Recently, I presented a mission trip opportunity to a church. I shared how this would be a very valuable and important step in strengthening a mission partnership which they have already established with a ministry in another country. I talked about how our prayers change when we get to know the people for whom we are praying. As we begin to know names, faces, and personalities and then have shared experiences, our prayers for them become more personal. They change from "the people over there' to "my friend, my sister, my brother" and we have mental images of them as we pray. We pray more earnestly and faithfully with invested interest.
This type of partnership does not mean it is easy. You see, as we get to know each other we also feel each other's burdens more intensely. We find ourselves weeping wth our friends in times of sorrow and celebrating in times of joy. We also often see God answer prayers a little differently than what we first expect.
Many of you know that I am in the middle of an adoption process. Yesterday, I received a phone call to let me kow that a little girl for whom I had submitted a case study request a month ago had been matched with a different family. This is the fourth time I have received a phone call with similar news. Each time has been a bit painful, and I have experienced some level of grief each time. There is disappointment in it not being the right timing yet, and there is also grief for specific children who now hold a special place in my heart and have become a part of my story.
Though I have never met these children, my prayers for them have become personal. I have read and reread their files. I have spent hours searching for any information I can find about their particular children's home or school hoping to find a picture or another window into their world. I have imagined them in my family. I have lifted them up to the One who loves them far more than I ever could and have asked for His best for them.
At one point in this process when I was grieving very deeply for two little girls that I sincerely anticipated God was placing permanently into my life and family, a close friend wrote these words to me that I have continued to ponder:
"I believe your intense prayers for the children have been, in great measure, one of the reasons you are involved in this plan. Your prayers for their good and for blessings on them are not wasted, even if they don't become your family. You are still investing in their lives and making a difference. How would you have prayed for them if you weren't thinking of adopting ? Surely part of this process has been a call to concentrated prayer for orphans!"
She's right. My prayer for orphans has changed dramatically. No longer is it simply, "God please take care of orphans." It has changed. Now, I pour out my heart in specific prayer for Ambar, Fabricio, Juanita, Mia, Romy, Katie, Luana, Briseyda, and the boys and girls whose lives have interesected with theirs. I pray with more insight to their situations and personalities. As I pack Christmas shoeboxes, I envision them opening one and am prompted to pray. I pray for their adjustment to new families. I pray for God's best. I pray for each one to know Jesus personally and to begin to understand how deeply loved and cherished they are by our big God. I thank Him for letting our lives interesect if only for a while. As I learn from and pray for these children, I also pray for the child or children whose names I don't know yet and trust that in His timing He will provide just the right match for both of us.
Praying for others takes courage. It requires us to relinquish control to the One who is ultimately in control anyway. It is recognizing that He sees the whole picture while we see only a small part and trusting Him with the people for whom we care deeply. It becomes personal. It CHANGES us. Prayer changes US.
