A Life in Exile

You know how you feel when your newsfeed is throwing, not one, but twenty breaking news stories at you within the span of a few hours? It’s overwhelming and you’re tempted to turn off notifications forever and go off grid. I don’t have notifications turned on for hardly anything on my phone, and I still can get overwhelmed when I look at the daily headlines.

So, what happens when you want to be a faithful Christian and pray for those affected by natural disasters and wars? What happens when it’s not just your newsfeed but your conversations and messages that add to your growing prayer list? Can I still be found faithful to pray?

Why pray?

I have always taken everything to God in prayer. Since my early days as a young Christian girl, I kept prayer journals and a daily prayer routine. During my years in overseas missionary service, I learned even more about the efficacy of prayer and the importance of crying out to God about things above my own understanding. I learned from the prayers of believers in areas like West Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and from ex-pat colleagues from Australia, Europe, and Asia.

Then I returned to the United States to find believers afraid to pray out loud, relying on written prayers, and not immediately turning to prayer about problems they faced. That reality got me down until I realized I wasn’t responsible for others. I needed to be faithful to pray. During my years working in the public library, I had many opportunities to voice prayers for colleagues and patrons, and when I didn’t, I reminded them I was praying for them about things they shared.

Now that I’m retired, I have asked God how he might want to use me. Other than writing and doing the good works he prepares for me each day and week; I have found prayer to be at the top of the list. Technology helps, and when a person asks for prayer or brings up a need, I often simply record a short prayer in the moment and hit Send. I also don’t hesitate anymore to pray while I’m talking on the phone or in face-to-face conversation with someone in need.

In all this, I see God at work. My faith is built up because prayer is a constant reminder that I don’t have all the answers. He alone is sovereign over all, and when I take my cares to him, he hears and will work out all things in accordance with his perfect will and for our good.

Some guidance in prayer.

I find Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi most helpful in grasping what can help us in our prayer life. Listen to his words:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things. Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:4-9 CSB)

Whatever the world is throwing your way, we are to rejoice in the Lord. Paul was writing this letter from prison, so to tell others to rejoice in the Lord always, he must have known what he was talking about. Modeling a joyous attitude when we are asked to pray for someone who is hurting brings light to a dark situation. It reminds them that God sees them and has something better for them. He may even be choosing to use this dark time for something more glorious than they can imagine in the moment. All this gives us reason to rejoice that God is at work. We also rejoice because God is near. The return of Christ today is nearer than yesterday, and though today’s events may look dark, we know with certainty that a better day is soon to arrive.

Be thankful in your prayers. Even when you don’t understand why this is happening or what it means, be thankful that God does. He knows everything and is over everything. Also, we can be thankful when we see the believers coming to help those in need. It’s a thankfulness for the opportunity for the Church to be the light of Christ in a dark time.

When we’re thankful, God pours his peace on us. Again, whether we understand why something has happened or not, being thankful that he’s at work in the heavenlies for those affected brings peace to those praying on earth who are yet to grasp the full impact of what he’s about.

As we finish our prayers and move forward after we pray, we must keep our minds set on those things that are true, honorable, pure, and commendable. In fact, prayer helps us do a mind reset. It reminds us that there is more about this specific situation than my feelings about it. God’s doing something in the lives of those affected or in the nations that will bring about his will or draw people to his Son. Maybe he’s allowing his Church to shine in the darkness of the disaster. Whatever it may be, our minds are ready to move forward, not in sadness and despair, but hope and joy, knowing his peace will remain with us. That’s what prayer can do.

So many opportunities for prayer, so little time.

In these last few months and weeks, I am constantly reminded of how many things and people occupy my prayers. From wars in the Middle East, my children and their families, the family and friends of a friend who suddenly dies, friends who have heart attacks and emergency surgeries, a young mother who is undergoing cancer treatments, a friend who longs to see her prodigal daughter return to the Lord, a friend whose marriage is in crisis, friends who are in the epicenter of the devastation from Hurricane Helene, to a brother and sister-in-law who were in the center of Hurricane Milton.

These are just a few of the people and events that now have a part of my mind and prayer life. What’s a person to do with all this? How can I possibly find time to live when my prayer list is so all-consuming?

Lord, have mercy.

Recently, I went back to listen to the playlist from my church’s Holy Week services. It was all about the mercy of God, including the powerful song by John Bolin. Several times, I’ve found myself returning to this phrase when world or local events overwhelm and leave me without words. A simple cry of “Lord, have mercy,” suffices.

He hears. His Spirit voices our prayers when we have no words that meet the hurt we feel but long for Him to intervene. Pray we must, but thankfully, he helps us when our own language is insufficient.

In the end, we want our prayer to be: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Whatever troubles your heart and mind today, whatever local or world events leave you staggering to understand, take them all to God in prayer. We may not see it today or tomorrow or even in the next year to come, but there is a day when we will see how he used that hard thing to bring a beautiful thing to pass. And what is that beautiful thing? The glory he receives as his will is accomplished in the hearts and lives of those who turn to him.

As the old hymn says, “Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”

Grace and Peace

If you missed the last Wednesday Wisdom, click HERE, or check out these other posts on prayer: Maintaining Power, Praying the Psalms ALL CAPS, and Ceaseless Prayer.

I’ll leave you with a moving Aretha Franklin version of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”