Good morning…
I hold my heart wide open in prayer as I ponder with God the needs of many. I am held together through veins of prayer with loved ones throughout the world, a limitless gift with eternal benefits.
“Sue, your prayers are invaluable to me,” texted my friend’s mom who is turning 90 this week. “I am so grateful for the loving care and appreciate having you in my life. This cancer world is life-consuming . . . from one doctor to another, one clinic to another, one something to something else, and never knowing what’s going on.”
“But,” she consciously shifted her focus, “when Jesus is in control the process can be lovely . . . meeting a lot of really nice people . . . ones who really want to help others. Thank you so much for all you do for so many. God bless.”
“I love that you can see the lovely in people, in this cancer time, in this process that Jesus is walking and talking you through,” I replied. “I also love that I can be deeply connected to you in prayer as the journey unfolds day by day.”
I have met this seasoned woman of faith one time, face to face, but the two of us are bonded so beautifully through the immeasurable power of prayer. I admire her shift in focus, from “the life-consuming world of cancer” to “Jesus being in control of the lovely process of meeting a lot of really nice people.”
And know that the peace of God (a peace that is beyond any and all of our human understanding) will stand watch over your hearts and minds in Jesus… Finally, brothers and sisters, fill your minds with beauty and truth. Meditate on whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is good, whatever is virtuous and praiseworthy. Keep to the script: whatever you learned and received and heard and saw in me—do it—and the God of peace will walk with you (Philippians 4:7-9, VOICE).
Learning to keep our heart wide open to the lovely that lives in every circumstance, this is my ongoing prayer for us all. And the God of peace will walk and talk with us as we fill our minds with beauty.
