Be Careful Out There!

Recently, at church, Joanne asked for prayer from all of us because Satan had been hitting their family hard during that week. A several weeks earlier, Gabe posted on this blog asking us "do you feel it?". I feel it, and I think I know why.

For the past couple of weeks, I have felt like crying for no apparent reason. I have been trying to find out what it is that has caused me to change so much lately. Aside from having a funeral of a family member to go to every week for several weeks, I think I know what my problem is. My prayer time isn't what it was a month ago. Tim and I use to pray together every night before going to bed. Some how or another, this has recently stopped happening. We joke at home about how as soon as my head hits the pillow, my eyes shut and I'm instantly asleep. We like to act this out for stupidity's sake and we throw our heads back with our eyes closed and snore!

I have found, looking back over my life, that the times when I wasn't praying, I had a much harder time dealing with things in life. It had nothing to do with me not getting my way. It had everything to do with missing someone terribly and not realizing who it was that I was needing to visit with and talk to and listen to and....and....and. I found myself trying to look everywhere for the answer except where it could be found.

A couple weeks or so ago, I realized I had just been forgetting to take my vitamins and I thought that was what was making me feel bad. So I started taking them again. Well, my skin and hair look and feel a little better and I'm not as tired feeling during the afternoon hours like I was when I wasn't taking them. So everything physically was taken care of but emotionally I was still feeling the need to cry. Why? I've been thinking about all of the funerals I've been to lately and Tim's week long business trip without me coming up, and thought that could be what is making me so emotional. To a point, it is but there's so much more to it. It's not that I don't talk to God throughout the day, everyday, because I do. The only thing that is different is the fact that I havn't been praying with Tim.

There is amazing strength in praying with someone else. Especially with your spouse! I remember when we first started praying. It was the most uncomfortable thing we had ever done (praying outloud....and together). It bothers me that it was so uncomfortable for us to do that because praying together should be so incredibly natural. Afterall, that is what we were intended to do....have a full relationship with God together! Tim and I have even had our own prayer time with God at the same time being right beside one another holding hands. It's not the same! I need to hear him and he needs to hear me and together we hear God. There are times when I have been so completely upset and not able to even form the words for a conversation with the Lord about how deeply I was hurting. It was then that my dear husband went to God in prayer for me. There have been times when Tim was unable to pray along with me because he was simply too sick to. So, I, (his dear wife) prayed for him.

I have noticed that Satan will use any and all ways he can to stop us from doing the very thing(s) that cause the most damage to him and his kingdom. This tells me quite clearly that prayer is powerful and it hurts Satan! *Insert evil laugh here* I have also been thinking about how powerful praying together must be, because he's been so sneaky in order to get the two of us to stop praying .....and for so long! I, for one, want to see him fail at stopping us from doing anything! My prayer is that the rest of God's children will decide for themselves to make this kind of committment as well. WE WILL NOT LET SATAN WIN! ----How's that for a motto?!