Prayer - Powerful, Passionate & Personal

Sorry ahead of time if there are typos or if you find something that doesn't quite flow. These were my notes cut & pasted for you.

I read an article by Pam Woody who wrote for Focus on the Family. She and I both have 3 girls and I appreciated her insight on teaching her kids about prayer.
“The important thing is that our children see prayer as a privilege as well as a responsibility. It's not about praying because we have to; it's about praying because we get to! It's not about praying to see what we can get; it's about praying to see how God touches others. It's not just about teaching my girls that prayer changes things; it's about God changing our hearts so we can influence the world.”
When Suzie asked me to speak on what I had been learning through our study, I picked prayer. It's a big topic to talk about but I thought, hey I’ve been praying how hard could it be to talk about what new in my prayer life? It proved to be one of the most complex topics I could have picked. Every time I sat down, I thought of a different aspect of prayer and how my heart had changed as a result of praying specific prayers over my children.
This study Power of a Praying Parent has been challenging. Life hasn’t been fun or easy for my family in the last 3 months. We’ve faced many changes with my husband’s travel schedule and hard circumstances at school with my 5 year old. Isn’t it amazing that God wanted me to lead a class on prayer, the one thing I needed the most during this time of my life! I can’t help but reassure you that today comes from new growth in me that is still blooming new buds every week.
A lot can be said on prayer. There are many examples in the Bible of how to pray, what to pray and when to pray. In our study, we have been focussing on the amazing privilege of praying for our children. On any given Wednesday, we go up to the cafe on the 3rd floor and have coffee with each other! In our group ,we have infants & we have great-grandchildren. We have children who love the Lord & children who have decided to walk away from God. We have is hurts & we have joys. We have laughed and cried with each other, we have loved, encouraged and listened. But most of all, we have prayed for each other and our children. Through these past few months, I have learned many valuable lessons about God & prayer. This book is a good start to an amazing journey of drawing closer to God while parenting & grand-parenting. I will say just briefly that Stormie uses absolute statements throughout the book that have stirred up quite interesting conversations each week. I think her interpretation of certain Scripture passages have ruffled out feathers and have helped us talk through how we really see prayer in our lives.
I am embracing the truth that Prayer is powerful.
James 5:16
The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effectual.
Prayer isn’t merely a process of questions and answers. It is a profound interaction with our Creator. As we bring before Him our desires, our sins and our broken hearts, we lay down our agenda and discover the plans that God laid out for us before time began. In that same profound interaction, we are promised that God hears our pleadings and responds to our specific requests with an answer. As we pray, we see our need to become more dependent on Him and we become more aware that we serve a powerful God.
Prayer is powerful. In the Bible, we see not only answers to prayer that are powerful but as we pray God’s promises, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to a deeper faith as we see that God can accomplish mighty things through us.
John Piper said, “The key to praying with power is to become the kind of persons who do not use God for our ends but are utterly devoted to being used for his ends.
This is why Jesus says, "If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." The words of Jesus abiding in us make us the kind of persons who are not dominated by natural desires, but are devoted to fruit-bearing for God's glory.
I have found a renewed passion in my prayer life.
Phil 4:6,7
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
We can make our requests to God specific & real. Growing up, I usually prayed in doubt adding “if it’s your will” to my prayers, bracing myself for an outcome that may not be what I wanted and then being surprised when God decided to answer the way I desired. During my teenage years, I heard that, “Prayer doesn’t change God’s mind, it changes your heart.” I took that to mean that I could just pray a pretty generic prayer of protection over a hard situation and then pray that I would be okay with whatever answer God decided for me. I was happy when things went my way and upset when life circumstances didn’t turn out the way I had wanted, but I was a passive pray-er. God was going to do what He was going to do and I was just along for the ride.
It’s been a long road but I have found a renewed desire to pray with passion, with all my emotions, knowing and having faith that God cares about the little details of my hurt. Prayer is emotional. Whether we come to God in the midst of pain and confusion, whether we are down on our knees humbled and contrite confessing our sins; whether our arms are raised up praising God for who He is or whether we are gratefully giving thanks to Him for the many blessings in our life, there’s never an excuse for our prayer life to be flat, boring or lifeless. I love the new Third Day worship song that says, “There’s is hope for the helpless, rest for the weary, and love for the broken heart, there is grace and forgiveness, mercy and healing, that meets you wherever you are - Cry out to Jesus.”
Our prayers aren’t always answered in the way that we would like. We may be praying God’s promises, confessing sin and walking in God’s will when along comes tragedy. It’s not fair and there doesn’t seem to be a reason. There may a wrestling within ourselves when devastating answers come our way. Where were you God? Didn’t you hear my pleading? 

Know that even in the midst of feeling depleted, lonely and far away from hope, God can handle any burden you have. He knows.
I have also been in awe of what a privilege it is to have a personal prayer relationship with our God.
I John 5:14
This is the confidence which we have before him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us.
Prayer is personal. I have a relationship with God who has time to sit down with me whenever I am available and listen. He’s my sounding board. In preparing for this talk, I would throw around ideas and people would say, “So what I’m hearing you say…” Isn’t it amazing that through God’s Word, He does that for us? What I hear you saying is your hurting, what I hear you saying is that you are searching for hope. He lets us know we have been heard. He speaks to us through His Word, through being still, through friends. We serve an amazing God who holds the universe in His hands, yet He is always attentive to our words, He considers our meditations and answers our prayers in His timing. I have been learning that waiting on the Lord is active. As I pray, I actively seek after God’s will. I know the desires of my heart and certainly God knows them, too. I have begun not just looking for the answer but looking at the details of my journey to that answer.
I am discovering there is purpose in the journey to an answered prayer. Even when our circumstances turn out so very different than our desires, we know that the journey has purpose in drawing us closer to our Saviour. When we pray in anticipation of God’s plan, we can be reassured that this world is not our home and we only have a glimpse into how our stories all will work together for God’s glory.
I end with another quote from Piper -
“So prayer is not some small thing. It is not some marginal thing. It is not some incidental thing in the Christian life. Prayer is at the heart of why God created the universe. You may have the modern, secular notion that the universe is really about great galactic events and supernovas and remarkable expanses of time and space and energy. But in reality the center of the created universe is man created in the image of God. And the meaning of man in the image of God is to display God's glory. And the way God delights to display his glory in man is by being depended on through prayer.”

Is this thing on (tap tap)?

I know I have lost a few friends in the midst of the last few months as I fell off the face of the earth. Believe me, it was a survival technique that really seemed to work - spend every bit of free time planning for the next day and somehow you'll stay feet-side down while being a single mom with 3 girls on a brand new schedule! So here's the quick 411 on life at the Hires since school started this fall.

Tracy started a new project that took him to Houston for 8 out of the last 14 weeks. His first 3 weeks of travel were the first 3 weeks of school. Not that I prayed for the hurricane to hit Houston, I certainly was thrilled when Tracy was home for the 2 weeks after while the city cleaned up from that natural disaster. This has been a bittersweet time for him. While he is grateful for his job and "billable hours", this has not been a fun project to say the least. Adding to it all the travel to a not-so-fun city, living from a suitcase, never knowing if he would have to return the next week left us all in a state of daddy confusion. Mattie has taken in the hardest. She is our little kitty and will frequently tell say, "I don't like daddy". When asked if she is sad he is gone she throws her lip out and nods her head. 

In the midst of a week Tracy happened to be home, I received a phone call from the Principal at University Hill Elementary. Kasia was a part of a group of kids discussing inappropriate things and they were trying to find out where the information started. Well, much to my surprise, Kasia then told me that a little girl at school had on numerous occasions touched her inappropriately. My mind was reeling. How could this have happened? When? We went into super-sonic speed to ensure the safety of other children, they had to report it to social services, we made sure the classroom was a place we could trust again, we talked with Kasia about sex and personal space and secrets. After much prayer and diligence, God truly blessed us with the right words and the right actions. I don't believe Kasia has any idea how serious this incident could been in, God protected her darling heart. She still wanted to be the girl's friend, and we prayed that God would find a solution. Last week, the little girl left the school. The teacher and other parents are still not completely sure the reason for the move, they just used the excuse that the commute was too long. I still pray for that little girl because I am still not convinced she's not being abused herself but the school felt they had done their due diligence and left it at that. It actually still makes me sad when I think of the innocence lost. 

I started co-leading a Bible study this Fall! It's been so awesome getting to know these 16 other women. Lisa and I met right before we started co-leading and boy was this match in God's plan or what! We are very similarly wired and she has been an amazing friend as we travel this road of praying for our children. I appreciate all the ladies and their insight. We have moms with babies and moms with grandchildren & great-grandchildren! I said this today, but I feel as though when we get together we are coming together as friends for coffee and to discuss God, learning and sharing our lives. It's such an honor to be in this place. 

Ellie is still in gymnastics and this next week will move up to the next level. This means 4 hours a week in the gym. It's her decision and she's committed until next evaluations which aren't until May. She's a little jealous of the time Kiki has with friends while she's at the gym but after each practice, she tells me that gymnastics is where she wants to be. Kiki started a parent participate-group piano lesson that is ongoing with the same group of kids for 3 years. There are 7 kids ranging from 4-kindergarten. They are learning music theory and tonal recognition. She is playing & singing her first song from memory tonight. She loves it! Mattie got to go last week and is really sad that she has to wait until she's 4 to start the class. Mattie and grandma are wrapping up their "mom-tot" class they have gone to for the past 4 months. It's 30 minutes of gymnastics+30 minutes of swimming. Mattie's not done a class with mom or by herself yet so I've asked my mom to take her to her "big girl" swim lessons starting in January. She started preschool 2 mornings a week this fall and LOVES being a big girl. She cried every day I picked her up because all her friends stay for nap. We've now converted Thursdays to full days (which has been kinda hard for me) so she can stay and nap. 

We are home for Thanksgiving. The girls have the full week off school so I'm looking forward to some fun memories. They of course can't wait to be in Washington for Christmas and talk about flying and packing and playing with their cousins. 

I am going to post my notes from my talk today a Women to Women (that's what we call the collective Bible Study morning at our church). Thank you to all who prayed for me. I wished I could have been a little more polished but I speak in front of women so infrequently, I get a little rusty and forget how to be more subtle with reading my notes : >)

I feel as though the flood gates are beginning to open. I have so much to share as to the spiritual side of what's been going on. Perhaps, I will write that book someday. As long as it's an excerpt book and my dear friends with skills contribute.