A couple of years ago, Daniel and I attended a Bible class on Sunday morning at the Highland church of Christ, in Abilene. There was a girl who spoke briefly of going through a tough time of grief and how her friends (her community) had helped her. During her grieving, there were times she didn't want to come to meet with others and yet, through encouragement from others, she did. She walked through the motions and eventually found herself at a different place. She referred to a book that she read during this time called The Water Will Hold You. I wrote the name of the book down and recently bought it while in College Station getting my Half Price Books fix. We don't have this store in Abilene.
I am reading this book like I do so many others -- slow. Today, I decided that i would read more than just a little. I was unsure if the book was true or not, so I began looking online. The site I have linked you to is one of questions and answers about the book, but there is much more information than just this book. The author, Lindsey Crittenden, writes short essays, and I'm excited to learn more about her. She was a skeptic and the book takes you through her journey of getting to know about God and about prayer. Some of her thoughts are new ones to me b/c of our different life experiences. I have enjoyed adding to my experiences through her book.
Her first words in learning to pray were "God you are here, God I am here." She taps first into her life experiences up to this point-- praying for her cat at age 10 and then the twenty-third Psalm. It helped me renew my thoughts about what parents teach their children. Even if all of those nightly devotionals you wanted to do but didn't get done - God's Word is implanted in our children hearts. It's in there and will come out as our children search for God and develop their own faith. When Lindsey heard things like "God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires know, and from whom no secrets are hid" she had to reckon with the thought, "I'm not alone, there is someone in the passenger seat." It wasn't a welcomed thought at first. She felt she needed to get used to prayer as you meet a new friend. The fact that she was a writer helped in the sense that you don't wait til you know what to write to sit down and write. You have to make writing (prayer) "a habit, to go to it the way I went each morning to the desk. Not to summon prayer, but to tap into what was already there." She even became giddy about the fact that prayer was always available. Have we lost that thought? Is it so available and so much a part of our lives for so long that we have lost our giddiness to be alone with God?
When Lindsey heard the words "inquiring and discerning heart" used in a prayer she realized "thinking wasn't just allowed but sanctioned." Her eyes were totally opened to a new way of looking at life when she learned about and embraced prayer, what she calls "pure acknowledgment of life."
I'm about half way through the book, but encourage you to check out her site and enjoy as you will.
No comments:
Post a Comment