August 3, 2025 – Prayer
Power (Aug 2) – “What if your mind were a movie screen and everyone could see what you were thinking?” Uhh no thank you (except for the blog haha). “Our thought lives can change….Work with Him to cultivate a thought life you wouldn’t be ashamed for anyone to see!” I didn’t start off writing in my journal what I was thinking this morning because it was about church but then I read this devotion and decided I would at least write it in my journal. But then…I decided I’d just see where it goes today in the readings.
No church is great in every aspect so you just settle in with one that seems to fit mostly well (sort of like all relationships – none are perfect). Don and I have sort of gotten away from actually going to our church and instead have been doing living room church (or kitchen counter church or porch church or painting-at-the-rental-house church.) This easier (sometimes, dare I say, lazier) way is acceptable, for the most part, when you can’t get to church (like while sick or on vacation). It began for us when our three youngest (my two sons and his one) were teens. Yes, we could have tried harder and they did go to youth activities at times, but…..Anyway….
I hate to say this, especially in a blog for others to see, but maybe it’s time (I don’t think I’m alone in this viewpoint). The music, which I generally like well enough at most churches we’ve been to, is what seems to keep us away. The songs nowadays seem to have so many repetitive verses. I get it that repetition (especially in songs – think ABCs) helps a message have more staying power, but overuse can have the opposite effect as people, meaning me, just want the song to be over. Today one of the songs even seemed to have been slowed down from its normal pace and they lost both Don and me as he went off to start sanding the sheetrock mud and I went to read my devotions.
We had both intended to tune back in to listen to the sermon after the third song, which is another issue for me. Why three long songs in a row? It’s too much at once (for me), like having breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the same time. I can’t enjoy the message of one song before the next is crowding in on me and sometimes I’m too full to take it all in and it just turns into something I’m getting through rather than being moved by. Oh well. I guess it works for them. We will keep watching the messages there, but we’ve been thinking (for a while now) of starting the search for a new church because we miss the in-person corporate worship. In a big church it’s almost like going to a concert where you don’t know anyone. It is fun being around the energy of the other people, but it’s really just about your own experience and then you leave without engaging with anyone else because you don’t know anyone else there. We may be doing it wrong, but it’s where we are. I’m asking for Your guidance on this Lord. Help us find our way here or to settle in a new church.
Well, wow. As I was finishing that last sentence, Don came back in the house with the sermon going saying he wanted to listen to the sermon with me – I guess that’s a form of corporate worship. And it was a great sermon on prayer – the Lord’s Prayer – and we sat out on the deck talking about it (and about music and about church) for a long time afterward. Though we’ve talked about trying other churches for quite a while, we haven’t made the move (for many reasons); so, we decided to not jump ship just now because it doesn’t really matter what size church you’re in if you don’t get involved beyond pew-sitting.
Not that we are just pew-sitting, but still we guess there is more we could do to make this church feel like more than just a great lesson on Sundays. I remember when I joined a Sunday school class years ago for the first time as an adult after college. It seemed like I was just chair-sitting each Sunday, and I wondered if I would ever get beyond the hello/goodbye pleasantries. It wasn’t until our class volunteered to paint the nursey rooms that I realized how vital it is to get involved. Going to the church service gave me some perspectives and guidance and going to Sunday school gave me some familiar faces (and learning) but getting involved in projects and going to social gatherings beyond Sundays gave me connections. Ok God. I get it. We get it. Maybe we’ve been shortchanging our church experience. We are following Your lead, looking for open doors.
JC – “Watch your words. Words have such great power to bless or wound. When you speak carelessly or negatively, you damage others as well as yourself.” This came up when were talking after the sermon was over. This morning as we were getting ready, Don asked me how I get more and more attractive the older I get. I knew the answer immediately. It’s because he speaks life-giving compliments over me, every day. He notices me and the things I do and that makes me want to fulfill what he says about me. But, more importantly for him, his words shape what he thinks – about me and about everything. So, if we want better relationships or to feel better about situations in our lives, we need to be mindful about what we say.
This reminds me of something I read last night on the editor’s page of the Feb ’25 issue of First magazine. It picks up on the message from Friday in Power Thoughts about being an encourager. The editor, Liz Vaccariello, wrote, “When you think something nice, say something nice. I tried to adopt this habit a few years ago after realizing that I often thought complimentary things about people but usually let the moment pass.” Me too – about thinking but not saying and now trying to say what I think (the nice things).
Something else Don and I were talking about this morning was change and doing something new and it made me think of a line I wrote down from the book I’m listening to, Marry Me in Italy by Nicky Pelligrino. The Karina character was telling the Anna character how, after years of being a food writer, she’d been trying to write a novel (I’ve been trying that for years). Anna said, “It’s brave of you to try something different.” We need to be brave more often and try new things (perhaps like finding a new church or maybe finding new life in your old one?) Speaking of which, Tues I’m being brave and allowing the daughter of a friend into my closet because she has started a new business helping people organize their wardrobes (and their closets if necessary). Before she can put any outfits together for me though, she’ll have to help me declutter my closet. I’ve done it many times, but it always ends up back in a mess – mainly because I can justify keeping most everything! I don’t see how she can help me but that’s the point of trying something new! (Like blogging!)
On the subject of writing, Karina said something else that made me feel better about eventually getting back to writing my novel(s). She said she sits there and deletes more than she writes. What? I’ve heard of writer’s block, but I thought good writers just wrote on past that. I know this is fiction, but a real person is writing this and is probably incorporating her own experience or that of others she knows. It really helped to hear that, even from a character. Karina then said something that really struck a chord with me, “You know how it is when your mind is busy? It’s impossible to concentrate on putting words together.” My physical clutter and our reno projects and house repairs have my mind very busy! I digress…..
This JC devotion is so good in describing how to “pray before” about everything. “Pray First” is one of the mantras of our church. I guess today’s theme is prayer.
Streams – Cowman quotes Phillips Brooks and writes, “Never pray for an easier life – pray to be a stronger person!” While looking at the notes I wrote about Karina and Anna, I saw notes I made about sayings from a PBS documentary about things Eleanor Roosevelt said about obstacles making you stronger. I googled and found the exact words: “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the things you think you cannot do.”
Utmost – “The great thing to remember is that we go up to Jerusalem [like Jesus did] to fulfill God’s purpose, not our own.” That is my desire in writing.
Prevail 215 is entitled, “God Delights in You with Gladness.” I receive those words from you Lord, like I receive all that Don speaks over me! Larson continues, “…He’s wholeheartedly committed to helping you sort through your story in a way that heals you and restores your perspective.” Story…yes Lord…my story…I want to share what, when, and where You lead. “Every delay, every denial, every pause in your story has a purpose in it….You know what will heal your heart? The thought of His smile when you come into His presence.” Like Don makes me feel when he sees me. When I get up from a table in a restaurant, he’s always watching for me to come back. That makes me feel so noticed and special. Larson finishes the devotion with, “He’s not in a hurry. He has time for you. His heart for you will forever change you.”
Max – Jeremiah 29:12 – “You will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen.” The theme continues – prayer and Him wanting to be with us and delighting in His time with us. Max’s prayer in this devotion is a great one to start our days with.
JA – “Wait in My Presence. There are so many benefits – spiritual, emotional, and physical – to spending time with Me….I will refresh your soul and strengthen you for the journey that lies ahead….Discipline yourself to fix your thoughts on Me again and again – and again!”
