Prayer...

This has been a bumpy year.  

Lots of ups and downs.

Actually more downs than ups.  

We have had plumbing issues, ER visits, car issues, plumbing issues again, car issues again, pet drama (all of our pets went to the vet (except the fish) unexpectedly within a six week period), home repair issues...on and on and on it has gone.  

This is on top of the chronic medical stuff we juggle year round.  

I am tired. 

I am tired of hard.

I am tired of explaining over and over and over again how hard things are.

And yet...

I feel silly for even mentioning this because we have had years that have been SO, so, SOOOO much worse.  2020 and 2022 for example.  I seriously did not know if we would make it through both of those years.  This hasn't been that kind of hard, it has been more of a relentless, slow-drip kind of hard.  

Which made me stop and think, why has it felt so much worse?  I was talking to my mom the other day and I realized something.  Due to all of the people that have had to come to our house to fix something(s) or to give estimates - I took down our prayer cards.  

And I have stopped praying.  

Beyond a immediate "God please heal, help, repair"....whomever or whatever is the crisis point at the moment - I have not been praying this year.  

At all.

A few journal entries here or there - but not the consistent conversations and not even intentionally tracking and thanking for when God does answer those desperate prayers (because He has and does answer!).  As a result my faith and joy have been pummeled.

I also finished my reading plan.  

And instead of starting it over, I have been busy trying to complete a Love Your Bible to give away.  And while that is so important, I have not restarted my personal reading plan and again my faith and my joy have taken a hit. 

So no wonder I feel so depleted.

Yesterday I was outside mowing the yard while one of my girls was helping to water.  It was before my husband left for work and we kept hearing this sound of desperate fluttering.  Finally she realized a beautiful HUGE dragon fly was trapped behind the front grill of our car.  If it would just fly up a bit it would have been able to fly free.  

We did everything we could think of - opened the hood, stuck a soft flower stem in to try to guide it to freedom....finally we prayed (each unbeknownst to the other) and within minutes it flew up and flew free.  We both stopped right there and once we exclaimed (at the same time) "I just prayed and asked God to help" we immediately thanked God.  This time out loud 😀.  

We serve a God who isn't just concerned with the big, scary, and hard.  NOTHING, nothing is too small or unimportant to Him.  He cared about that dragon fly and He showed us His faithfulness and love when we stop and take the time to notice.  The verses in the Bible that proclaim over and over and over again the intimate care and concern and love that God consistently operates in regarding His creation...those aren't just words.  

So, for the past two mornings I have made two extra large index cards and hung them up, immediately I feel different.  I don't know if I am the only person who needs the constant reminder, but just in case someone else does too - I decided to write this post.  There isn't magic in writing down prayers versus praying out loud or silently in our hearts...I am just the type of person who is very visual.  Seeing them and being constantly reminded of God's faithfulness...that is something I need.  

So, whether you pray out loud or silently.  Whether you write them or draw them or somewhere in between.  PRAY.

Pray over and through everything.  

And get into His Word.  Not just to share it.  Not just to teach it.  But for your own heart.  It needs constant applications and immersions into it.  

For in Him we live and move and have our being.  Acts 17:28 💝