Today's Lesson: Resolve Theological Questions Before The Crisis Hits
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at 7:58AM My dad started his day yesterday in a surgery center. He was in to get his rotator cuff repaired, which they did; and he ended his day in his own house on good drugs and sleeping in his recliner.
In between those two points though, he spent some time in an ambulance being taken to the hospital where they stuck him in the cardio unit for a few hours. In a nutshell, the surgical team didn’t like what his heart was doing during the surgery and were worried about his stroke risk so they were just covering their bases.
From 500 miles away there wasn’t much I could but google medical terms and madly text my sister, so I spent my afternoon (of course) mentally planning another funeral and baking. Stress baking. Which led to stress eating and I have to tell you - a couple of lemon bars in I really was feeling calmer. What is it about the combination of butter, flour and sugar that is so soothing?
In the midst of it all, I discovered that I have never really resolved my prayer questions. Why do we pray? If I believe that God’s plan is perfect, is there any point in making my request? If God has decided that this is the day a person is supposed to die, would a prayer change His mind? Should it? Of what use is a prayer chain? Is God going to listen to 30 people more than he would listen to just me? What if I only have 25 in my prayer chain? Why do I find prayer chains so annoying and mostly full of whiny people?
Basically I am a jerk. So I prayed “the prayer that never fails” - Lord, Thy will be done and help us deal with whatever that may be off and on until I got the news that my dad had been released. He’s in pain from the surgery but otherwise okay.
So that’s a happy ending, plus I gave away half of the pan of lemon bars which counted as my Random Act of Kindness for the day. Gotta love multi-purpose baking.
Following along my Lenten adventure? Today’s piece of paper is: Take Faith out. I’m looking forward to this one. I’m thinking a girls trip to Target may be on the agenda!
Reader Comments (12)
Glad your dad is okay. I am no theologian and I don't know the answer to God changing His mind but here's my .02 anyway. In His word we are instructed many times to bring our requests to Him, to make them known to Him, to ask while believing- so I do. We're also told that a few praying together in His name is a good thing so I pass requests on to friends and others I know will pray as I feel led.
Also, lemon bars are one of my favorite treats. Have fun with your girl today : )
I've struggled with prayer for a long time. Questions I've asked: Does prayer change the heart of God? Or does it just change our heart? Could both be possible?
I read a ton of books on prayer. I asked a ton of questions. I tried to look up scripture on prayer. I did everything I could until I felt God slapping His forehead and saying, "Just pray." (I hope God slaps his forehead at other people. I'd hate to be the only one.) And so, since then, I've tried to keep a running conversation between us--and it revolves around feelings a lot...feelings I would never share in a prayer chain or with other people. Things I just need to keep between us.
But I say that (I'm long winded) to say that I definitely don't have this prayer thing figured out. I just do it.
I KNOW! I wonder the same things and pray the same things. Even though it's beyond our reasoning, I can't imagine a design where we couldn't talk to Him at all!
You have no idea how much I want a lemon bar right now. It's mean.
i am so sorry that i didn't know about your dad last night. i haven't followed along well with you in your lenten journey, but i sure was happy to be one of the recipients of a random act of kindness!!!! those were some yummy stress-baking. glad you got some stress-praying in as well.
also SO glad that your dad is doing well. i hit publish too quickly.
You need to mail me a batch of lemon bars :)
Again, I'm glad I'm not alone here. I also think people that put prayer requests on a prayer chain are very whiny and I think they just do it for the attention they will get from it. I typically go with the "Your will be done and help me accept that". More so I really just say thankful prayers, thanking Him for what He has given me. I also get incredibly annoyed with the people that put prayer requests on Facebook. To your Christian friends fine, but do you really think all those people that don't believe in God are really going to pray to Him when they tell you they will?! Why would they pray to someone they don't believe in? Anyway, now that I'm sure I have offended someone (which is not what I meant to do at all). I will shut up.
P.S. A trip to Target is almost always needed!
I'm here because I read your story on Megan's blog and then she said to come and visit you because you're awesome. And it turns out she's right.
One of my favorite quotes about prayer is, "The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for oneself blessings that are made conditional upon our asking for them."
And I'm glad your dad is okay. I used to live hundreds of miles from my family and it was miserable when anything would happen and I was too far away to do anything besides worry.
I read the first line of your post as "My day began in a sugary centre". I blame the lemon bars photo. So thankful your dad is okay, Mindee. Your thoughts on the subject of prayer have reminded me of a quote from the movie "Shadowlands" where C.S. Lewis' character, after being told by a friend that his fervant prayers have been answered,claims "That's not why I pray...I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God, it changes me." I feel that whether He answers my request with a "yes", "no", or "wait" I have left it in His hands and feel a sense of peace in my heart when I have done that. And now, thanks to you, I must run to the store to buy the ingredients for lemon bars. :)
First, I'm glad your dad's ok. Second, I have had those same prayer questions before. Looking forward to a good sit-down with God many decades in the future for some answers.
I'm glad to hear that your dad is feeling better.
I can understand the questions about prayer for sure. I believe in prayer for many reasons - I believe that we should pray not necessarily because God doesn't know what we want, but because he wants to hear from us, just like our parents here on earth want to hear from us regularly (at least mine do, my mom gets pretty upset if I don't call at least every week). :) I also believe that it's an opportunity not only to get direct revelation or inspiration from Him, but also to receive peace which is what we often need, especially in times of trouble.
But that's just me. :)
such helpful comments on this post. for me, prayer helps me stay focused on the things that matter. and remind me how blessed i am. i ask for help for my sister, parents, friends, etc.- i don't think it hurts. not so sure if it "works", though... also maybe prayer chains are a way for those people in the group to support one another? God designed us to be communal, to rely upon each other. maybe we were designed to be the answer to another's prayer?