Life Without Prayer

I used to tell my kids, "I'm praying for you."
They also saw and heard me praying for them.
When they were little this short sentence, "I'm praying for you,"  gave them great comfort.
Later, when they became teens, "I'm praying for you," took on a whole new meaning.
One with an awesome kind of fear.
My oldest son, especially,  felt like this statement warned him to make good, God-fearing choices.
He'd seen the results of prayer in our family, and he knew that our God is real, powerful, and active.

Even though my parents were good people, they weren't people of faith.
I never heard, "I'm praying for you."
I often wonder if my childhood and teen years might have been different if my parents had prayed for me.
Maybe I would have felt more confident.
Maybe I wouldn't have felt so alone.

Remember the lyrics to the Beetles, Eleanor Rigby?
"All the lonely people, where do they all come from?"
That song used to make me so sad when I was a teenager.
I was one of those "lonely people."

Thank God I always had hope that my life would be better some day.
I knew just enough about God to know that, somehow, He was watching over me and that He wanted me.
I don't know how I knew that.
Maybe, in one of my brief visits to church or Vacation Bible School, some wise and Godly teacher decided to pray for me.
Maybe I was one of those names on a prayer list.
And some persevering prayer warrior kept lifting me up to my loving, compassionate Heavenly Father.
Until one day I responded to His gentle call and asked to become His.

I'm not saying that when you pray for people everything works out just like you prayed.
Sometimes, in spite of our prayers for our children, they still make wrong choices or run into difficult situations. Or a loved one gets sick and God doesn't heal him or her.
I know that.

But what would your life be like. . . your children's, your husband's, our schools, our governments, our churches. . . if no one prayed for you or for them?
Can you imagine life without communication to our Creator/Savior God?

It's the most desolate thing I can imagine.

Thank God there are people who pray for us.
Thank God that our Savior God listens and really cares for us.

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light." (Col. 1:9-12 NIV Bible)