plans and the purpose that prevails

Prayer turned to Praise

My husband took our 2 older children to a prayer class at church last night.  I was thrilled to listen to them tell of what they learned when they returned home.  As I reflected on the subject of prayer in relation to our family, I realized that in the past several years I have moved from praying for my husband to praising God for him.  I discovered that all too often my prayers for him turned into a long list of what I wanted God to change in his life.  I would say "amen" and be discouraged thinking of what a hard job God had ahead of Him.  After a while I stopped praying for him at all because I would feel worse after praying than when I started.  At some point in the last 7 years I began to rehearse in my mind or on paper, all the ways I loved my husband.  I listed why I fell in love with him and all the ways he was a good dad and husband.  In doing so I discovered that God was changing me, changing my perspective, making me into the wife my husband needed. 

Our pastor preached a sermon last Sunday ( www.faithbridge.org ) about prayer and how when we tell God our problems, the problems tend to get bigger and bigger and God gets smaller and smaller; but if we magnify God as we pray, we see Him correctly and our problems aren't so overwhelming. 

It is easy to be overwhelmed by all the trouble in our nation and the world in these times, but remembering God is sovereign and rehearsing His character puts everything in perspective.  I am reminded He has a plan and He is with me.  I am part of His story.  That is true comfort.