Reduce Stress. Extend Life.

Good morning…

A friend asked me to bring my folders of pre-cut images, my glue sticks and scissors, my blank cards and transparent sleeves. Together we hosted a gathering to make wordless prayer cards at her home with a group of her longtime friends. What joy! The special morning evaporated in such a personal, passionate, powerful way.

To begin our time together, I read a quote I had received first thing that morning.

“Because of His faithfulness,” writes James Banks, “the prayers I’ve placed before the Father’s throne will still be there, waiting to be answered in His perfect wisdom and way. ….E.M. Bounds says ‘God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God’s heart is set on them. Prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.’” (Prayers for Prodigals)

Think about this profound reality. Our prayers keep on living before God, shaping this world, outliving us, outliving this generation, outliving this age. God’s heart is set on every prayer we ever utter, prayers waiting to be answered in God’s perfect wisdom, in God’s perfect way. What a delight to make wordless prayer cards together, processing aloud in the presence of God our tears, our fears, our deepest desires.

I also shared another tidbit of truth I had just received from my across-the-street neighbor.

“We now know that working on an art project for forty-five minutes can reduce stress by 25 percent and that just one art experience per month can extend your life by ten years,” write Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross, authors of Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us.

Reducing stress. Extending life. Creating wordless prayer cards, we palpably felt the healing power of God in our candid conversation. At one point, I pulled out a copy of Barbara Brown Taylor’s Learning to Walk in the Dark and read aloud these life-giving words.

“I found better ways to cope with the melancholy that was so hard for me to bear. When I stopped trying to block my sadness and let it move me instead, it led me to a bridge with people on the other side. Every one of them knew sorrow. Some of them even knew how to bear it as an ordinary feature of being human instead of some avoidable curse. Watching them ride the waves of their own dark emotions, I learned that sadness does not sink a person; it is the energy a person spends trying to avoid sadness that does that.” (79-80)

Processing together our emotions as we created wordless prayer cards, we actively transformed our brains, reducing stress, extending life, and leaving our deepest prayers in the loving care of our eternal God.

When you are filled with the Spirit, you are empowered to speak to each other in…soulful words (Ephesians 5:19a, VOICE).

…Sue…

P.S. Might you also give your brain some art? Our next wordless prayer card making session at Northside Church will be held on Wednesday, November 8th from 12:00 to 2:00 pm. This Thursday, October 26th, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm is our next “Discovering Our Soul in the Sand” gathering at our home in Vinings. These monthly spiritual growth opportunities are open to all women, with a suggested donation of $10 to cover the cost of supplies. Please reply to this email if you would like to be added to our rosters for both or either of these monthly art experiences. Private gatherings with your friends can also be easily scheduled.

Reduce stress. Extend life. Release your deepest prayers.