Sunday, September 30, 2012

Kick-Off to Effective Prayer Study


Hello to each of you joining in this study on effective prayer.  I'd like to share a little metaphor to kick things off.

Three of my children have been taking swimming lessons during September, and I join with my youngest son and his coach at the time of the lesson so I can help him practice what he learns at the lesson during the week. FYI, I can stay afloat and not drown, but I'm not really a very good swimmer.


Last week I decided to buy some swim goggles so I could learn to swim along with my youngest son.  To my surprise, when it came time to put my face in the water, I was scared!  Isn't that something :-)  I realized that I have never opened my eyes under water (because I wear contacts). Even with the goggles, as I went underwater or put my face in the water, I would close my eyes out of habit.  Then when I tried to open my eyes while underwater with the goggles on, I wanted to breathe in.  That's when I got scared and popped right back out.  My 12-year-old son encouraged me and showed me how to breathe underwater so I wouldn't be scared (but I still was).

As I was laughing through this new experience and pondering about it on the drive home from the pool, I thought about a metaphor related to this study. My prayer life has kept me afloat; I don't drown; but I am a little scared about going deeper in prayer.  It seems I have practiced "deep" prayer with my eyes closed, metaphorically speaking, not really seeing much happen.  But now with my eyes wide open in this new environment, I need to learn to breathe correctly as I go deeper with the Lord in understanding and applying what I anticipate He will teach me through this study.

I am looking forward to learning more about TruthHimself as we study effective prayer. I hope you are too.

Lord, teach us to pray.
Linda


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