Brenda Wilbee's "Living With Ravens": #15: Rinse & Repeat--Pray Again

Thursday, November 17, 2016

#15: Rinse & Repeat--Pray Again

Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.
--Hebrews 13:8 (RSV)

I've been doing a lot of worrying these days--about my career, about a possible move to Canada, about finances. Each morning I pray for a calm spirit and a trust in God that doesn't waver. I list my blessings like the old hymn tells us:

Count your blessings,
Name them one by one,
Count your many blessings,
See what God has done. . .

But the next thing you know, I'm fretting. I start to list my blessings one more time, but again the worry rises. Why can't I pray and trust God once and for all? I wonder. Why do I have to keep working at it?

"Repeat if necessary." There's the answer, I thought. Shampooing isn't a once-in-a-lifetime thing. And neither is prayer.

As I dried my hair, I thanked God for His message from a shampoo bottle, and I began to pray again: "Here are my worries... And here are the blessings I thank you for: my three teenagers, my work, my family and friends..."

Dear God, it's comforting to know that prayer is "repeat if necessary," and that I can come to you daily, hourly, whenever I need to.

Originally published by Guideposts Devotionals on Thursday, April 18, 1996

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ABOUT "LIVING WITH RAVENS"

Reflections For Women Living In the Hard Places

Remember Elijah? He’s the Old Testament chap God assigned to take on the prevailing god Baal, a rather nasty sort. God of rain, fertility, and harvest, Baal demanded the sacrifice of babies in massive bonfires. Rituals involved eating feces. To shatter this illusion of power that came at such a high cost, God sent Elijah to tell King Ahab there wouldn't be rain until God said so. The people needed to know who was in charge--Jehovah God, who freely gave. The response from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel was less than embracing.

Elijah ran pell-mell for the desert to hide in the stony outcroppings of Cherith. All he’s got is a crummy little creek cutting through the stone of a beastly hot desert. Oh, yes, the ravens. Foul, glossy black these things, eating nothing all day but road kill. Yet in Elijah’s extreme deprivation and isolation and fear pummeling his gut, the ravens became God’s saving grace. They brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening. Who would have thought that carrion-eating birds could be a man’s only hope of survival? It’s almost offensive. At times, it feels offensive. But then, sometimes that’s what grace looks like.

I know. Not what we want. We want “cured,” “livable wages,” “love,” "restoration." We want the window when the door slams shut. We want so many things--except ravens. So it's easy to dismiss what God sends—we don't even see these creative gifts of grace in the chaos of our fear, grief, despair, and gut-wrenching loneliness.

LIVING WITH RAVENS is for women stuck in their own kind of Cherith. Perhaps some of my own reflections of God intervening in difficulties will resonate with others who face similar challenges.