Feeling Challenged

In the last few weeks I have felt challenged (by God) about prayer. For the last few months, beyond prayer requests for friends and family, my prayer life has consisted of 'arrow prayers' almost exclusively! So now that we pray with J at bedtime, it seemed like I should practice more of what I preach.

Then Meg spoke at my church moms' group about prayer (and her struggle with prayerlessness as a pastor's wife) and that resonated with me on many levels.  Then I heard this sermon at church the next Sunday, and was challenged again.  One of Meg's comments that stuck with me was that a lack of prayer revealed pride: essentially that we stop relying on God and think we can manage everything ourselves.  This was a bit of a wake-up call!

God has certainly been working on my pride of late, primarily on my financial self-sufficiency (or what I'd prefer to be self-sufficient). Through family, friends, acquaintances and government departments over the past few months we have been blessed with gifts of babysitting, supplementary groceries, phone discounts, cloth diapers, show vouchers, letters of encouragement, a newspaper subscription (with coupons), and money.  We are so thankful to each of those people and God for the blessing and encouragement of each gift.  They have brightened our days in many ways. It has reminded us that God knows all our needs and provides amply for them (and even a few desires for good measure).

So I've been trying to get back into the habit of having a daily quiet time.  Generally this has meant when J naps I try to settle C and pray.  It doesn't always work and I don't always remember!  I have been using the Celtic Daily Prayer book as a lectionary, and following the Finian readings to get me started.  N and I try periodically to return to doing compline from here too, but with mixed results at present.

So far, God has been speaking to me a lot about his provision.  You have no idea how many readings this month have talked about God providing for the poor (the PhD stipend is generous for a single person, but stretches thin for a family), the hungry (not that we've experienced that yet) and the displaced (still feeling the transition at the moment).  The other emphasis has been on hospitality (another big focus for me).  So He has my attention!

Please pray for me as I continue to grow in this area.