Navigating the Mystery

Most of us would easily agree that prayer is a beautiful, sacred and comforting reality in our lives. But we would also just as quickly acknowledge that it is also a complicated, confusing and mysterious reality. Those latter emotions especially arise when our prayers seem to go unanswered, when God seems eerily silent or when life becomes unthinkably unmanageable.  

What do we do with the reality of unanswered prayer? Intellectually, we know that God is not a divine vending machine that spits out blessings when we insert a token prayer. But that knowledge can feel shallow and hollow when our prayers come from a desperate place and silence seems to be the overwhelming response to our requests.

This weekend, we’ll take a dive into the mystery of prayer once again and try to honestly talk about our conversations with God -- even when it's  frustrating at times. I’m praying that we will find hope, faith, courage and peace to deal with the disappointment of unanswered prayer (from our perspective!), and that we will find that ability to trust the Father even when we don’t fully understand what is happening.

I so look forward to being with you this weekend!

Be blessed, be safe and be well!

Ian