A prayer for today.

Heavenly Father, every day (OK, almost every day) when I put my children on the school bus I pray you will watch over them and keep them safe in Your loving embrace. I pray Sam and Rachel will be guided to make good decisions and glorify Your name with their actions, and that they would love You and seek to please You.

Today I pray extra fervently (is that even a word? How about "I pray really really hard?") for Your protection over my elder child, as he will be hitting the slopes this afternoon with the ski club. This is his second time skiing, but the first time he'll do it surrounded by a bunch of goony teenage guys. And Lord, we know how teenage boys can be. I pray he wears his helmet like he promised he would, that he doesn't get too cocky about his abilities, that he keeps his body intact and unbroken, and most of all that he have fun ... for himself, with his friends, away from my ever-watchful eyes. Lord, if it is Your Will, may Sam develop a love for this sport that will encourage him to do all the right things so he is allowed to continue to participate.

Please give me the strength, dear God, to let go just a little bit, let the boy seek his passion, prove himself to be responsible and trustworthy, and begin to find his place in this world. Help me to turn angst over possible future hurts to celebration over new discoveries and endless possibilities.

And did I mention I'd like You to bring him back to me in one piece?

Father, I also pray today that Steve has a good first day on the new job. I'm sure it will be filled with paperwork and instruction and drug testing and all that preliminary stuff, but as the ball begins to roll I ask You to stoke that fire within my husband that keeps him excited about what he does. I thank You for the gift of Steven, Lord. I thank You for placing him in my life. I thank You for getting him through yesterday's travels safely, and I ask You to continue to watch over him.

Thank You for the crunchy snow outside that sparkles in the light of the front porch.

Thank You for the one-on-one time I will have with Rachel this evening.

Thank You for a warm home, pancakes for breakfast, a truck that started right up this morning, four-legged creatures to keep me company today, and a body with working arms and legs and heart and brain that is capable of so much.

And thank You for coffee.

Amen.

Time to circle the wagons.

I am angry.

I'm hurt and feeling defensive of my family and I wish I could tell you all about it but now isn't the right time, so could I just ask you to pray for us?

Know that my marriage is strong and that in itself will sustain us through much. We are healthy (well, OK, some might question my mental state but that's nothing new) and our children are fine. We have hit a roadblock but we will push through it together. And, God willing, we'll come out stronger on the other side.

 Today? Some inspiration. Turn it up, baby.



When the darkness tries to get me
There's a light that just won't let me
It might take my pride, tears may fill my eyes
But I'll stand back up.

Life as a construction zone.

"God at Work."

This must be it. God must be doing amazing things in my life right now because He certainly has my attention. I have been praying hard for our family, specific prayers for my husband and our children and outward from there - my extended family of in-laws and cousins, dear friends, church family. By the time I've mentioned everyone by name I need a nap.

And things are happening. Good things. So there are more prayers - prayers of thanksgiving.

Yet I find myself going back time and again saying, "But what about this, God? I still don't have an answer here. What gives?"

That's the thing about allowing God to do His work in our lives - there are no orange cones marking out the path for us. We are driving along a newly-paved road where the lines haven't yet been painted. We know we are headed in the right direction, but we want details. We want signs pointing to our destination and telling us exactly how many more miles we have to drive to get there.

We do have the Bible as our road map. Scripture gives us instructions on how to conduct ourselves along the trip. But it is in the details - not just about leading a Christian life in general, but about my life - where I get lost. One decision, one phrase, one day can make a difference in which on-ramp or detour we take and I want to know we're taking the right ones. I find myself saying, "I'll follow wherever you lead me, God, if you'll just give me a hint at where we're headed."

But then, if I'm willing to go no matter what, why do I need to know?

God is definitely at work in my life. He is teaching me patience. He is reminding me what it feels like to love someone unconditionally. He is granting me grace. He is showing me that I don't need to have all the answers rightnow. He is providing strength.

I am reminded that construction often means progress. It can mean sanding off the rough edges and applying a fresh coat of paint. It can mean building something tall and strong and beautiful where there was nothing before. And it can mean paving a path between here and our final destination, without knowing how many hills we will climb or valleys we will walk through along the way.

A tyrant is dead.

Wow. WOW. Osama bin Laden is dead.

This is one of those moments in history when we will all likely remember where we were when we heard the news. Public Enemy No. 1, the terrorist leader the United States has been chasing for nearly a decade since the attacks on our country on 9/11/01, is finally out of the picture.

I was here at home in the midst of a conversation with friends in a Facebook group - we were all about to sign off and head to bed - when someone posted that bin Laden was dead and the U.S. had his body. I quickly flipped the television to the first channel I could find with a news feed. And there was the confirmation.

I went numb. What is a person to feel at a time like this? I was relieved. I had goose bumps. I was cautiously optimistic - this was before President Obama addressed the nation - and my mind turned to where I was Sept. 11, 2001 (at work as a newspaper reporter), my friends and relatives who have and do serve in the military and how they would react to this latest news, how life has changed for all of us over the past decade, and whether our world will look or feel different - in a symbolic way - when morning dawns.

Sleep won't come. It's hard to look away from the video coverage of celebrations in front of the White House and in Times Square. America rejoices. But I share in the conflicting feelings some have mentioned and with which the Internet is buzzing now: as a Christian, what am I to feel? How am I to react?

Opinions will differ and many of them will be offered up by way of guidance in the days ahead. Scripture will  be taken out of context and used to support all manner of reaction from celebrating the fact that justice is served to mourning the death of a human being. Me? Certainly I think we are called to pray without ceasing. Pray for our nation. Pray for our service men and women. Pray for the middle east. Pray for the dead man's soul if you can find it in your heart to do so. For even Jesus Christ prayed for those who crucified Him: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).

Beyond that, I can only feel what I feel and know that I, too, am a fallen child of God. I would encourage others - particularly my Christian brothers and sisters - to look inward before joining the celebration. Turn your face to God and ask yourself what He would have you do today.

Am I rejoicing that a human being was murdered? Not necessarily.

Am I sad that Osama bin Laden is dead? Not in the least.

Right or wrong, I guess I'll find out someday. And it's not for me to judge others for feeling and expressing what they are feeling right now, too.

One thing's for sure - I will crawl into my comfy bed tonight in rural western Michigan knowing I live in the greatest country on Earth, amongst millions of people proud of their nation and the men and women who protect our freedoms - including the freedom to worship as we please and to gather in the streets and peacefully celebrate or demonstrate. When I wake up (God willing) in the morning, none of that will have changed. And for that I am thankful.

God bless America.

Take time to pray, today and always.

 Luke 11:1 (New International Version)

 ¹One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

I used to be intimidated by people whose spoken prayers sounded like poetry. Whether it was giving thanks before dinner or praying publicly during a memorial service, I have always been impressed when the words flow freely and beautifully and seemingly without much thought to what would come next.

Feeling like I couldn't "perform" as well as others often kept me from vocalizing my prayers.

What I finally realized is praying - whether the words are spoken out loud or whispered in my heart - is not about connecting all the words in the prettiest way possible, or even about the words at all. Rather, it's about connecting ourselves and our hearts with God.

Seems simple, doesn't it? Well it wasn't that simple for me.

I think, after years of practice, I have finally reached that place where the words do come a little easier, but there are still nights when I am tired and rushing through my mental list of people I promised I would pray for and I give in to the exhaustion and go generic and say something like this: "Heavenly Father, you know what is in my heart and you know the names and the faces and the needs of all those I wish to pray for. Please surround them with your loving embrace and allow them to feel your presence in their lives."

And you know what? It's all good. He gets it. God knows the specifics even more intimately than we do and it pleases Him that we pray, even if it is simply to ask that His will be done.

Today is the National Day of Prayer. Cities all over the country have events planned to focus on our freedom to worship at the time and place of our choosing - even on the steps of our local courthouse. But if you can't make it to your courthouse or there aren't any events in your town, I encourage you to take some time to focus on your own prayer journey today. Are you doing OK? Are you practicing? Is your prayer "voice" a little rusty?

I believe in the power and significance of prayer in our everyday lives. I believe it is just as important to thank our Lord for His blessings on us as it is to ask for guidance, healing, and grace. I believe every day should be a day of prayer.

With that, a quick story about sharing the power of prayer with my children:
The kids and I were working on our vegetable garden one spring (maybe even last spring, I can't remember) and I was trying to start our old, heavy, cantankerous rototiller. I pulled and pulled and pulled at that rope and nothing was happening. I went inside and called Steve to ask if there was anything I should be doing differently. Nope. I had checked the gas and oil, all the levers and buttons and thingamabobs were in the correct positions. So I went back outside and kept trying.

That tiller would sputter and die, over and over. The air was hot. I was exhausted. But I wanted to get the rest of that garden planted.

Out of sheer frustration, I took a deep breath, looked skyward and said aloud, "Dear God, I am willing to do the work if you would just let this tiller start for me. If it won't start I will take it as a sign that today just isn't our day to work on the garden."

Rachel looked up from planting something and said, "Mom? What are you doing?"

"I'm praying for God to help me get this stupid tiller started," I said.

And then I pulled the rope again.

And that sucker fired right up.

Rachel jumped up, her face beaming, and shouted over the noise of the machine, "I guess praying really does work, mom!"

Yes it does, baby. Don't you ever forget it.

Have a blessed day.