It’s early in the morning when golden edges of sunlight tippy-toe around the fringes of the horizon. I look out our picture window and take in the view of snowy housetops and tree lines, a lovely snapshot of January beauty. In Colorado, winter stretches its arms and settles in a good long while.
Making myself at home on a corner of the sofa under a fleecy blanket, I take several sips of my chai latte, begging it to wake me up. In all honesty, part of me would be happy going back to bed and sleeping till spring. But in Colorado, spring is a long time coming.
In my own heart, spring feels far away too. Like the weather outside, for my foreseeable future, a few particular circumstances look like the same ol’ same ol’, a little too cold and dark for my own liking.
You may or may not know I lived much of my life unfriendly to change, and I’ve worked hard to see it in a more hopeful light. But what can be just as hard to deal with is desperately wanting a change, needing a change, yet waking up day after day to the same ol’ same ol’ undesirable circumstances.
If that is you on this January day, I humbly offer you this prayer as a gift. May it help you glimpse the Lord’s hope-filled plans for your future.
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A Prayer for Those Longing for a Change
Father, You know the change I long for, both in my environment and in my heart. You know it, but I want to talk with You about it just the same. Because when I get real with You and tell You my concerns, You know I feel really safe in Your presence.
You know I’ve hoped a change was close, and You know my devastation when that hope falls through my fingers like water.
When I feel sad and scared that what I long for is not what I see, help me catch sight of Your hopeful vision for my future. Help me trade my unbelief for more robust faith in You.
Lord, I confess my attempts to boss You around, to want to strong-arm You into action.
I acknowledge my sullen behavior at You and those around me when things don’t go my way.
I’m sorry for thinking You might have dropped the ball on this one.
I’m sorry for not fully trusting You, Lord Jesus.
Help me forgive myself and others whose poor decisions led me here. Help me refuse to hit the play button on old history, instead finding fresh air in the brand new things You assure me You’re doing.
As I wait in this long middle between what I see and what I hope to see, may I be a time-user and not a time-waster. May I pause to count the ways You show up for me day after day after day.
Help me find the wonder in waiting.
Help me know that waiting time isn’t wasted time. Open my eyes so I may get down under things, to use my hands and heart to find what You’ll have me find.
May I sit in Your presence, stand on Your promises, and move in Your sacred love.
Help me make what I want to do be what is done.
I forget that You could never forget about me. You’re just waiting for the right moment to get me where I’m going.
May trusting in You and believing in You be my strength and my song. Because You don’t settle for what’s good for me. You send what is always, always best for me.
Thank You for sending us Your Son, the ultimate proof that You follow through on the change we need.
In the loving name of Jesus,
Amen.
Change is complicated, isn’t it? If the middle of your January finds you facing a time when not changing is the change or a different kind of difficult change, perhaps our #2016changechallenge can help. It began this past Monday, but you can still join and receive meaningful encouragement for your personal season of change. Read more about it here and sign up for it here.
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