Pray with a complete stranger. What an awesome feeling that was. When you pray about having opportunities to reach out God really provides a way=)