Prayer Alphabet. I have a friend Judi who comments on how great this or that prayer is. She is so in tune to what prayer should sound like, that she gets excited about praising and talking to God. I, at times, feel that my prayer is not hitting the mark, and that it is too routine. Instead of talking with God, I’m sharing a “to do” list of things I would love for Him to take off my plate. But is that really prayer?

Think about it, the disciples even asked Jesus how to pray. I think that’s an incredible testimony to the fact that the people closest to Jesus, feel the need of a remedial class, in praying. Prayer is hard! It’s considered similar to that of learning a different language. It’s foreign or somewhat unattainable. I love to remind myself that it’s just a conversation but in reality, it is entering the throne room of Christ Jesus. When I consider this, I feel terribly inadequate. But God doesn’t look at it that way, and obviously doesn’t feel anything, but love, for my attempts to be in His presence. He just wants my alphabet soup which sometimes sounds just like that, alphabet soup! My words, even your words, as minced as they are, is what’s important. He knows each and every heart, and understands what we are feeling. Even when we are overwhelmed with emotion and pain, and unable to get our point across, God gets us. He desires our innermost mumblings and prayers!

During these past 40 days, I have experienced incredible growth and closeness in my relationship with the Lord. It has been my sweetest of blessings. I’ve felt incredible wondrous love and the deepest connection with the holy and almighty God. And the greatest gift of all has been the fact that it has nothing to do with who I am but who He is! My part has been simple: show up. When we make prayer a priority in our life, incredible things happen. The impossible is suddenly possible!

In closing, I just want to thank you Jesus for being so patient, lovingly showing me how to pray and interpreting my alphabet soup. Every single moment of every single day, you are present! And that’s all I truly need. Your presence.

“Prayer is the difference between the best we can do and the best God can do.” Draw the Circle, Author: Mark Batterson