In my walk with God, I tend to approach God from the side. I don’t ask for help; my prayers of petition aren’t even verbal. Instead, I sit quietly with my need until I can picture myself handing it over.
I might want enough money to pay my bills, but I don’t use my English words to ask for this. There is no please or thank you. Instead, I sit with the pain and anxiety, and I imagine Jesus sitting with me.
I believe Jesus lives within me all the time. It’s no secret to God that I have a problem because God knows what I feel. I know that no problem is bigger than God, so I’m comforted in my deepest anxiety by the presence of a sustaining power.
In short, not every prayer starts with “Dear God,” and prayers need not end in “Amen.” These days, few of my prayers do. I’m recognizing the value of just being with the Lord, in companionable silence or in readiness to hear.
This message is excerpted from “Not every prayer ends with ‘Amen,’” by Karen Craigo in the June 2018 Gather magazine.
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