But God

How long, Lord? - How long is this to continue? Can it be that this is to continue always? Is there to be no change for the better? Are the promises which have been made, never to be fulfilled? It is so easy to become overwhelmed. So much is happening in the world. God warned us there would be wars and rumors of wars. He warned us that families would war against one another. He warned us that satan would be the world's master. He warned us there would be false prophets. He warned us that we needed to live in the world but not be part of it. Disease, earthquakes, tsunamis, starvation, murder, incest, rape, joblessness, power struggles... these have touched all of us. When I say ALL, I mean the world's population. At 2:36 p.m. on this date, March 31, there are 6,909,272,041 in the world. Not one of these people have lived a life without being touched by disaster of some sort. Even the birthing experience is traumatic for both mother and child.

I'm constantly asking God how to pray. I need to pray for the people in my life who are having battles. How do I pray. Bless them Lord? I know He will. But I YEARN for, NEED, COVET, STARVE for, DESIRE the mind of Christ. I want His words to be the ones coming out of my mouth. I want His mind to know how to pray.

It becomes overwhelming on Wednesday evening when my prayer group gets together. We have a small prayer group... and our Sunday School class has about 35 in it. We are small compared to the over 6 billion people in the world. Nevertheless, we spend an hour just laying out the hurts in our own little worlds.

In my little world ... family and friends ... to name a few there is:

• a wayward child


• an unmarried couple living together


• a family member with cancer


• an angry child


• one whose parent is dying


• one whose child just died from unknown reasons


• one whose car broke down and there's nowhere to turn


• one who cannot afford to pay the bills


• one who lost a job


• someone who will lose a foot because of infection


• one whose family has abandoned them

I could go on and on.

But God...

Where would I be without those 2 words. He is the Almighty Warrior, the Cornerstone, The Great Physician... and none of these happenings have taken Him by surprise.

What do I say in my head when given bad news?

Praise God anyway.

Why?

But because of His great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions --it is by grace you have been saved. Eph 2:5-6