Give your wad to God

Have you had any good time to pray? It rained for the past 2 days here, and I savored the quiet, the permission to stay “in,” and the gray blanket that covered my windows and told me to “sit and be still.” It gave me some time to pray. I’m feeling like I have a lot on my heart and mind, a lot to take to the Lord. He already knows it all, but He still wants me to come to Him, and it feels so good when I do.

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55:22

In July I stood in the shade of a wall high enough to block the sun, a wall so old that ancient plants poked out from it above cool stones where generations of women have come to stand. A temporary, modern, flimsy wall separates the women’s area from the men’s area, but nothing separates their prayers as they’re lifted to God like incense or heat waves. Women waited quietly to get close to the wall. They stood with their loved ones, and Jo and I stood there too. Some sat and rocked. All prayed. Some held books of prayer, looking over them with closed eyes and murmuring lips. Praying.

Above us was the place where people who never heard of things like blogs used to go as pilgrims to offer sacrifices, burn incense, and meet with God. But all that’s left now is a wall. So people write their confessions and pleas and anger and questions and begging and bargains and thanks on pieces of paper that they roll into tight wads and wedge into cracks in the wall where the ancient plants haven’t grown yet.

I felt torn. God doesn’t need me to write my words to Him on a wad. He certainly won’t give it preference if I force my prayers into a wall of stone. He just wants my heart to be emptied of stone, to be soft and result in open hands to Him. He wants me to come to Him when there’s no wall, no anything that keeps me from Him.

So did I leave words in the wall? The second time I went … I did. If only to add to the visible display of many wads clinging to the wall in fresh belief that our God sees it all, knows it all, hears it all, and is sovereign.

My heart is full of many things, and maybe yours is too. There is no wall, and we can pray right here and right now.  Let’s wad up our burdens and give them to God.

This month we’re praying for children by name with Compassion International. Today I’m praying for 5 year old Agape from Tanzania, growing up in an area effected by AIDS and at risk for exploitation. Would you find one child HERE who you can pray for today?

Check out the Freebies & Resources page to see the Prayer Section where you’ll find 5 different tools to use in Prayer.