Do It Anyway

Good morning and welcome to all tea lovers who enjoy getting together to visit with friends and chat over a hot cup of tea. I’m feeling a bit more contemplative and reflective today, than I usually do. There are so many trials going on in the lives of my friends. It really makes me wonder how God determines which trials each one of us will have to endure. I do know that, according to the Bible, even good people have to face difficult times. There are so many examples such as Job who lost every material thing, along with all his children. And then we have David who was hunted like a wild animal for years because he was anointed to be the next king of Israel. Then there was Joseph who faced false accusations by the wife of Pharaoh when Joseph refused to succumb to her repeated attempts to seduce him. So many times it seems that life is unfair.

I’ve witnessed this within my own life from time to time also. Several years ago when my 8 year old daughter was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Lukemia, we spent several long days in hospital rooms. I would regularly slip out for a cigarette break. It seemed unfair to me then, that she was the one suffering with cancer, while I was the one puffing away. I would have traded places with her in a minute if God would have given me the choice. He didn’t. Eventually I quit anyway. And she got better. But why? Why did she get better, while so many other children we knew died? We watched in agony while other children did not get better through Chemotherapy treatments, still others got better only to relapse later and lose the battle completely. But why? Why did God decide that our outcome would be positive, and theirs would not?

As I write this, my heart is heavy for many of my friends and acquaintances. I know a little 2 year old who has recently relapsed from Nueroblastoma. This is so beyond my understanding, it hurts to even think of it. Why did God let this little girl come into the world in the first place, if the only life she would ever know would be pain filled and tragic? Another friend stands falsely accused of illegal business practices. Another friend has been out of work for weeks and they have nothing. They cannot even afford their medical bills. Another friend is in chronic pain. Another friend has lost her teenage son in a car accident. I could go on and on, but I think you understand my point. You too may be experiencing hardships, injustice, poor health, financial ruin, a broken family. Where does this come from? Why does God allow it? Can it really serve any purpose? Does God really hear us when we pray?

Jesus talks about prayer and teaches his followers to pray in Matthew 6. Certainly He believed there was value in prayer. Repeatedly in the New Testament we see Him stealing away to be alone and meet with His Father in prayer. That would indicate to me that there is some real value in prayer. I believe in the power of prayer. I believe that God gives us some choices in how things are run on earth by the way we choose to pray. This is not to say that we are in complete control of the outcome of all things. But certainly, we are allowed to voice our opinions to God through prayer, and cast our votes for what we’d like an outcome to be.

I don’t think people spend enough time praying these days. Maybe it’s because they don’t believe it really does any good. Or maybe it’s because they have such a hard time committing themselves to being a part of what God desires to do in each one of us. Praying is not an easy task. I’m not talking about the fleeting “God help me through this mess”, prayer. But really being on our knees to interact with God. To hear from Him first, and speak to Him after.

My point in posting this is to tell you that God does answer prayer. I have so many documented answers to prayer, you would have to spend an entire day visiting with me to let me share all my stories. I usually write the prayer request, and the date it was answered, and I place in a big wooden box I refer to as my “family alter”.

God has not answered all my prayers. My first marriage fell apart despite my pleading with God that it would somehow survive. The tumor in my brain did not shrivel up and disappear so that I wouldn’t have to endure surgery. But the surgery went well, and I am healthy today. And my daughter is alive and well twenty years after the chemo treatments. That is not just a coincidence. She is a miracle. But I’d need to write a book to explain it to you. And I’ve been seriously considering doing just that. The house I live in is a miracle, but that’s another incredible story. Countless times we have had financial needs provided for in the nick of time.

And just recently another answer to prayer. A big one. I am not at liberty to share because it involves other people. But it was a miracle. I promise to share the story as soon as I am able to go public with it. Not all my prayers have been answered in the way I requested God to answer them. But I am certain He has heard me cry before Him, and He has considered carefully my requests and made the best decisions on my behalf because He dearly loves me.

I think it’s important to pray alone, (as in Matthew 6:6). But I also think there is incredible value in praying with friends and family members, (Matthew 18:19-20). My husband and I have been astonished to see some amazing answered prayers that seem to have been the direct result of kneeling together and speaking out, in front of one another, the petitions we are lifting up before God. And while I cannot, by any means, claim to know everything there is to know about prayer, I hope that I can leave you feeling inspired and encouraged to pray more often, and to have faith in the process, even if the end results are not always the hoped for, and anticipated results. Sometimes God answers prayers in a different way for a reason we simply cannot understand in the fragileness of our humanity. Whether you understand prayer or not, I encourage you, in the words of Martina McBride, to do it anyway. I leave you now with the lyrics to a song that has touched my heart, and inspires me to never give up hope on the requests I bring to God daily.

DO IT ANYWAY

You can spend your whole life building something from nothing
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

You can chase a dream that seems so out of reach
and you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

Chorus:
God is great, but sometimes life ain’t good
And when I pray it doesn’t always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway, I do it anyway

This world’s gone crazy and it’s hard to believe
that tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway

You can love someone with all your heart, for all the right reasons,
and in a moment they can choose to walk away
Love ‘em anyway

God is great, but sometimes life ain’t good
And when I pray it doesn’t always turn out like I think it should
But I pray anyway….I pray anyway.

You can pour your soul out singing a song you believe in
that tomorrow they’ll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway, sing it anyway

I sing, I dream, I love, anyway

[Thanks to Mike Sublett for lyrics]