You've Got to Pray Just to Make it Today (hey, hey)

Funny title (props to M.C. Hammer), not so funny post.

I have been dealing with some internal conflict lately. This is due to learning of many people who are in need of my prayers....your prayers....any prayers.

Some of these people are friends, including a young mother who gave birth to twins but then lost a great deal of blood. Her need was great, and I saw many people band together to be prayer warriors on her behalf. Yet others in need are those I've never met but have been drawn to their stories and the incredible grief, but also incredible faith, of those around them. I think about Jessie Boone, who has been in the hospital with no known cognition or speech since her ski accident in March. I ache for little Kate McRae, a 5-year-old girl in Phoenix who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor after her mom noticed a seemingly innocent shake in her hand about 4 weeks ago. She is undergoing a very strong regimen of chemo that her young mind doesn't understand and her young body will try to oppose at every turn.

The conflict comes with my feelings of overwhelming despair over their plights. I think of them constantly. I pray for them, but then feel guilty about those prayers that inevitably include a version of "please, please don't let that happen to me, my family."

While I never doubt the power of prayer and have tried to be more deliberate about responding to needs by lifting people up, today I was also blessed to read something that put my mind at ease on another front. Kate McRae's father included the following on his blog about the power of 2 Corinthians 1: 3-11:

-God comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

-God’s people praying together with one voice is a mysterious and mighty experience

-When responsibility to pray is divided (shared) among His people the praise is MULTIPLIED through the many

God is telling us that by praying diligently for others, and encouraging others to pray as well, we are asking God to not only bless the subject of our prayers but all those interceding on his/her behalf. What an amazing concept! In this black and white world in which we live, there is no either/or with God. His blessings are abundant and we should be comforted by the power of prayer beyond what we can merely comprehend.