Night of prayer

Tonight I skipped out on our small group meeting. I felt I had some work to complete before my head hit the pillow.

The needs of Monday have been foremost in my thoughts. We've been praying since we heard them. And, unlike other requests we occasionally receive, these needs are not fading.

Today I called the person of the first request. The phone rang and rang. There was no human voice at the answer, only a tone. I wondered, were they ok? Had they found reason to hope? The tone unnerved me. I uttered a quick silent prayer. 

The person of the second prayer arrived at my office, broken. Weeping.

I sat with them as they wept. An hour of anguish poured out of their heart. I hugged them and prayed for them and wept with them. The cry of the lost is a wail. It is a deep moan that bursts out of the pit of a broken heart. 

Monday´s third request was of a friend who had given birth last week to her second son. Her life giving blood had not stopped flowing. They finally placed her in a drug induced coma to wait for a hopeful response from her body. It responded by stopping her heart twice this weekend. They were able to bring her back. Twice.  Today we received word that if her body didn't start responding within 24 hours, chances would be slim for her.   

Tonight these People were in my mind. So I headed off to pray.

I´ve been praying lately on the rise of a hill overlooking the city. I walk and pray and tonight I ended up back on top of the hill. I noticed a patch has been worn in the grass where I´ve been praying. The sun was setting and the sky had a few cloudy patches in the distance.

I prayed and listened, and prayed some more. God was there and I talked boldly, releasing the burden. One theme of my prayer blending into another into another and so on, until I saw that the night had become quite dark except for the stars that were sparkling in the black sky.

I´m not one of those persons who really puts a lot of stock in random chance. I think I´ve had too many cool coincidences to place my trust in flukes. But I don´t place my whole trust in pictures and symbols and coincidences either. They are part of an interaction between humankind and Godkind, which effects things here on earth. Prayer and symbols and coincidences give testimony to this.

I don´t claim to understand it all, nor do I always catch all the meaning in the symbols and pictures. But I do seek to be faithful, understanding that there are many mysteries out there that I will never comprehend.

He tells me to pray, so I pray, and leave it to him.

Anyway, I realized that nearly two hours had elapsed, and I felt finished so I headed down the hill giving thanks. He always does provide. Always. May not always look like what we thought it would look like, but his provision is sure.
  
It was cold out so I thought I´d stop and get some tea to warm up a bit. I only had $1.55 on me but thought I´d see how much it cost. I ordered the tea and she rang it up.

?That will be a dollar fifty five,? she said.
?Thanks? I said with a smile, more for heaven than for her.