“Never stop praying." ~ Thessalonians 5:17
The plasma screen sat directly across
from her like an unwelcome visitor. A
television should mean fantasy – like a hot air balloon, her chance to see so
far and wide, to dream the world anew, the gateway to creativity.
Of recent, however, it was flooded 24/7 with the atrocities
unfolding thousands of miles away. She’d
lived through WW2, Korea and Vietnam, but nothing like this. Grace sat heartbroken; dumbstruck trying to
process the events of last week – a free country being destroyed, families
being displaced, whole lives reduced to charred fragments. She felt helpless.
Nathaly, her home health aide noticed her despair, stopped
what she was doing, and sat on the coffee table facing Grace; blocking the TV. Kindness broadened her smile. Her eyes cast genuine warmth and empathy; an
innate need to nurture.
Concern for fellow Ukrainians flooded her heart as
well. She still had family and friends
in the region.
“You must think I’m silly,” Grace blushed. “There’s nothing an old, penniless woman like
me can do except pray. At least I can do
that,” she uttered half-heartedly.
Nathaly continued to listen to her elderly friend with
compassion.
“My frustration reveals something I don’t like to admit,”
Grace continued. “I don’t always feel
like praying accomplishes anything.”
Nathaly now spoke in a soft, tender voice. “Sometimes all we can do is pray because
there is simply nothing else we can do. Then
we fervently put our knees on the floor, clasp our hands together and cling to
God's promises through prayer. We pray
for whatever hurt is happening, whatever destruction. We ask for peaceful resolution.”
“But Grace,” Nathaly continued, “Saying “All I can do is
pray” is doing so from a defeated posture.
Remember Who we’re praying to; Who’s hearing our petition. This is no small thing. We have the privilege of praying to the God
who controls all things. And when we
pray to our Messiah, we must approach Him with confidence, knowing that He has
the power and the desire to do what we ask. Trust He’ll help!”
Truer words have seldom been spoken.
I know it sounds cliché, even trivial to think that the words
we pray during these desperate times and situations will do anything to
help. But they do.
I believe in the power of prayer with every fiber in me. I’ve seen
its effects firsthand.
Almighty Father, remind us that we’re never
meant to carry a heavy emotional load, but to take it to You instead. Sometimes we forget the depth of Your
compassion when we feel overwhelmed with pain and sorrow. In those moments, there is nothing so welcome
as a friend’s prayer directing us back to You. Amen
