Tuesday, October 19, 2010

What about when God DOES answer prayer?!

Hallelujah, Salvation and Glory, Honor and Power unto the Lord, OUR God.

It seems to me that modern theology has taken over prayer. Rather than working from the concept that 'God answers prayer', we now come from the standpoint of 'what do we do when God doesn't answer prayer?'. I recently fell in love with a song by JJ Heller, in which the first words are 'I have unanswered prayers' ... and while I first resonated with the intention, I'm not sure I agree with the conclusion. Do I have unanswered prayers, or are they simply answered in a way I disagree with? Do I see the answers if they aren't where I'm looking for them? God is not as formulaic as we'd all like to believe, and is probably more creative than we give Him credit for. I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for answers with those two pieces in mind. Of course, this probably breaks down around terrible tragedies, when we pray for healing and it doesn't happen. Duly granted. But most of the time my prayers aren't focused on the tragic predicament of an impending death (though perhaps they should be? Hmmm ...).

All this is to say I have had prayers answered. I've heard about miracles from friends' prayers. I believe I've had miracles occur in direct relation to my prayers. I have come to understand that God is a faithful God, but I suppose some may say that is me choosing to appropriate good fortune with divine intervention. Maybe it's something like choosing to believe God is a faithful God, rather than testing my prayers on Him first. I'd rather just call it divine intervention, but whatever.

In any case, I sit here reflecting on answered prayer, primarily because I feel blessed. Overwhelmingly blessed. By my family, by my friends, by my opportunities, by my gifts, by everything in this moment. This does not mean my life is devoid of death, pain, loss, etc. But it means I do, today, choose to remember how good I have it, I choose to recall how God has been faithful, I choose to recognize that this cannot all be due to chance. And, that someone deserves quite a bit of gratitude. In my opinion, there is no way I brought this on myself. So, once again,

Hallelujah, Salvation and Glory, Honor and Power unto the Lord Out God.

Saturday, October 09, 2010

I feel like a Mary in a world of Marthas. My studying happens, but I do not pride myself in diligence ... and no one said grad school was going to be easy, but no one said it wouldn't be fun either. So I am making the most of my time. Which also meant a trip to DC to see some WONDERFUL people - we had a dinner that was comprised of about 8 Seattlites (born or colleged there), what are the odds. We also spent time at the Air and Space museum, and saw the Declaration of Independence. I was so thrown by the wonder involved in pondering the universe (what in the what is dark matter...) and pondering the beginnings of our country. History and science, thinking about things too large to comprehend, and considering the movements of humanity in time. Sociology is so important, and yet rotation and revolution help maintain our lives ... I saw a picture of Mercury passing in front of the sun. WOW. Rings of Saturn, holy moly.