The best laid plans.  Following my last post on The Dig, I was ready to tell you more about it, and some of the great discussions we had together.  First, I travelled for three weeks, then I came home and Flyboy and I created two weeks of Covid memories caring for one another as we coughed, ached, and so forth.  Flyboy won the prize for having the most symptoms.  Yes, we were vaccinated (twice) but no, we’d not had the booster. Hindsight is 20/20. Maybe should have done that.

Now, on the other side of it all, December is practically gone, and we are just two weeks out from our first mini-snowbird experience.  We are taking “Baby,” our sweet little couples’ trailer to south Texas for a month of ocean breezes and mission archaeology.

But in the meantime, I did promise some more on The Dig – The Search for Authentic Faith. 

A big part of what we talked about each week was prayer. We learned that Jesus longs for us to have the same relationship with him that he has with the Father (John 17:21).  Jesus gave us many examples of time spent with the Father in prayer, and we can learn much from him. In our attempt to live out I Thessalonians 5:17 (“pray without ceasing”), we realize right away that prayer must be more than talking to God all day long.  One person doing all the talking stifles any hope for meaningful relationship.  What to do? How does one pray without ceasing?

During The Dig, we learned about six prayer practices (prayer practice=mastering the art of prayer through practice). I am continuing to learn new practices and am experiencing prayer in a more meaningful and sustainable way throughout the day. Prayer is more than asking for things. It is learning how to see God in all things – through music, nature, breathing in the Spirit and out with whatever distracts us, seeing God through the eyes of our imagination, looking back at the end of the day for God-sightings, seeing his hand on our lives as we journal, to name a few.

Here’s another prayer practice that I’m really enjoying.  Do you struggle with how to pray for people in your life? Imagine that God is holding that loved one in his arms.  Focus on leaving them there, safe and secure. Trust God to work in their life, releasing any need for control, and setting aside the need to pray “answers” – God has all the answers.  Truly, words are not even needed, just rest in the love of Jesus as you imagine your loved one finding everything they need in him.

Love,
Gigi

“…and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness in God.”  –Ephesians 3:19 (NIV, emphasis mine)