Continuing a little Instagram convo here …
There are miracles happening every day. Watch for them, expect them. If our prayers aren’t impossible, do we really have faith? Living like this is balm for weary hearts. He. Is. Good. Daily I say it out loud, I pray it deep in my soul, because in the midst of my doubt, I claim that truth.
My Max has been wrestling with the concept of good and evil and recently said, “But Jesus always wins, right Mom?” I was so happy to affirm him that yes, Jesus always wins. His story, our story, is the only one where we know for sure who comes out victorious. Jesus is the ultimate good guy, and that superhero analogy really made sense to Max 🌟 It’s so hard to teach these truths to our kids. It’s so abstract and honestly, when we’re fighting our own battles it’s hard to be the bearer of hope. But that hope is mighty and Jesus is calling us to live authentically alongside our children. I’m teaching while I learn, we all are.
I recently listened to “Looking For Lovely” and “Let’s All Be Brave” by Annie F. Downs – love me some library audiobooks. In one of those, I think it was “Let’s All Be Brave, she talked about praying out loud. It was a fleeting mention, but it clicked with me.
So often our prayers are whispered. They’re thought. They’re felt. And that’s good. I pray like that too. But saying my prayers out loud, makes them real, really real, extra real. When I say my prayers out loud, I have to own them. They become a conversation between the Lord and I. All the ugly of how I feel, all the strife battling in heart. And questions, oh the questions. There is praise in my prayers too. And thankfulness. Contemplation over Scripture and stirrings most definitely laid on my heart by Jesus. But more often then not, my prayers are me processing. My walking through life and saying, “Why?”
That’s probably why I’ve found praying out loud to be so powerful. I process life out loud, verbally with family and friends first and usually, eventually, here in typed words. Giving a voice to what mulls around in my mind and heart gives it some grip.
My out loud prayers tend to be awkward. There are no fancy words. There are long pauses. Sometimes I just say the same thing over and over again. I’ll ramble for awhile and then I’ll be quiet. I’ll wait. I’ll listen. And then I’ll remind the Lord that I’m all ears, just praying and patiently waiting for him or an angel or some totally Jesus sign to appear and give me insight that is beyond obvious.
Kidding.
But kind of not.
It’s in this banter, where I’m honest and vulnerable and all “Show me, guide me, teach me” that I meet with Jesus.
This is where he says keep talking, keep processing, keep asking me questions. Keep praying out loud. I hear you.