I Wonder--May 22

I just completed the weekly prayer email that gets sent to the church--and the list was long. Very long. I had notes on 3 separate pages that I shared in worship with the church. And every prayer request seemed more serious than the previous one. 

Then last night at session during our Elder Enrichment I spoke about how it seems that there is tension which is being ratcheted up around us; the spiritual pressure is growing. People are getting sick. Friends and family members of the church are dying or being hospitalized. 

In the midst of a growing prayer list, and the pressure that places upon the soul, I am reminded of something that Anne Lamott once wrote as she struggled with how to pray. In her book, Help, Thanks, Wow, she writes this: 

"But we can be big in prayer, and trust that God's won't mind if we pray about the cat (who is dying) and about Jax's (her grandson's) tender heart. Is God going to say, 'Sorry, we don't have enough for the cat?' I don' think so." (clarification added by me).  

For the last two weeks I have been thinking and preaching about how there is enough of God to go around for us. Over and over I stated that God is not tight-fisted. That graciousness extends to when our prayer list grows and we need a touch of God's presence and hand. 

I wonder what might happen in your faith walk with God when you let the honesty and fullness of your need be expressed to God openly and totally? How might your prayers be different?