2021 Daily Devotion - Day 447
There are people in this world who keep a running dialogue with God about what’s going on in their lives. “Prayer is just conversation with God,” they say confidently enough. We pray for our friends, for our church, for our families and even for our country. It’s what Christians do. We pray the Lord’s Prayer. We pray before meals. Then we carry on with our day. But I discovered another kind of prayer: The Foxhole Prayer. This is the “last resort” prayer when all seems lost and there is no place to turn.
It was a foxhole moment when Gary dragged me to the hospital at 1 AM, Sunday, November 5, 2017. I was in so much pain that I lost the will to live. Yes, that happens, even to Theology students.
Later that night in a dark hospital room after surgery, I awoke frightened. I tearfully prayed to my Heavenly Father for help and comfort. I was alone with only God to sustain me. Suddenly, a young nurse came into my room with a small candle, one of those with a battery so it was safe. She smiled at me and placed it on the tray next to my bed. She said, “It looks like you could use some light.” Was she an angel? I never saw her again. I never knew her name, but I thank her for the blessing. Jesus came as the Light in a dark world. In the darkness, I saw God everywhere.
1 John 1:5
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”
Pray with me:
Gracious God, in the busy-ness of my day, I sometimes forget to stop and thank You for all that is good in my life. My blessings are many, and my heart is filled with gratefulness for the gift of living, for the ability to love and be loved, for the opportunity to see the everyday wonders of creation, for sleep and water, for a mind that thinks and a body that feels. I thank You, too, for those things in my life that are less than I would hope them to be – things that seem challenging, unfair, or difficult. When my heart feels stretched and empty, and pools of tears form in my weary eyes, still I rejoice knowing You are as near to me as my next breath. And in the midst of turbulence, I am growing and learning. In the silence of my soul, I thank You most of all for Your unconditional and eternal love. In Your holy name. Amen.
Pam Nelson
Sunday Adult Education Instructor & Choir Member
Mount of Olives Church
Later that night in a dark hospital room after surgery, I awoke frightened. I tearfully prayed to my Heavenly Father for help and comfort. I was alone with only God to sustain me. Suddenly, a young nurse came into my room with a small candle, one of those with a battery so it was safe. She smiled at me and placed it on the tray next to my bed. She said, “It looks like you could use some light.” Was she an angel? I never saw her again. I never knew her name, but I thank her for the blessing. Jesus came as the Light in a dark world. In the darkness, I saw God everywhere.
1 John 1:5
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”
Pray with me:
Gracious God, in the busy-ness of my day, I sometimes forget to stop and thank You for all that is good in my life. My blessings are many, and my heart is filled with gratefulness for the gift of living, for the ability to love and be loved, for the opportunity to see the everyday wonders of creation, for sleep and water, for a mind that thinks and a body that feels. I thank You, too, for those things in my life that are less than I would hope them to be – things that seem challenging, unfair, or difficult. When my heart feels stretched and empty, and pools of tears form in my weary eyes, still I rejoice knowing You are as near to me as my next breath. And in the midst of turbulence, I am growing and learning. In the silence of my soul, I thank You most of all for Your unconditional and eternal love. In Your holy name. Amen.
Pam Nelson
Sunday Adult Education Instructor & Choir Member
Mount of Olives Church
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