Isaiah 38

Isaiah 38:5b I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.

Isaiah was terribly ill and was told he was dying, so he prayed to God and God promised to add life to Hezekiah’s time. I am a HUGE believer in prayer. Prayers aren’t always answered as they were here for Hezekiah with life. We have to remember what God’s plan is more important than our plan. If prayer doesn’t bring back someone from the brink of death or help them recover from an illness, it doesn’t mean God didn’t listen. It might mean the plans for that person were bigger than we can fathom. But it certainly doesn’t mean we should NEVER pray for someone in need of healing. 

Here lately, when someone has an elderly person in their life that is sick, and they are asking for prayers, I pray, “God, <this person> Is in need of your help today. If it is your will, please take the disease away from them. Help their bodies to heal. But if this is not your will, and they are to come home to you, please make it so they are at peace and without any pain. Because Thy will be done.” 

I have recently added reading the Catholic Mass’s readings daily at https://blessedisshe.net/devotions/ I subscribed and the come to my email each morning, along with a devotion. I pray the Rosary daily, and include a prayer for someone in each decade. https://www.praymorenovenas.com/ also sends Novenas to my email. The emails are done as soon as I wake up, before I look at anything else on my phone.  Then I have an alarm at 3 to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. https://www.thedivinemercy.org/message/devotions/pray-the-chaplet I started including all these prayer times in my life to purposely make myself stop, turn off other distractions, and give my time to God. It has helped me get through knots in my life, and reminds me that looking at social media because I’m bored is wasteful when I could be using that time in prayer. Especially when I used to get so down at bedtime realizing I hadn’t had time at all to pray that day. WRONG. I had plenty of time. I just chose to use it incorrectly.

Lord, thank you for reminding me that prayer is important. Thank you for the answered and unanswered (in the way I want) prayers. Your will is much better than I could ever fathom, Lord, and you know what the bigger picture of my life is.