You, Me, and God

March 14, 2013

Last night, I was blessed to sit in a room of about 14 brothers and sisters and pray for my sister, Lisa, her husband, and their family.  We prayed for healing, strength, peace, assurance, safety, and so much more.  It was an intimate time of fellowship with each other and with God.  It was so beautiful and uplifting to hear everyone’s hearts and their hearts’ desires.  In reflecting on it, my thoughts are drawn to a couple of statements made in our Bible study just a half hour before the prayer.

First, we were discussing prioritizing time spent with God.  Some said that taking those moments in the day when you have what seems to be “down time” such as driving, waiting on someone, or standing in line were their times with God.  These are wonderful times but I had to disagree with the idea that they equaled quiet time with God.  There is something better about my day when I spend just a few minutes in bed before getting up in the morning either praying or just being quiet and listening.  Tim, I’m sure, thinks I’m just dozing and dreading getting out of bed.  Sometimes that is true too!  It was then that Lisa spoke and said, “Those moments when I’m praying throughout the day, those are the times I’m talking to God.  But my quiet time is when I dive into this (pointing to her Bible) or this (grasping the bible study book).  This is when God speaks to me.”  It is her wisdom that I love and admire the most. 

My other reflective thought came from a question from Lettia who questioned the idea of unanswered prayers.  I remember answering, “The standard line is there are no unanswered prayers, they are answered yes, no, or wait.”  And then I asked her if she had ever felt a prayer to be unanswered.  She said no.  She must have read the look on my face which probably belied my thought, “I have.”  She continued, “Because I know He hears me.”  That hit home for me.  El Roi (“The God who sees me.”) has been a theme for me since last May.  It made me correct my answer and think, “I haven’t recently.”  El Roi was with us last night, both in class and in prayer.

My final thought on last night actually centers on a C.S. Lewis quote, “A woman's heart should be so close to God that a man should have to chase Him to find her.”  This is what happens in our Bible study!  Studying together and drawing closer to God by knowing Him better and experiencing Him together has brought us all so much closer to each other.  We are the fellowship triangle in action!