Mama's prayers

Thanks to everyone for the stats: 41 page views, a record; two comments, tying a record. I can pass that along to the powers that be.

Now, on to musing...

The Lord says, "Israel remember this; remember that you are my servant. I created you to be my servant, and I will never forget you. I have swept your sins away like a cloud! Come back to me; I am the one who saves you." Isaiah 44: 21-22, TLB

Come back to me, the Lord tells us, meaning we've gone away.

We had a great discussion about prayer and its merits last night at a Bible study. The question was how much does prayer move God to move or simply does prayer really change God's mind?

Good questions. All we have to go on is our faith, the scriptures and our experience.

In my experience, God waits a long time to do some of what I ask.
In my faith, God always does what I ask.
Somewhere in between probably lies the truth.

My answer to whether prayer can change things came from the scriptures, particularly Jesus' time in the Garden.
We read in Matthew 26, "36Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
39Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

Clearly Jesus thought his prayer could change things. He prayed that what was about to happen would not to him. He prayed so hard that he sweated blood figuratively or literally. The key to the peace is that he accepted God's will for him, and for him that was enough.

My experience is that my mother's prayers were answered. For 20 years she prayed that I would change, that I would have a relationship with Christ and that I would be saved. I finally did. Did my mother's prayers accomplish that or did something in my life change me? Again, experience (I changed), scripture ("But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.") and faith (my mother continuing for 20 years) often times leads to something very special.

Does every prayer heal? No. If it did, this world would overpopulate because none would die.
Does every prayer end the way we demand? No, for every quest touches other and we can't all pray for the kick to be good or all our teams win.
Does prayer change things?

I can only say that for me, prayer changes things, but it starts with me. Am I the greatest prayer-er ever? Nope. Do I go off and pray as much as Jesus? Nope. Do I pray daily? Yep.

And I came back to Him, because like Peter it one day dawned on me that I had no place else to go.

Was that me or was that my mama's prayers?

Only God knows. I'll leave it there. His will, not mine.