Friday, October 2, 2009

The Biggest Little Prayer

Lord, I need my wallet. I have to get my medicine before I go to work, and I can’t find my wallet! I’m going to be late for work. Where did I put that wallet? Lord, I need a little help here.

Did you look in the blue chair under your sweater?

I looked, and there it was. Suddenly, it just hit me like a brick. God answered my tiny request; hardly even a prayer, but He answered.

I need to back up here. I talk to God, and I believe that He listens to me. I live alone, I spend a lot of time alone, and I have never ending conversations with my Lord.

At a terrible time in my life, I shrieked at God, and He answered my pain and anger with unconditional love. He also made covenant with me. He gave me Isaiah 54:6-17, and said, “This is like the days of Noah to me; Just as I swore that the waters of Noah would never again go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”

On that horrible wonderful day, God became my husband, my love, my best friend, and it is my custom to talk with Him as I would a person. I have prayed for the miraculous and seen His mighty hand. I have prayed for healing and seen life instead of death. I have prayed for forgiveness and been redeemed. Always, He has answered my big prayers with yes, no, or not right now, but never had He said, Did you look in the blue chair under your sweater?

Something about it just amazed me. I thought; today, a parent prayed for their sick child and the child was healed. A young father prayed, and after a hard and dangerous birth, a mom and a new baby are doing just fine. The car filled with laughing teens wasn’t paying attention, and only had time to scream, “Oh God, help us”, and they didn’t slam into another car. A plane hit a flock of geese and lost both engines, but You guided the pilot’s hands as he safely and perfectly landed a plane load of passengers in the Hudson River. As you preformed the miraculous, you took a moment to find my wallet.

I learned at that moment about intimacy. There may not be any comparison, but I couldn’t help think about Moses, walking and talking with You in the cool of the evenings in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land. How wonderful that must have been. As You answered, and told me where to find my wallet, You gave me a taste of how Moses knew You, and how someday, we will all know You.

Jesus said that we were to pray without ceasing. Today, I know why, and I can only say, You are Holy and You are my Lord.