Prayer 911

Sometimes, I can't pray for myself.  I'm too invested. I'm in the middle of the mess.  I know I need to pray but I just can't do it.

Most often these situations involve a fair amount of stress, a heaping dose of things going differently than I planned and other people not cooperating.  Stress that I've brought on myself.  Things don't go my way because I haven't planned enough. Or I've planned too much and not left any room for change.  And of course, these people aren't aware they aren't cooperating.  I've built up a situation in my mind and everyone should just be falling in line with my vision.  That always works out, right?

At any rate, I'm in the deep end.  Struggling, gasping for air.  I see the life preserver, I just can't grasp it.  It's too far away.  The more I reach, the more I'm pulled under.   The more I fight, the stronger the pull down becomes.

In these situations, I'm thankful for my prayer 911 people. These are the people I can text and say...

I need to be doing XYZ but I just can't.  Can you pray for me?

And they text back...

On it.
Praying now.
Prayers! 

And I sit still a minute.  I stop kicking. I stop drowning.  I catch the life preserver.  

In these moments, I am reminded that God never intended for us to doing everything on our own.  He made us to live in community with each other, to rely on each other.  But there are times when this is so so hard.  Living in community requires vulnerability.  You have to be able to say "I don't have everything together. I need you to help me." to both God and others.

But when you do it, when you take that leap, the peace that comes is overwhelming.  When I catch the life preserver, I can physically feel the anxiety pour out.  My shoulders relax.  My neck loosens. I'm pulled from the rough waters.   God's love washes over me.  And I am able to move forward.

And I am thankful!