Yesterday I was feeling sick. Not horribly, absolutely, unable to function sick but just unwell enough to be uncomfortable. I have a sort of “power through it/tough it out” attitude when I’m sick so I went to work anyway. As the day progressed, I began to feel worse and was considering leaving, but I was hesitant to do so. Last night was our last youth group small group of the year and I didn’t want to miss it. And since I also have a “too sick to work, too sick to play” attitude I didn’t want to leave work early.
Early on in the day I thought “I should ask the other small group leaders to pray for me.” As quickly as the thought came to me, I dismissed it. I wasn’t that sick, I reasoned, I didn’t need prayer. I would be fine. However, my symptoms began to increase, and I was beginning to feel nauseous and very seriously considering going home. At this point I decided to reach out to the other leaders to at least let them know that I wasn’t feeling well and might not be able to be at group that night. Since I was going to be reaching out anyway, I figured that I might as well ask for their prayers as well.
I sent out a quick text message and received some immediate “praying for you,” responses. I had decided to push through and finish the project I was in middle of and then head home. However, within half an hour of asking for prayers, I felt fine. The pain, which had been increasing all day, was gone. I didn’t take any medication or do anything to relieve the pain, and this wasn’t a gradual decrease. All of a sudden, I was just fine and the only thing that had changed was that people were praying for me.
I share this for two reasons. First and foremost to give glory to God. God is a healer, He is active in our lives in a daily, personal, and intimate way. When we cry out to Him, He hears and responds. His response might not always be in the form of physical healing like it was in this case. It might be the grace to endure suffering, the deepening of relationship with Him or with those we are inviting to pray with us, an invitation which always involves an amount of vulnerability and humility. Whatever the case, God always hears and always responds.
Turning to God is always the right move, which leads to my second reason for sharing. I have been convicted for a while now of the need to normalize praying for and with one another on a regular and ongoing basis. Prayer should not only be a part of our personal, daily routine, but also a part of relationships and public routine. Asking for and receiving prayers from our family, friends, loved ones should be a regular occurrence. Yet, when I was feeling unwell, I hesitated to ask for prayers because I didn’t think my need was significant enough. I wasn’t that sick. It wasn’t as though I had some deadly disease or major injury, so I didn’t really need to bother others with a prayer request. Foolishness. Nothing about us is insignificant to our loving God and nothing is too little to bring to Him, either directly or through the intercession of others.
Experiencing the immediate relief of my symptoms after asking for prayer convicted me of the need to practice more faithfully what I preach. If I truly believe that we need to normalize prayer in our relationships and in the public sphere, then I need to be bold and do so myself. I pray daily, not just on special occasions or when the need is great. That recognition of my need for God and my dependence on Him should inform all aspects of my life, both private and public. As Christians we are a body, united in Christ our head, and our reliance on the other members of the body should be matter of fact, routine, turning to them our first instinct, not a last resort.
Yesterday I was reminded of the power of prayer. Today I hope to live more boldly from that reality, and I invite you to join me in doing so as well. Take time today to bring your needs to the Lord, do so directly in your own prayer but also ask others to pray for you. Doing so is a way both of sharing your faith and strengthening the faith of those you are inviting to pray- it gives them a reason to turn to the Lord as well. Today and everyday let us together seek the Lord and let us together praise His name.
Prose for the sake of Poetry 