Undoctrinated Daughter

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-17

Eventually, I will run out of song titles or really great chorus lines, but for now…we’re livin’ on a prayer.

I recently listened to a message concerning prayer. One of the verses that was used was the one from 1 Thessalonians concerning prayer – one of my favorites and most recited verses. I have had this verse posted in my classroom, in a closet, on a sticky note, in various places throughout the years and for various reasons. But God brought this verse to my attention a few years ago as I was frantically searching for my old journals one Sunday morning in preparation for a sermon (yes, big shocker here, ON Sunday morning roughly an hour before I needed to leave – and I was livin’ on a prayer to find them) and for a different purpose than it had served before. This time He was drawing my attention to “pray without ceasing” or “never stop praying”. I finally found my old journals and started searching for whatever it was that I was looking for, and finally I found it: the first journal entry I had ever written praying over my momma. That first entry was 17 years old.

In 2003 when I was still exploring my faith and working towards understanding a relationship with Christ, I did what seemed natural – I wrote. I wrote journal upon journal praying and seeking Him, His guidance, His truth. I have every journal. And when God brought those journals to my attention that Sunday morning, it was to prove that prayer works. Sometimes our prayers aren’t answered in the time frame that we very arrogantly allot to the Creator. Sometimes our prayers are not answered the way we selfishly desire, so we just assume God didn’t answer or God isn’t who He says He is. Sometimes we just give up.

But when I found those journals that Sunday morning, I wept. It was July 2020 when I found those journals, and my momma was dying. And I didn’t weep those tears because the inevitable was upon us in a few short months, I wept because for 17 years I prayed for her heart. I prayed for forgiveness to wash over her and make all things new. I prayed for her joy and peace that only God could give her through Christ. And 17 years later, all those prayers were answered, and then some, because God softened, molded, and changed this heart too. Those prayers weren’t answered the way I wanted them to be or how I could ever have imagined, but they were answered perfectly and exactly the way they had to be in God’s perfect timing.

I look at my sweet baby and my sweet momma in that picture taken in July of 2020, and I am filled with joy. I am filled with peace and contentment beyond understanding knowing that only God could have done that. He chose love. We chose love. That love through prayer changed everything.

Friends, I don’t know what you have given up on this morning. I don’t know what prayers you still have unanswered or prayers you just simply stopped praying, but know that God hasn’t, won’t, and will not stop working. He hasn’t forgotten you. He sees you. Keep livin’ on a prayer – take His hand, you’ll make it, I swear. Whoa, oh – livin’ on a prayer.

XOXO, Loni