A Recipe for Transformation

I am reading "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World" by Joanna Weaver and have just begun to work through the study guide. I never do these, but was inwardly prompted to go for it in this case. It has just been a whirlwind of busyness and sickness in our family life this past week, and I felt such longing for more Mary moments, sitting and drinking in the words of Jesus. I usually can barely fit in a cup of tea before it goes cold (PLEASE don't take this as bragging! I think we sometimes have a terrible habit of wanting to one-up each other as to how busy we are!)! Anyway, I have been so tightly wound this past week that my husband noticed I had an ongoing shallow cough and asked me if I was breathing deeply enough. I wasn't! The lightbulb moment occurred, and I thought to myself, "If I want to see any real transformation in me as these days pass, if I want any real Life in the midst of caring for my family, working, etc. - I need regular time with Jesus, praying and reading the Bible. That's the bottom line!"

So yesterday morning, after putting our daughter back to bed at 5 a.m., I shocked myself by actually getting deliberately out of bed and setting up a little quiet time at our dining room table. "Okay, Lord," I said. "You know how precious another 45 minutes of sleep is for me, so I'm just going to trust that you'll give me the energy I need for today!"

Of course, the rest of that prayer time is between me and God, but suffice it to say, I haven't been coughing since. It's also certainly helped that my husband isn't sick anymore!

I seem to need to learn this lesson umpteen times, but God doesn't seem to mind. I come to him with a parched heart, and He gives me the Living Water (see the book of John in the Bible, Chapter 4 for a beautiful story of Jesus meeting a woman at a well). It's not like every prayer time I have is an amazing experience, but when I feel distant from God, I have a little trick. :) For some reason, thinking of trees always prompts me to wonder at God's creativity, and that usually helps my heart leap after my mind. I begin to feel awe, then gratitude, and often, the prayer time goes deeper and deeper. I wonder if each of us has a particular image or thought that can be a "prayer trigger" like this?