Have you ever started a prayer journal? I did. 3 times. When I have something weighing on my heart and I feel like no other human being on earth can give me the right advice, and no matter how hard I seem to pray I still feel heavy-hearted, I write. It’s my way of handing it over to God. And these particular heavy-hearted moments have happened to me 3 times, in the last 3 years.
2 weeks ago, I found out my sister is moving semi-cross-country. I opened my journal and wrote. And I turned back the pages to my 2 lonely other entries I had started the 2 years earlier. I had the best intentions. I would write every day, or every week, or at least every month, so that I could see the blessings on paper God has provided me. But time got away with me, God was good, and I skipped a lot of time between the heavy-hearted issues God apparently places in my life about once a year.
2 weeks ago, I found out my sister is moving semi-cross-country. I opened my journal and wrote. And I turned back the pages to my 2 lonely other entries I had started the 2 years earlier. I had the best intentions. I would write every day, or every week, or at least every month, so that I could see the blessings on paper God has provided me. But time got away with me, God was good, and I skipped a lot of time between the heavy-hearted issues God apparently places in my life about once a year.
And I couldn’t help but notice some of my entries, some of the prayers that had gone “unanswered” for quite some time....
2009, “Dear Lord, please give us patience while we find a house.” We found and LOVE our new home, and managed to do it without pulling our or each other’s hair out.
2009 and 2010, “Dear Lord, please help my father find a job.” –My dad is currently working on a temporary assignment!
2009 and 2010, “Dear Lord, please help my brother-in-law’s company, and please provide provision for their family.”
–Wow. Sometimes God does not answer prayers quite like you think, hope, or could even dream. God provided an amazing, can’t-say-no-to-this-opportunity to my Brother-in-law and his family. In Texas. 1,398 miles away. And it is sad. 1,398 miles of sad. But its also amazing. God is providing for this family, just as he promised, and I am excited for them, and excited for next year, to look back and laugh at the irony of God, and how he comes through for us in His crazy, God ordained ways.
In the book of Joshua, you may have seen this verse:
–Wow. Sometimes God does not answer prayers quite like you think, hope, or could even dream. God provided an amazing, can’t-say-no-to-this-opportunity to my Brother-in-law and his family. In Texas. 1,398 miles away. And it is sad. 1,398 miles of sad. But its also amazing. God is providing for this family, just as he promised, and I am excited for them, and excited for next year, to look back and laugh at the irony of God, and how he comes through for us in His crazy, God ordained ways.
In the book of Joshua, you may have seen this verse:
"Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day." Joshua 4:9 (NIV)
Joshua explained to the people following him that these stones would be there for years to come, so they could tell their children, and their children’s children of the miracle God had performed that day, and the blessings he poured out among his people.
This is why I want need to write in my prayer journal. So I have a living testament to the miracles and blessings God performs every day. So I don’t miss the PTL (Praise the Lord) moments that he places in my life every day. So I can look back at where I was, spiritually, emotionally, and physically, and laugh. Laugh at God’s irony, and laugh with Joy for the blessings in my life, and the goodness of God.
