Post-it Prayers

I've been meaning to write a little about prayer.

Last summer a good friend came to me for advice. She had been talking with a young girl about prayer. The young girl had lost someone very near, she said, "I prayed, a lot of people prayed, but God didn't do what we asked." My friend knew not what to say, and she came to me.

She came to me because she knew that once I had prayed for my little girl to live.

And God didn't give me what I asked.

So my friend, she came to me.

I want so badly to sit down to unwrap the reasons for prayer. But I know it will take much time, and I know that my sleep deprived mind cannot begin to unwrap the depth of the Lord's purpose for prayer in it's entirety. Prayer is complex and it's something spoken about often in the Bible and so I would be careless to quickly sum up why I think prayer is.

But today I'll share just a bit. Something that makes my heart smile.

Just enough to fit on a Post-It.

Or maybe a little more.


See I have another dear friend. Let's just call her 'Lyndsey.' She loves the Lord. She loves me and my husband well. From miles away when we lost Hannah she sent us verses and prayers and encouragement. She called up the local pizza place and had them deliver pizza to our front door one night. If carbs and scripture don't encourage, then I don't know what does.

Every day for the longest time after Hannah was born I'd wake up to a little text filled with scripture and prayers from my dear friend. And then, Lincoln came along.

We shared the news about Lincoln's VLCAD testing. I shared our very specific prayers requests and the very next day she sent me this.

 

 

A picture of a little Post-It.

 

It's a Post-It stuck to her computer screen that reminded her to pray for us. She committed to pray for us, and then

 

She told me she was praying.

 

While I don't have the time or the mind to tell you all the reasons for prayer. I can tell you that people pray for one another. I can tell you that in the Bible people prayed for one another. And not only that, they often told people that they were praying. Paul so often wrote of his prayers in his letters. I know this.

 

And so my dear friend told me she was praying, and not only did it encourage me in our struggles but it also inspired me to take on another's burden, too.

 

The day we got our final test results for Lincoln, that Post-It prayer friend we'll call "Lyndsey" told me she was going to throw away that Post-It. But then I begged her to send me this.

 

 

 



It's just a little Post-It. But before I let her toss it in the trash I told her to check off those boxes and send me a picture. And I think I just may frame that picture on our wall in our home so that I can remember the Lord's answer to our earnest prayers.

Because this time my baby is healthy.

Both times the Lord heard my cry.

But this time I got to keep my little baby. This time the Lord's plans for our lives were different.

And while I'd love to write more about how the Lord hears our prayers and how he responds, I'd love to write more about how prayers works along with God's will for our lives, I'd love to write about how maybe prayer is more than a fast food window that sometimes gets our order "wrong." But I think I'll need a little more time for that.

Right now I'm just blown away by the fact that I can pour out my heart to the God of the universe. That I can speak to the one who wove me and Hannah and Lincoln together. That my God sees me and loves me enough to hear my cry.

And I'm grateful for each box that was checked off on that little Post-It. And for the girl who checked them off for me. For the dear friend who, along with many of you, went to the Lord on my behalf every day.

Because I'll bet she was blessed because of it.

Somehow the Lord draws us together through prayer and suffering. That we can carry one another's burdens and then too have the great honor to rejoice alongside them.

Post-It Prayers...

Maybe it'll become a 'thing.'