When I Don't Want to Pray Anymore

Setting this post up like our church service: Announcements first. :)

• I normally write for the Beauty & Fashion column for Blissfully Domestic, but this month I had the privilege of also writing for the Faith column. Would looooove for you to visit me there. :)
• There are only 2 DAYS LEFT to sign up for the Ornament Exchange! I'm so excited...it's going to be fun, fun, fun! Have you signed up yet? Click here for all the itty bitty teeny weeny details.
• I am giddy about Christmas, as usual. It is my very favorite holiday. In the spirit thereof, I have been doodling on everything in my sight with green & red acrylic paints - old ornaments, Styrofoam cups, empty paper towel rolls (yes, really), and even my paint palette (aka...Styrofoam plate).

(These are cell phone pics so not great quality, but you can see now that I was telling the truth. I am a writer & a doodler.)

Now on to more serious things (not that I don't take my doodling serious).

What do you do when God is silent on a matter? When prayers go unanswered and mountains don't budge? When you say all the right things and pray all the right prayers and it doesn't seem to make a difference?

How do you keep praying and believing and standing and Keep. On. Keeping. On?

How do I?

With thundering voices shouting in opposition and hard circumstances contradicting your prayers and challenging your faith and demanding that you just give up, how then?

When strength is gone and you're tired and you don't want to pray anymore?

And what happens if I never receive the answer I want? Do I trust Him enough to allow Him to determine the outcome?

Do you think God has previous knowledge of the probability of our getting tired some on this journey of ours?

Of course He does.

He knows that our strength in itself isn't enough.

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart" Galatians 6:9.

So in times when I feel like I'm beating my head against a wall without breakthrough and tempted to throw in the towel, I remind myself that even when I am depleted He is more than enough.

"He who brings an offering of praise and thanksgiving honors and glorifies Me..." Psalm 50:23.

And I give thanks. Because gratitude and thanksgiving take the focus off me and recognizes that God is here.

"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not grow weary, They shall walk and not faint" Isaiah 40:30-31.

And I trust that in my waiting, He is renewing my strength.

Keep on keeping on, sister. Remain in a place of gratitude and allow Your Father to renew your strength today. In your waiting, find assurance in His promises by meditating on scriptures that build your faith and remind you of His goodness. Soak in His presence and fill up once again so that you can continue pouring out into the lives of those around you.

He is more than enough.

Linking up today for the first time with three new communities: Good Morning Girls for Women in the Word Wednesdays, Tracy for Winsome Wednesday,  and Internet Cafe Devotions for Word Filled Wednesday (I realize my post is publishing on Thursday so I'm technically a day behind...story of my life Lol).

Crowned Greatest Mother! :)

Sorry ladies.  I'm the greatest mom. 

Logan said so, and he's one smart 5 year old.  ;)

What on earth did I do to deserve this noble award, you might ask?

I simply made pancakes for breakfast and provided some warm comfy jogging pants for him to wear on this cold, rainy morning.   

Not every morning can be this storybook perfect, though.

Some mornings, it seems that no matter what I do, I cannot please him.  Getting up at 5:30 a.m. is not always easy for a 5 year old (or a thirty-something year old!!).  On mornings like these I quickly find that I am in desperate need of an extra shot of grace with my coffee and a side of patience with my breakfast.

Why is it that even though I make breakfast every morning and have never sent him to school naked, my similar efforts are met with such different attitudes on any given morning?

This morning I was praised to the highest degree...crowned world's greatest mother and clothed in gratitude and appreciation! 

Other times, not so much.

Sometimes my efforts, provision and love go unnoticed.  There is no appreciation, no thanksgiving and definitely no crown to be found.  Instead, I am met with all the reasons why he doesn't want to go to school, whining and complaining about how early it is and sometimes I even get a little feet stomping with arms crossed and lips pouting! ;)

I guess he sometimes forgets that I am the greatest mother.

How often do we - like our children with us - take for granted that God is going to provide for us and meet our every need?  Or forgive us?  Or heal us? 

Do we just expect that His mercy is new every morning and think it's no big deal?

Has He become "common" and familiar to us?

Have we replaced praise, thanksgiving and gratitude with grumbling, complaining and whining?

Let us get up tomorrow with praise on our lips and thanksgiving in our heart for the One who is truly the greatest!  Let us recognize His goodness and mercy in our life and remember that it really is a big deal. :)

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.  Be thankful to Him, and bless His name, For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations." Psalm 100:4-5 

**To read more posts on Gratitude and Thanksgiving, be sure to visit Rachel's Olsen's Devotional Carnival!**