I must admit…prayer has always been an issue for me.  In hard times – “Help me, Lord” comes easily to my lips.  In good times – “Thank you, God” is an automatic response.  But serious prayer…daily laying my concerns or requests before God and saying “Here…they are yours”…not so much. 

At least, that’s how it was before I had children.  I think having children made me realize how many things are out there that I have absolutely no control over.  So, I quickly found myself praying that Emily and Ella would be healthy, that they would be protected from evil I can’t even see, and that they would one day soon fall madly in love with Jesus. 

Yet, still something was missing.  My prayers were more like hopes or wishes…not requests made with a belief that they would actually be answered.  My prayers were more like “God, I would like this…but if it’s not your will…”.  So, in my mind, I was giving God permission to not answer that particular prayer and, by not getting my hopes too high, I was hoping to lessen the disappointment if whatever I was requesting did not happen. 

So…what’s my point?  After a recent visit with my sister-in-law, I have developed a new passion for prayer.  Not my old way of praying, though.  I want to pray how God tells us to pray.

Jesus replied to them, “Have faith in God.  I assure you: If anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.  Therefore, I tell you, all the things you pray and ask for – believe that you have received them, and you will have them.  Mark 11:22-24

Two things I have started doing:

1.  Praying for specific things

2.  Believing that God loves me enough to answer my prayers

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