Prayer

"Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you" (1 Peter 5:7).

Prayer doesn't miraculously remove life's challenges. It's not a magic formula that whisks our troubles away. Jesus Himself prayed to be delivered from the cross - and yet through prayer, He also accepted that this was God's will for Him. The apostle Paul prayed to be delivered from "his thorn of the flesh" - but when God did not remove this trouble from his life, Paul allowed God to use it to make him stronger. Prayer was the way both Jesus and Paul struggled with their emotional reactions to life's difficulties. It allowed them to transform the meaning of their circumstances so that what had been a crisis became an opportunity for God's creative work. Prayer can do the same for us. As it opens us up to God's Spirit, we will see Him working in us and through us. Prayer will bring us peace even in the midst of the most difficult times.

Blessings!