As I travel into school each day I have twenty-five minutes where I can talk to God as He sits beside me in the passenger seat.  It is a wonderful time of fellowship as I have my morning conversation with Him and ask for His daily mercies and ask for His wisdom and guidance for my day in the classroom.  There are days I wish I could take a much longer drive because I want our “talk” to go on longer, and then I remember I have a twenty-five minute drive home so I can take up the conversation again then.

I’m certainly not an expert on prayer.  I have read many books on the topic but sometimes when I read books on prayer I always feel like I’m doing it wrong.  I don’t use a “formula”, I just talk to God and I know He listens.

There are days I do most of the talking.  There are other days I start the conversation but He begs me to just listen and look.  His voice is soft, I have to stop talking to hear Him.  That’s not easy for me!  Still, as I watch the sun rise as I drive to work, I am reminded that “His mercies are new every morning” and I thank Him because that is not something to be taken for granted.  I see the wheat fields and the cattle grazing on the hills and I praise Him that He provides “my daily bread”.  Most mornings I see white-tailed deer but some mornings I will catch a glimpse of a moose hiding in a thicket of trees by the side of the road and I gasp at a marvel of nature reminding me that “…the animals, they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.  Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?  In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” (Job 12:7-10) 

I love it when God reveals Himself to me through His Creation!

As I praise Him and pray for my family, my students, and friends, I know I don’t need to tell Him what they need, He knows.  I don’t have to go into a lot of detail about what I need, He knows, but He doesn’t mind that I talk to Him about it anyway.  Sometimes I try to tell Him what to do, but He’s gracious and patient with me and let’s me talk and then He does what’s best even though it may not be exactly what I wanted.  I’ve learned it’s not MY will to be done it’s His!

I read this quote recently: “Prayer is like the dove that Noah sent forth, which blessed him not only when it returned with an olive-leaf in its mouth, but when it never returned at all”.  I love Dove analogies for obvious reasons, but this describes my prayer life pretty well…I will keep praying, in the car, at home, anywhere and I know with every prayer I lift before Him, I am well-blessed!