Prayer Matters
It was the spring of 2020, and my entire world was changed. Perhaps you can relate to that statement? As college students, we had just been sent home from campus to finish off our semester entirely online. It was a stark contrast from being on spring break orchestra tour with over 40 individuals... and then all of a sudden, to see none of those friends for months. My prayer life was admittedly struggling, though I was still attempting to pursue God in the midst of the crazy. My "rhythm" no longer existed, and I was working hard to remain thankful. Yet, it was during this time that God gave me the most amazing reminder that prayer MATTERS.
Every year, the University of Northwestern does a week called the "week of prayer and service." It consists of a 24/7 prayer chain, service projects, and other outreach opportunities. The outreach projects looked a little different that spring with being online, but I decided I had nothing better to do than sign up for a slot of time to be part of the prayer chain. I signed up for a time slot at 5:00am, later in the week.
I was going to get into a new rhythm. I didn't know what I would pray for during an entire hour, but that didn't matter. I was going to have the house to myself, before anyone else in my family was awake. I was going to start a new practice of getting up early to pray. I told myself that this was going to be so good for me. Oh, did I ever have some great goals!
Needless to say, my aspirations were beyond my abilities - a much too common finding in the life of Megan, I must admit. The night before, I completely forgot that I had signed up to pray the next morning. I stayed up way too late, hanging out with my family, playing games, and just living life.
Then, I remembered.
I got in bed as I had a bit of a panic moment. I needed more than 4 or 5 hours of sleep if I was going to make it through everything I had on my list for the following day, right?!
I made excuses, rationalizing my decision to not set an alarm for 5:00am. I would simply pray for an hour when I woke up, whenever that was. The timing of it wasn't that important "...as long as I still did it," I said to myself.
I didn't set an alarm, and I drifted off.
When I woke up the next morning, I woke up in a way I never had before: It almost felt like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on my face; it wasn't at all a gradual wake-up process. It was like the "on" switch had been suddenly flipped, and there was no going back. I was not groggy. I was not tired.
I was very much awake.
When I looked at my watch, I was even more awake than before. It was 5:00am. Exactly. It wasn't 4:59am. It wasn't 5:01am. It was exactly the time I had told God I would pray, and I have no other explanation than that God woke me up.
It definitely wasn't my alarm clock, because I hadn't set it. It definitely wasn't anyone else in the house, because they were all still asleep. It definitely wasn't that I had gotten "enough" sleep, because it had only been a few hours.
There was an overwhelming feeling of deep inadequacy on my part, along with a new amazement of God's power and grace. God's grace allowed me to be faithful in prayer, even when I had specifically decided against being faithful to the time I had said I would pray. Ouch. Wow.
*insert any other fitting onomatopoeias you can think of*
Needless to say, I got out of bed... and I prayed. The hour flew by.
God's sufficiency (in my inadequacy) woke me up to pray that morning. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says that because God's grace is enough, His power is PERFECTED (manifested) in our weaknesses.
May this story be a reflection of God's grace, a declaration of my need for Him, and a reminder that God's timing is perfect. Through this experience I gained a new understanding of how much God cares about prayer, and that the timing of when we pray DOES matter. Did I attain all of my aspirations? Is my prayer life now perfect? Absolutely not. I'm a work in progress, and some days are better than others. That is the honest truth.
Now, to finish this story off, I'll list a few scripture verses that remind us how important prayer is. Romans 12:12 says, "be faithful (constant) in prayer." Psalm 5:3 says that God hears our voices in the morning. Jeremiah 29:12 says that when we pray, God listens to us. James 5:16 says that prayer is both powerful and effective. 1 John 5:14 says that when we ask God, he hears us. These are only a few examples of a theme throughout scripture: God hears us, listens to us, and asks us to pray.
Do not underestimate the power of prayer.
I'm determined to help nurse the world back to Jesus, one person at a time, and it all starts with prayer.
Join me on your knees. Rest in the truth that prayer is powerful, and that the Creator of all things is the one who calls you into his presence, asking you to pray. He's listening. Prayer matters. Go pray.
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