"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest"
One thing my mother taught me at a young age was that God was not some kind of distant being. She, in fact, used the illustration one time that it was almost like we could carry Him in our pocket, or in other words, He could see what we were doing, He could hear what we were saying and that He was available to us just like any other normal "friend" we had in our lives. I would have to say that this is probably the springboard for the lack of eloquence that I have in my prayer life. I wish, sometimes, that like the scripture above, words were spoken eloquently to my Heavenly Father in prayer, but rather, I do pray like I am having a conversation with a friend in the room beside me probably because I've always sensed that He's not that far away. Sometimes I pray in broken sentences interjecting not spiritual "words", but modern day jargon like, for example, this week was a particularly trying week for our family here in Costa Rica and I murmured the words during a time when I was praying, "you know, Lord, I am really sick of this crap and I cannot possibly take any more"!
You see, Ken's mother was having a lung biopsy yesterday for what was thought to possibly be cancer on PET scans. Losing Ken's Dad just this past July, and my mother a year ago also in July; the thought of my mother-in-law even "possibly" having cancer made my stomach churn and I found myself unable to deal with the emotions of that. Thankfully, the biopsy of the lung as well as all her lymph nodes came back cancer-free. They believe that she has some form of tuberculosis, though they are culturing the biopsies to identify a type.
All this to say, I am so glad He doesn't turn His back on my raw speech when I pray. Sometimes I almost imagine Him rolling his eyes when my mouth opens! Thank you, Lord, for letting me continually "Come...." and "Just As I Am"!
