KINGDOM TAPESTRY CONTINUED

FACEBOOK can be quite addicting. As you become part of a community of friends and family, you can keep up with what is going on in everyone's life at a glance. But it seems that new faces are always cropping up. Someone you had not seen or heard from in years suddenly appears as a "mutual friend". That happened to my daughter a few weeks ago.

As a neonatal intensive care nurse, she often keeps up with babies that have been through their unit. So was the case a few weeks back, as the mom of one of her previous "preemies" added photos to her FACEBOOK page. As she was looking at this mom's page, she noticed someone that might be a "mutual friend". She recognized the first name, but not the last. She contacted this person to see how she knew the mom. To her surprise it was a girl she had gone to high school with. She was a few years younger than my daughter. It seems that this girl now lives in the same neighborhood with the mom of the preemie. As they began to talk, it suddenly dawned on this young woman that my daughter had been the nurse mentioned in all of the mom's prayer requests. Each day as her daughter was fighting for her life in the NICU, this mom would send out specific prayer requests and she would always include the names of the doctors and nurses who were caring for her on that given day. My daughter's name was one of the 3 nurses who continually cared for this little angel!

My daughter loves her job. It's all she ever wanted to do and God has definitely equipped her for it. Not everyone can be a nurse with tiny, premature babies with numerous problems. I couldn't. I'd bawl every single day. But not my daughter. God has gifted her for this job without a doubt. I pray for her daily and I pray for her as she works to be a blessing to the babies, to their parents and to those she works with. Others in her family pray for her as well.

But little did she know that a girl she had not seen in years and did not even know that well was praying for her as she cared for this little baby. Their paths had not crossed in all these years (and probably wouldn't have again except for FACEBOOK). Yet God gave her a glimpse of His Kingdom plan at work, threads of His tapestry being woven in her life. He showed her that He has lots of people praying for her that she doesn't even know about on any given day. Prayers being lifted to the throne for her, blessing her, equipping her, strengthening her. He is orchestrating protection and blessing for her sight unseen and in realms unknown to her. Wonderful threads of love and blessing and prayer being woven into her life every day. He is doing the same for you and for me.....all part of the kingdom tapestry!

A GIFT FOR ALL SEASONS

Prayer is a gift.

I cannot imagine living my life without prayer. I could not survive.

To be able to enter the throne-room of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is a privilege that we too often take for granted. We should not. To encounter the living God is an experience that every believer can have, not just once in a lifetime, but moment by moment!

Every day my INBOX is filled with prayer requests. My heart is torn by the magnitude of some of these requests...of the hurts that some are enduring at this moment. It seems that Satan is unleashing all the weapons of his arsenal in a last ditch effort to steal, to kill and to destroy. Disease is running rampant as I hear every day of someone else who is suddenly confronted with a catastrophic illness. Lives are being snuffed out in accidents and suicides, devastating families. Jobs are being lost and financial woes are plaguing those that until recently had always lived the "good life". Families are being torn apart by divisions in relationships, by divorce, by unfaithfulness and by neglect.

Needs are great...some seemingly insurmountable. What do you do when it comes to YOUR door? There is only one answer. Take it to the Lord in prayer.

What a friend we have in Jesus

All our sins and griefs to bear

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer.

--WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS, Charles Converse

If the world from you withhold

all its silver and its gold

And you have to get along with meager fare,

Just remember in His word

how He feeds the little bird,

Take your burden to the Lord

And leave it there.

If your body suffers pain

And your health you can't regain

And your soul is almost sinking in despair,

Jesus knows the pain you feel

He can save and He can heal.

Take your burden to the Lord

And leave it there.

When your enemies assail

And your heart begins to fail,

Don't forget that God in Heaven

Answers prayer

He will make a way for you

and will lead your safely through.

Take your burden to the Lord

And leave it there.

When your youthful days are gone

and old age is stealing on

And your body bends beneath the weight of care,

He will never leave you then

He'll go with you to the end.

Take your burden to the Lord

And leave it there.

Leave it there...

Leave it there...

Take your burden to the Lord

And leave it there.

If you trust and never doubt,

He will surely bring you out.

Take your burden to the Lord

And leave it there.

--LEAVE IT THERE, C. Albert Tindley 1916

Yes, prayer is a gift to us. Jesus paved the way of prayer for us when He died on Calvary and split the veil in two. We no longer require a mediator... a priest. He IS our high priest. We can go directly to the throne and "leave it there". Today avail yourself of this precious gift. Take your troubles to the Lord and leave them there. Allow Him to speak to you, to comfort you, to direct your paths. He delights to do so. He longs to spend time with you. Jesus paid a high price for this gift. Won't you "unwrap it" and make use of it today?