Yvonne Ortega, author of a series of books—Moving from Broken to Beautiful®—wants women to know how to cope biblically when struggles come. In this Prayer UPGRADE, she encourages us to turn to the Lord when trials come.
Yvonne says, “I fell to my knees on my kneeling prayer pillow and said, ‘God, I feel helpless. What can I do?”
I (Dawn) have felt helpless many times. When alone in a struggle. When it seemed I was doomed to fail no matter my choice. After a terrible diagnosis. But in every case, time with the Lord lifted my burden and enabled me to move forward with peace and joy.
Yvonne continues . . .
“I had a radical mastectomy,” my cousin told me on the phone.
My mind went back to the wonderful visit we enjoyed the previous summer. I blew kisses to her and her husband and said, “I’ll see you next summer.”
Little did we know a pandemic would strike and change our plans. Her health would also change.
The following week after my cousin’s call about her surgery, I called to check on her. She told me her younger sister had something similar to a stroke. It caused weakness in one leg and difficulty speaking.
My cousin reminded me that her younger sister had been born with Arterial Vascular Malfunction, which caused the “stroke.”
“Without daily physical therapy and exercise on her own, she’ll be paralyzed.”
She asked me to call her younger sister “because she’s religious like you are.” Before I did that, I fell to my knees again.
“Oh, dear God, I feel more and more helpless. I’m a thousand miles away and cannot travel. Both of their parents passed away years ago. What can I do? What can I say? Please God, show me.”
That same week, I made numerous attempts to reach my elderly aunt and uncle. They live in a senior community in an independent living suite. When my cell phone rang, I could see they were the ones calling me. At the sight of a big smile on my uncle’s face, I smiled, too, and felt relieved.
Then, my aunt said, “We’re quarantined to our rooms again.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“One of the residents died from COVID-19.”
My heart raced.
When we hung up, I headed to my kneeling prayer pillow again.
“God, if the coronavirus doesn’t end soon, I’ll wear out my kneeling prayer pillow and need knee replacement surgery. What can I do for my aunt and uncle? You must have something you want to teach me.”
Here are three lessons God is teaching me about how I am to pray.
1. I am to praise the Lord.
The psalmist wrote,
“Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life” (Psalm 146:1–2a NIV).
I noticed that passage didn’t read, “Praise the Lord only when you receive good news.” It simply told me to praise the Lord. I needed to spend time in praise to the Sovereign Lord because of who he is.
The passage also told me that my SOUL is to praise the Lord.
I wondered why it didn’t read body and soul until I read Matthew 10:28. Before Jesus sent out his disciples, he told them,
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
The soul lives on. It is eternal.
2. I am to sing for joy to the Lord.
When I read Psalm 95, I stared at it and read it slowly. I read it a second time and pointed to each word.
“Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker” (Psalm 95:1 and 6).
I am not to sing for happiness but for joy.
Happiness depends on earthly pleasures or good luck. Joy is eternal. I can sing for joy because God is my Rock and my Maker.
And there’s that word, again, “kneel.”
I bow down in worship and kneel before him. He is the Creator. I am the created.
3. I am to pray with a heart of thanksgiving.
In Philippians 4: 6, Paul wrote,
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
This third lesson is still in progress in my life.
Do I pray with thanksgiving because I expect God to say “Yes” to my requests?
Do I pray with thanksgiving so that God will think He must meet my expectations?
My answer is “Sometimes” to both questions.
- I struggle to surrender my will to His.
- I pray with thanksgiving because God knows the big picture.
- I trust Him to do what is best in the long run.
How will you pray this week?
Yvonne Ortega walks with a small footprint but leaves a giant imprint in people’s lives. She is the author
of the Moving from Broken to Beautiful® Series through cancer, forgiveness, and grief. Yvonne speaks with honesty and humor as she shares her life and struggles to help women find peace, power, and purpose through God’s Word. She celebrates life at the beach where she walks, builds sand castles, blows bubbles, and dances. For more information about Yvonne, visit her website.
Graphic of Pillow Cover Case adapted (original without the words). It can be purchased — CaliTime Cozy Bolster Pillow Cover Case at Amazon.