The Prayer Warrior Life: Recognizing the Power

So, it's well established that I don't like technology. Right?


Imagine my delight this morning when I learned that the quiet, master-bedroom computer, at which the boys do their Teaching Textbooks math CD Rom, had gone bonkers. Bonkers would be non-tech speak for a situation in which all programs and websites are much larger than the screen, so that you have to continually scroll back and forth to use them.


Miss Mary, who uses Caillou's Preschool and a Dora program on Nick Jr., worked her magic yesterday. If anything goes wrong with her programs, she starts getting into anything and everything on the computer itself, troubleshooting her way into a mess.


We couldn't skip math, so Momma had to do some troubleshooting of her own, getting into the control panel to figure out what Mary did to the resolution. 


It wasn't so simple, and an hour later, I went into total whining mode, all the while wondering if my "babysitters" were keeping Beth out of trouble. I'd already been interrupted at least 10 times, which is standard. 


How I can think at all during the day, is a testimony to the workings of the Momma Mind, miraculously arranged by our Creator to match our job description.


Trust me, if you leave your husband alone with your four children while you spend eighty minutes grocery shopping, you'll return to find out that the Daddy Mind doesn't quite match the stay-at-home job description. The other option--shopping with four children--is sometimes preferred. He's a great Daddy and when they're outside for the whole eighty minutes, all is great when I return, with the children mighty blessed by their fun-filled Daddy. It's the house + kids combination that doesn't work for him. A multi-tasking Momma he ain't. 


Often when I type something in the living room during the day--either a post or an e-mail--my kids are right by me, kicking a ball down the hall and making all manner of exciting background noise--apparently thinking that when Momma takes a break, they get one too. Since it's too rainy for recess today, ball games down the hallway will make for some nice Monday Mania.  


Don't you wish you could come for tea?


Now you know why typos are so common.


The last I looked, they all had some Goldfish at the table, counting them by ones and fives for the preschoolers' benefit. Yes, that's right, when the main teacher is unavailable, the older ones step right up to the task, creating school out of life.


So back to my computer problem. In desperation, I prayed and asked all the kids to pray. 


Notice how I didn't pray up front, before I began tinkering? Big mistake. 


Why, oh why, do we believing humans fail to get God on our side right away?


After we prayed, I got back into the screen resolution thingy, and lo and behold, I fixed it immediately (based on the size of the icons anyway).


Following that, I got into e-mail to see if we could view an entire message without scrolling right and left, and then into a website to see if Paul could read his Mr. Popper's Penguins comprehension questions. (Scholastic's About This Book gives a synopsis. Both boys love this 1938 Newberry Honor book.)


Bingo. Fixed.


There was one new e-mail, from one of my online friends, saying, "Just prayed for your sweet girl and your family." 


This was such a powerful reminder today. When we pray for others, it really does impact them. Even if the prayer doesn't take away a particular problem, it can change the perception and negative impact of the problem, so that grace rains down on the family, right then and there, as the prayer is being uttered. 


When we pray during the day with the prayer jar, or alone at night, I don't think either the children, or the adults, really comprehend the power of the words, or of the act itself. Prayer with children around, either private prayer or that done corporately, can seem so disorganized and interrupted and insane. 


But God hears through screaming fits, through nighttime wake-ups that interrupt our flow....through anything. Our prayers are sacred, even when they feel like the opposite. The worst thing we can do is think, not today, it's too insane around here. 


Someone on your list really needs the grace-raining your prayers will bring. 


Thank you, sweet friend! 


To read more of my prayer journey, check out Into a Life of Prayer: A Journey Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

To read even more, check out The Prayer Warrior Life part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4; part 5, part 6, Part 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

A sweet friend, Amy, wrote guests posts for us, telling of her prayer journey: Vol. 1, and Vol. 2, and Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5


photo credit