The Lord has convicted me that maybe I don’t talk to him as much as I should and have an authentic relationship with him. I don’t have conversations with him throughout the day. So I was reading Anne of Green Gables and she said, “Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray, I’ll tell you what I’d do. I’d go out into a great field all alone or into the deep, deep, woods, and I’d look up into the sky–up–up–up– into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I’d just FEEL a prayer. Gracious heavenly Father, I thank Thee for the White Way of Delight and the Lake of Shining Waters and Bonny and the Snow Queen. I’m really extremely grateful for them. Please let me stay at Green Gables; and please let me be good-looking when I grow up. I remain, yours respectfully, Anne Shirley.
Isn’t that what a prayer should be, just telling God about your day and listening and asking him the goofy childlike dreams we have? Well, he already knows, he just wants us to ask him and talk to him about it. Yes, I asked God for my silly dreams like getting a notebook and sure enough, he heard. And so God told me to bring everything to him, my feeling, my thoughts, my everything. And when I do pray, I feel so connected with him and when I don’t pray I feel as though it’s just me trying to do life myself. So letting go and finding my freedom in my last blog lead me to pray about giving it up every day. When I pray I feel as though God is my counselor and I just get to show him my true heart and he accepts it and loves me through everything. Sometimes It’s hard to focus and so I just thank him for beautiful things he has put in my life like Anne Shirley and her Shining Waters and Bonny the Snow Queen.
Not only did he convict me through a book but every day he would remind me. He reminded me when our team started talking about our prayer life and then we had prayer ministry and prayer would come up in our Wednesday meetings and people asked me to pray. Yes, continually bringing it up until it became clear to me.
So, as my team went door to door asking people to go to our church in Santiago Chile and asking them about their faith. We got to pray for at least 10 people. Some were Catholic or non-believers, but we got to pray for them in such a close way. We went into an old lady’s house and I placed my hands on her hand and prayed for her, a sweet prayer of peace as her family surrounded her. She reminded me of my Grandma when she went through cancer. When I prayed, I thought about my grandma and I got to see myself doing Gods work. I felt this peace inside me knowing this is the woman I want to be. I want to be a woman who cares enough about people to give them to God and bless them. It was so radiant and in this moment, I felt like a child of God.
At another house, we went into a guys patio and we prayed together and he also prayed for us. It was so amazing to experience because it was like the body of God blessing each other and building one another up with no fear. There really is no fear in love. The worst thing that happened was them saying no and that was fine because we can still pray for them in private. We can’t possibly lose anything. If God is for us, who can be against us? These moments I will never forget because the Lord gave me confidence and boldness to do the work of the kingdom and care for others.
Another thing that was mentioned in a prophetic note said, “you are walking on a balance beam and you are unsteady, but muscles will be gained to balance and be steady. This really did apply to my prayer life. The reason I felt like I had to perform and rehearse my prayers was that I didn’t practice and talk to God throughout the day. And as I practice, I will get better and the Lord will lead me into what to say. He will lead me to be a warrior woman I want to be. And so my journey starts with giving God myself daily and working through life together, noticing him even in the small things. So Lord, let me be good-looking when I grow older!! Take my big and small dreams I have.
Thanks for reading and I challenge you to say a prayer Like Anne Shirley and just being real about your big and small dreams because God really does care!!
