In almost every virtual meeting I’ve been in lately, someone is told “you’re muted.” Then it was my turn. There I was, talking away in a virtual meeting until I saw Pastor Scott Smith cup his hand to his ear. Whoops! My mic was still muted, and no one had heard anything I was saying.
Do you ever feel like this while praying? You’re pouring out your heart to God, but it’s as if your mic is off and he can’t hear you. I remember feeling like that as a young mom struggling with my child’s school frustrations. I’d share my prayer requests at Bible study, and was often given suggestions and recommendations. I knew they heard me, but did God? I craved the great exchange offered in Philippians 4:6-7, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” I not only wanted to be heard, but to experience that peace.
Soon, God answered the cry of my heart. Most mornings, I’d walk my first-grade son to school and stay after the bell rang to chat with the crossing guard. We’d stand at the edge of campus and pray for our kids, the school staff and safety at that busy crosswalk. Then one day she suggested we start a Moms in Prayer group. Boy, I didn’t know what I was missing!
We invited other moms and my older sister led us through the hour of prayer. (Yes, we actually pray the entire hour!) Each week we start by praising God for a characteristic or attribute, then we silently confess before God, followed by a time of thanksgiving and praying a scripture for our kids. We do all that before we ever pray a single request. Remembering who God is and what he has done has been huge in preparing my heart to pray the big requests, with my prayer partners coming alongside and praying for things I hadn’t even thought of. At last, I was experiencing that peace that God promises when I hand him my worries.
My kids are now young adults, and I continue to pray for them in a Moms in Prayer group at EFCC. The amazing answers to prayer could fill a book or two (and have!). Now I rarely feel like my prayers are muted before God. But when that does happen, I know I have prayer partners that will come alongside me and pray with me for those big, seemingly immovable mountains. Then we watch and see God do “more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20).
(To find out more about Moms in Prayer, email Cyndie at [email protected] or visit www.momsinprayer.org.)
By Cyndie de Neve
Senior Creative Director
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