Yesterday evening I had a wonderful time with my dear friends Dawn and Angela wrapping up our study this year of Sally Clarkson's book Seasons of a Mother's Heart. And, as you might expect, our discussion hit all kinds of tangents. As we talked about endurance, perseverance and encouraging one another, we got to talking about prayer. Dawn used a phrase that has gotten under my skin in the past: "the power of prayer." That phrase bugs me because I have heard it so often in the context of using prayer to get what we want. But Dawn spoke of submitting ourselves to the Lord as we pray and of prayer as a way for us to allow the Holy Spirit to intercede for God's will when we don't know how best to pray.

That phrase that has always bugged me took on new meaning last night as I realized that the real power of prayer is not that we use it to somehow manipulate God into doing what we want - but that God uses our prayers to change us as our eyes are opened to doing what He wants. It is through prayer that God has moved my heart towards adoption and compassion for the poor and now serving in Haiti. I didn't set out to ask for these things. I started by praying to have children, and God showed me the timing to adopt. I started by praying for friends serving in other parts of the world, and God opened my eyes to the needs of the poor and oppressed. I started by praying for God to show me something to do with that newfound compassion, and He moved my heart one day when I heard a simple statement about Haiti.

Yes, the real power of prayer is not that it changes our circumstances but that it changes us. I dare you to try it!