Prayer requests

Many of us have looked at one of these in disbelief in the darkness at 2am on Christmas Day....the kids are asleep and the parents have some assembly work to do.
"Partially assembled."
"Easy assembly."
"Assembly tool included."
All of these are red flags, no?
YES!!
But this is just like LIFE.
If we are honest, marriage is only "partially assembled."
Babies are born with "some assembly work required," but with NO instruction manual!
It's a well-worn joke (and I think a television comedy, too) that there's always "some assembly required."

But let's step back for just a minute.
Life is a gift, just like that bicycle. It comes in pieces, and sometimes it falls to pieces. Pieces don't always seem to fit. Some pieces seem to be missing.
Don't we all have an area of our lives that isn't working? How do we respond? In frustration? Angrily throwing down the tools? In prayer?
I'd like to say that I ALWAYS respond in prayer and that things ALWAYS get better.
But I'm all about honesty and transparency here, and that just ain't so.
I do pray.
But I also have prayer-attention-deficit. Do you know what PAD is?
Well, sometimes I doze off in the middle of my prayer. Other times, I get distracted and my thoughts wander. Then I'm besieged by feelings of guilt, and start over again.
Sound familiar?
Does He even hear my prayers? I often don't communicate well with other humans . . . wonder if I'm communicating with Him?
The truth of it is, it doesn't matter if we use certain words or not. There's power in simple prayers. Our old friend, Nehemiah has shown us this. Sometimes he didn't even take the time to praise or worship. He just simply stated the problem. And then he left it up to God, trusting Him to work. He seemed to offer up these short, simple prayers all the time! Any time!

You might think that if we take our problems to Jesus every time we have one, we'll be talking to Jesus all day long.
But isn't that the point?

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  (Philippians 4:6)

When the pieces of life don't seem to fit, it's awfully easy to whine, or to worry. Let's try Nehemiah's way of praying - simply and often! And trust Him to work. We might just have this result that Paul tells us about:

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

I've been corresponding with some of you that are dealing with some life issues. Don't throw down the tools. Don't get frustrated. Pray. And let us pray with you.

Leave a comment if you have a prayer request - if it's personal, don't go into the details. Just ask us to pray with you. The Spirit will know what it's about. And it's an honor to pray alongside you.