Dwelling places: Finding Your Roots (part I)

November photo by m r n

Hello Friends!

Are you doing okay entering this new month of November? What are some moments of gratitude you are discovering? Are there challenges you are in the midst of?

Let us not lose hope for our God, He is listening!

As the season of Thanksgiving is coming upon us, I wanted to share a reflection I recently offered at a retreat here in town called Finding Your Roots in Prayer.   It is with sincere love and incredible thanks to my parents who carry on and live out their prayerful faith in God. 

It is my hope you will also discover those in your life who gently, and maybe even with audacity, loved you with prayer.

dwelling places: finding your roots (part I)

Have you ever watched the PBS program “Finding Your Roots”?

The host (Henry Louis Gates Jr.) invites celebrities to the program to discover portions of their past, their family lineages. Throughout the program, he often points out and speaks of where they came from and how the celebrity is where they are now. He guides them on a journey of mapping out their family heritage. At the end of their segment, he asks, are there any correlations you see in your own life choices? Do you see reflections of your parents or yourself in these people on your family tree?

When asked to bring something to the retreat around prayer, this show came to mind. I began thinking of Prayer in my life through a similar lens. And began asking some reflective questions related to Finding Your Roots such as:

• Is there a lineage or heritage of prayer in my life? 

• Where are the roots? Are there any? 

• How is my prayer life with God today? 

• How has it been in the last month? 

• What has it been like in the past few years? 

Invitation. Before reading on, pause and take a moment to ponder one or more of these questions about your own life.

Thinking about my responses has helped me see how God has always been at work in and through prayer in my life. 

What I mean is this: 

Growing up, my parents, grandparents (on both sides), and great grandparents taught me to pray by modeling it at home.  They would pray daily within their own quietness (sitting in some chair or couch, eyes closed or with a Bible in hand) in a posture of what looked like prayer, and at every meal whether shared or alone. 

I remember my grandfather Cleo (before going off to paint) sitting by himself at his kitchen table with a bowl of cream of wheat quietly bowing his head to pray before taking his first bite. Never rushing, but making sure to offer a blessing for the meal provided.  

There was a time when money was hard to come by due to my father’s struggling business. All we had left to eat was a gift box of meat and cheese. This one evening stands out, we gathered as a family (my parents, two brothers and I) asking God for provisions. Not long after, we had grocery bags full of food brought to our front porch and a few Christmas presents. I remember being amazed by the generosity, and experiencing the wonder and awe for the way God answered our prayers.

Often neighbors would show up at our door asking for prayer in the moment of their trial. My parents invited these neighbors, friends, strangers, and church members to gather in our home for singing and prayer.  Every gathering had a moment of prayer whether at the beginning or the end before leaving.

Prayers of healing for friends, family members, and prayer chains.

I remember a time of great distress when my father was having a heartache. My mother and I stood over my father praying as we waited for the paramedics to come. The paramedics arrived immediately after our prayer as my dad began asking me to get ready to give him CPR. He was rushed off to the hospital, flat-lined later that evening but was revived. He then had triple bypass surgery.  Today, he has far exceeded the expectations of doctors living now to over 30 years without another incident. This trial brought again the opportunity to trust God and increase my faith in prayer.

Two very prominent times in my own life came when people around the world were praying for me. One time was when I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and another hard and heart wrenching time was when I gave birth to our twin sons, and we lost our son Riley just shortly after delivery. The prayers of all these people helped by providing hope, and strength, the courage to remain trusting in God even when I (or my husband and children) didn’t know the outcome.  In healing and loss, I learned to hold on, find God’s blessings, and see the love and care of the community around me. 

At times, my prayers came with flowing words, but in other moments, there were only tears. And sometimes they consisted of both.  

Many prayers of Thanksgiving have also been offered: for the joys of our children being born, family reunions where everyone made it safely, travels when flying and taking road trips, on camping trips the gratefulness for the stars, moon, the rains and all the gifts of God. 

Yes, I have been incredibly blessed with a lineage of praying family members around me.  

I also have to be honest and say the next question hits a very uncomfortable chord: 

How has my prayer life been in the last five years? 

I remember a time five years ago, and even in the present, where I have no more words to pray. Silence enters and surrounds me. This silence often feels incredibly strange especially when you have been raised in the “wordiness” of prayer. It feels like you are alone, or rather lonely and lost. 

When this time came to a head five years ago, I began asking God, What is wrong with me? What is happening in our relationship, God?

Even the groaning of the Spirit mentioned in Scripture related to prayer felt absent. Prayer felt like Nothingness. 

Just blank silence. 

Maybe you can relate to this, through an experience in your past, or even now, or possibly in the future. 

Nothingness. Just blank silence.

But God. Right? 

What I didn’t recognize then but have learned

is that God is in the Silence. 

He was waiting for me to stop talking and to listen.

Listen when being with Him.

Listening or just Being moment.

Psalm 62:1 —“For God alone my soul waits in silence”

Psalm 46:10  —“Be still and know that I am God”

I invite you to sit with one of these verses. Listening and or just being with God even if you don’t hear anything particular except the sounds in your midst. Notice your breath, your body. How are you experiencing the silence?

Take some time to reflect and journal if you wish your own noticing: 

What words of God are arising? 

What words of God would you like to hear from Him? 

I long to hear from God ___________________.

Ask God to guide your heart, mind, and body as you rest with and in Him.