While we enjoy our turkey, dressing and pie, most will truly be giving thanks for what they have. We are witnessing more of a thankful spirit these days, in my opinion, than we have for many decades.
Personally, my thought is that the media is able to actually broadcast into our homes and offices the devastation and want that surrounds us around the world, and that makes us wonder how we came to live in such a country and place that has so very much. I believe the greatest thing we could do right now for our city and the world around us is to pray for others. We often underestimate it and have a "whatever will be will be" mentality. Not so, my friend. The world, and even our world, can be changed, and it can be changed on our knees.
As I taught my class on depression recovery this week, we began talking about the therapy of prayer. A medical doctor once told me that her advice to her patients who are depressed is to exercise and to pray. Those are two ways to build the serotonin (feel-good chemicals in the brain).
Everyone in class had such encouraging stories, and I began remembering things I had not thought about in a couple of decades. I reminisced about a time in the 1970s when I was sharing a room with my two sisters ... Brady Bunch style. The memories flooded my soul as I shared how I would go into the bathroom, get down on my knees and pray for my dad and others. I remember saying, "Now, God, I know I feel this is hopeless, but I'm goin' pray anyway." I did this many times a day. It was my pray closet.
In October 1980, something happened that changed my life and many lives forever. A revival took place, but it was more than a revival. It was an awakening for a city. It was an answer to many people's prayers. It was a joint effort of all the churches in the city: a crusade. That week, my dad's life was changed, as was my best friend's and my husband's. My late husband surrendered to preach, and there and so much more. I've never been the same since that meeting, and it was all because there was a city on its knees before the revival.
I believe our city and our own little worlds can be changed by prayer. It is helpful to remember that God is working even when you cannot see him working. I remember dad preaching (yes, he did that too!) later and saying that he would be in the coal mines working, and in his heart, God would say, "Your little girl's at home on her knees praying for you." Now, I did not tell a soul, but God was working, and I, in my wildest imagination, would never have guessed what he was up to! I am no different from you, my friend. I pray and I doubt. I worry, then scold myself. I fret, go through hard times, and then remind myself, "Oh yeah, I need to pray."
Toby Mac wrote a song titled "A City on Our Knees." It states that we need to be on our knees to change our world. Here are a few lines from the song:
If you gotta start somewhere why not here
If you gotta start sometime why not now
If we gotta start somewhere I say here
If we gotta start sometime I say now
Through the fog there is hope in the distance
From cathedrals to third world missions
Love will fall to the earth like a crashing wave
Tonight's the night
For the sinners and the saints
Two worlds collide in a beautiful display
It's all love tonight
When we step across the line
We can sail across the sea
To a city with one king
A city on our knees
Mark 11: 22 - Have faith in God.
(Kimberly Short-Wolfe, MA, is a homeschool mom and a counselor and chaplain for Cornerstone Christian Counseling Center in Elkins. E-mail: cornerstonechristiancounseling@yahoo.com or call 304-637-7018.)
