For a Lifetime

This morning on my way to work, I cried... Not because I was sad, but because I was listening to a story on the radio that really touched a place in my life that I have really struggled with.

Have you ever known a person that just doesn't get it? There are several people that come to mind when I think about this. Family and friends... How do you get people to understand how great our God is? How do you share Gods love to a closed door?

This morning on the radio I heard a testimony about this. A man and his wife had been married for several years, and had attended church regularly with their children. Until one Sunday the husband decided he was done. He had witnessed to much hypocrisy and guilt and judgement within the church, and he had had enough. He had closed the door.

For the next 40 years this wife fasted and prayed for her husband, going to the Lord when she didn't know what to do next. The man that was supposed to lead her, had all but given up. At the age of 69, the husband had a series of strokes and new it wouldn't be much longer until he passed.

One morning, his youngest daughter was taking care of him; feeding him, giving him his medication, when she realized he was crying. Never, in all of her life had she seen her father cry. She asked him what was wrong, and he explained to his youngest that he knew he was dying, and that he had accepted that, but that all he felt was darkness and emptiness. He asked his daughter to to get her mother.

His wife rushed to his bedside, asking what he needed her to do? He simply said, "I need you to pray for me." She had spent 40 years waiting for him to ask her to pray for him. He died two weeks later knowing that his heavenly Father was waiting for him.

So what do we do when we come across a person in our lives that walks away, or never really knew Him in the first place?

We pray and have patience.

Our God is so BIG, and He works in His time!

When you come to a valley and you don't know what to pray, use scripture as your guide:

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought is into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

~Colossians 1: 9-14~

When we seek God with all of our hearts, He will listen, and He will make Himself known.

"Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the Lord, 'and will bring you back from captivity.'"

~Jeremiah 29: 12-13~

Like I mentioned, their are several people I pray for on a regular basis. I have at times begged God, "Please! Change their hearts. Help them to seek you and know you. Help them to understand!" I have lost patience and been all but graceful to them, begging them to try harder! But, no matter how much I beg and plead with God or that individual, I see no change.

But, God is working! He is always at work in someones life. Even mine. When I lose patience with someone, He calls me back and works on me. Do not ever give up on a person. Spend your whole life praying and being an example to that person. We are all A Work in Progress.

It may take minutes for some, but a lifetime for others. Be patient and pray. Knowing that your prayers aren't ignored. God is hearing them, and He is building beautiful testimonies.

Patiently Yours,

Symone Lin