Christians or Deists?

I am believing in the power of prayer. I am becoming increasingly convinced that prayer is far more central to our walk than typically acknowledged. Lately, I have been inspired by the faith of Mary Collins. She has been calling on the Lord to do for her what she cannot do for herself. For several agonizing days, she has awaited results of tests to determine if cancer has taken hold in her throat. Last night, she called me to share good news - the tests are negative. Mary is not completely out of the woods, but her worst fears have been allayed.

This morning, I spoke words of thanksgiving to the Lord for Mary's news. The theme of thankfulness took hold in my mind. I thought about my marriage. I thought about my girls. The two most important roles of my life - husband and father. Two areas in which I am surprisingly weak. I say, surprisingly, because I never anticipated how difficult it would be to fulfill those roles. I had always taken it for granted that I would be a good husband and father. I eventually came to the realization that I am inadequate in both roles. This has been hard for me to accept. The temptation to focus on anything other than my own sinful inadequacy has been great. Finally, I reached a point of realizing that I could not deliver myself from myself. I began to do nothing more than ask the Lord to intervene. I simply prayed for the Lord to make me a better husband and father. I prayed for that blessing in myriad ways, multiple times. This morning, as I prayed, I was reminded, yet again, of how much divine intervention I have experienced. My marriage is strong and my kids are growing in God's image.

Recently, within the Sunshine family, we have experienced many great, blessed interventions from our God. Yet, we struggle to give ourselves fully to prayer. We struggle to acknowledge the primacy prayer should have in our efforts. Though, we profess faith in the Spirit of God, indwelling, guiding, and assisting us, too often our pattern of behavior betrays something akin to deism. "God helps those who help themselves" is nothing more than a deistic mantra we have confused for truth. Does it have something to do with the Appalachian subculture, or the fact that most of us have roots in family farming that we are so slow to cease over-valuing our self-determination?

To pray more is not to do less? Praying gives to doing - focus, efficacy, and endurance. We have adopted a false dichotomy of prayer and deeds. It is imperative we recognize the minimization of prayer as tantamount to minimizing the presence of God in our lives.

What are your thoughts?