When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen.When my mum got sick with brain cancer, people tried to pray it out of her. It didn’t work, not for eight years, and then all of a sudden the prayers must have kicked in, or she gained an extra ounce of faith or something, but suddenly she got better. I don’t know that I ever recovered from it though. People believing that my mum, a pastor’s wife, didn’t have enough faith.
Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong,
learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. ~ Isaiah 1:15-17a.
And I wonder what it looks like to have enough faith. Does it look like the Pope? Does it look like Mother Teresa (who apparently doubted her beliefs consistently, in the face of such sorrow)? Does it look like a child?...
(this post is the first in a column i am writing over at Prodigal Magazine called Everyday Radical; i will be there every second tuesday; won't you join me HERE for the rest of this story?)
**also, tomorrow evening, we will be launching imperfect prose on thursdays, 2013... the PROMPT for this week's link-up is CREATE.**
so exactly right, em. we, in the middle and mire of dying, reaching back to Him, the holder of that irresistible future.
ReplyDeletei know this about you sweet nic. i know you love Jesus so very deeply, and this, one of the reasons i consider you such a close friend even though we have never met. we have a common goal. to know him more. love you.
Deletei love the way you breathe life, em. it oozes from you like simple sacred glory.
ReplyDeleteamen, dear one. amen.
thank you sweet rachel. i love the way you breathe it too. xo
Delete"pray it out of her." How often do we all try to do that? There is so much we don't understand about God after all these years. . .
ReplyDeleteAmanda over at www.hillpen.com
oh amanda, i know. how i want to understand him more. bless you.
DeletePray... Bargain.... We do what we think we can to control.... when all we need to do is simply TRUST...though simply TRUSTING doesn't allow ME the delusion that I can perform to get the desired outcome. Thank you for your transparency in sharing your doubt and fear
ReplyDeleteyes. this is it. trust. love it kimberly. thank you so much for your encouragement. xo
DeleteCan't wait for Imperfect Prose and the prompt create....look forward to the words from this community. You bless em. This is a tender community of writers and I am grateful to be here, gathered around with hearts on fire for Him.
ReplyDeleteoh friend, how you bless me too. love your wise and beautiful heart.
Delete