Gripe Session Prayer

I want to share some of a recent prayer experience that I had.  One of the interesting things is that the prayer was about not talking so much.  Blogging is a form of talking or communicating.  However, on this blog, I think I am more careful about what I write and post than I am in general conversation.  I really ought to be careful everywhere.  There is something to be said for really thinking before speaking.  I have said before that my Grandpa J never told all that he knew.  He always had us wondering what was going on with him.  I really want to be more like that except with a few close people.

On December 8, I prayed that God would help me to control my speech.  I really need to find more positive things to say, to find the good in situations.  Tuesday morning I woke up without a voice.  No joke.  No voice for several days.  Zilch.  Wednesday night turned into a sinus infection.  Thursday I went to the doctor who then told me to stay home on Friday too.  God allowed me to get laryngitis and a sinus infection. I don't believe that He causes bad things to happen, but He knew I was about to get sick and used the opportunity to convict me of some things that needed to be fixed.  God is so amazing! First, God allowed my voice to disappear and then He took me out of a context where my conversation sometimes turns negative.

God had been yelling at me for several days.  Yes, I said He was yelling at me.  God can do that without an audible voice, or He could audibly yell if He wants to.  This time, God was trying to tell me that He was indeed in control and to trust Him.  I heard it on the radio, read it on Facebook, and was told by a teacher at school.  Without a voice or the distraction of other people around, I had to face God and listen.

How does all this add up?  Two Scriptures continued to come to my mind.

Psalm 46:10 commands that we, "Cease striving, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

Also, Matthew 6:26 - 34 gently reminds us to, "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not worth much more than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span?  And why are you anxious about clothing?  Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these.  But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith?  Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?'  For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."

God has spoken.  There is no denying what I heard.  Now I must respond by trusting Him with my struggles that He may be glorified and exalted in my town on this earth.