Conversations With God

I've grown up in a Christian household. I throw up little prayers to God throughout the day. Usually they're just about little things that I need His help with. Usually they are inconsequencial. But sometimes they are monumental. Sometimes they are all I can do to keep my sanity.

I've never heard God talk to me - and in fact I quite relate to the song Smell The Color 9 By Chris Rice. I know God listens, and I know he answers every prayer. Sometimes I know the prayer has been taken care of, and other times I have no idea what God is planning to do. But somehow I always feel a little better when I confess things to him.

One vacation I lost my very expensive class ring. We moved campsites across the national park we were in, when I discovered my ring was no where to be found. My mom and I spent the night praying we would find it in the morning. Nothing. We didn't think my dad would drive us back to our previous campsite to search, but my mother had prayed that God would put it on my dad's heart to return.

And we did.

My mother found the ring in the campsite, sitting neatly under a plant. God had kept that campsite unoccupied, and my ring in a place that was visible. And I was just glad to have that 275 dollar piece of silver gold back in my possession.

My parents both have all kinds of cool answers to prayer stories. And I'm starting to aquire some of my own.

Prince and I were talking about the physical part of our relationship. Where is our line? How far are we willing to allow ourselves to go? We know what we don't want to do and how far we don't want to go. But a few weeks ago we felt like we needed to revisit the subject.

I'd been praying about it. I felt like I knew what I supposed to say to Prince-y reguarding the matter. I knew where I was going to draw my line. And much to my amazment, Prince Charming told me what he thought, and sure enough, it was exactly what I was going to say. It was a huge relief, because being on different pages where physical attraction is occuring in a relationship can cause a rift for one or both parties involved. Glad to hear this wasn't the case for Prince and me.

And today, the inspiration for this post happened. Just a little while ago. Prince and I had been talking on the instant messanger that seems to have control over our relationship since we are in different towns. He left to shower, and I left to study. And I finished my study guide much to my liking, and decided since it was "loud hours" in our hall that I would go out and be social while my BF was keeping up on his personal hygiene.

I got to talk with Belle for a while, which was nice and awesome and good. We don't talk a lot anymore, and to just have a sit down conversation with her and poke fun at our ridiculous RA was like finding a needle in a haystack. And even though I hate needles, I clung to that one for as long as I could.

When I returned to my room, I found Prince had returned from the cascade of cleansing water and was not only angry with his mother, but his father as well. Not to mention they were all angry at him. At first I told him to take a deep breath. But he kind of snapped at me and told me he'd already done that. Then I told him to pray. Actually, I typed PRAY in all caps because I wanted it to stick out and scream of importance.

"I haven't been told that yet."

"Been told what yet?"

"To pray."

"You need someone to tell you to pray?"

"Obviously so. It hadn't crossed my mind yet."

So he took a few minutes to give his frustrations over to our Heavenly Maker and came back to the conversation with a clearer conscience. It's amazing what a simple prayer can do. It can create an attitude change, a feeling of thankfulness, a lightness of step and happiness of the heart. It's answer can change your world, can make you a better person and help you see that if you just hand all your suffering over to God then everything will fall into place. It might not happen right away, and it might make you wonder what the heck God's doing up there in space, but eventually it will all work itself out. You don't always get to see the fruits of your labor, but you have to have faith and you have to just trust Him for anything to happen.

Prince might not be too thrilled that I posted about his life today, but I just felt like it was something that needed to be said. And Lord knows I didn't do anything interesting today. I just studied a lot. Which is boooooring awesome, so totally awesome.

So all of that to say this: just pray. When you're happy - pray. When you're sad - pray. When you're thankful - pray. When you're faced with trials - pray. When you just can't focus on anything and you think the world is out to get you - pray. When you're stuggling with something - pray.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7