Prayer

It's incredible how often I sit here struggling with my emotions; fighting the never ending battle in my mind and heart for peace. 

As I was sitting here in Mark's hospital room having my quiet time today, I read a devotional about prayer.  The writer of this devotional pointed out how often we fail to take advantage of the simplest solution for our problems, which is prayer. 

Most everyone who knows Mark and I, know not only the struggle he has had with his health over the past few years, but the fight for his life he has had in the past 77 days.  The gravity of the situation over the past two weeks has taken his struggle to a whole new level.  There are so many people across the world praying for Mark - for healing, for peace, for God's will, etc. 

It is amazing how many times though that the comment is made to me, "I'm sorry, but all I can do is pray" or "I wish I could do more, but I will pray for you".  Yes, we all are guilty of saying comments like this - almost apologizing for praying.  Of course it is natural for most of us to want to go above and beyond and do everything in our power to help in situations, but I think because of this prayer gets treated like it is not a big deal or like it is insignificant. 

Prayer should not be a last resort for us. "We carry burdens we do not need to bear - and life is much harder than it has to be - because we do not realize how powerful prayer is. If we did, we would talk to God and listen to what He says about everything, not as a last resort, but as a first response." (excerpt from this morning's devotion)

Today my goal is to focus not only on the power of prayer, but to quit carrying burdens that I do not have to by remembering to pray for them!