“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.  And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” – Romans 8:26-27

Question for the Day:  What about when you don’t know what to pray?

I am 43 years old today.  And life is good.  In fact, this is my best birthday yet.  My life is great.  But it hasn’t always been so.  In another fact, I have spent several birthdays in the pit of despair because things in my life were so terrible.  

As I reflected on that this morning, I thanked God not only for today, but for all the times of distress that He was there as well.  

Have you ever had times like that?  Times when things were going so badly that you didn’t even know what to pray for?  I have had many.  But I thank God that I didn’t have to have eloquent words or well recited prayers.  He has promised that the Holy Spirit, who knows my heart, will pray for me.  What a relief.

We live in such a performance driven society that we don’t always quite understand the concept of grace.  Grace is God showering us with love even if we haven’t “earned it.”  I remember back to a challenging time I was having about 10 years ago.  My whole life was upside down and I could not deal with one more thing to concentrate on.

A kindly woman in my church invited me to a bible study.  My mind couldn’t make that kind of commitment; to show up every Wednesday night and pretend that I was enjoying myself.  SoI just said no.  Then she said something that has stayed with me all these years.  It changed the way I saw God.  She said,

“Sometimes we are called to work for God and give Him our best.  But sometimes He just calls us to come and let Him minister to us.  You don’t have to do anything else.  Just come and be loved.”

If you are in that place, or maybe you are praying for someone who is, don’t worry about “getting it right.”  Just show up, say nothing at all, and let the Spirit of God love you the way He longs to.

Peace my friends!

Heavenly Father,

Thank You that I can just be me when I am with You.  You know my heart, and You know my needs.  You are so kind not only to accept me when I am at my worst, but those times seem to be the ones when You love me the most.  

Help me just to trust You and Your infinite grace.  Help me to find peace in Your  presence, regardless of the storms swirling around me.  Lead me beside peaceful waters.

Help me to live into the fact that I am Your child, and You do not expect me to be perfect; for that is true grace.

In the name of the Lamb I pray,

Amen