Praying For God's Hands to Touch Those I Can't

At the playground, my son was yelling into this contraption at the top of his lungs to his daddy on the other end. "Daddy, can you hear me? Hey, Daddy!"

His earnest little face looking expectantly into the end of the pipe made me smile.

Sometimes I feel like that when I'm praying. Hey God, I need to talk to you, but I'm not sure I can speak. Are you there? Can you hear me? Can you hear my heart?

This morning was one of those mornings. We live 12 hours from my parents, something we've learned to manage with lots of phone calls and a few visits each year. They don't do email, so most of the time it's just calls, and as many pictures of the kids as we can send through snail mail.

This morning they called and needed more. They needed someone to share hugs over a scary diagnosis, and reassurance that God is still watching over things. I needed it, too. They needed someone to help them with physical chores they can no longer manage and someone to just be there. They wished I was closer. I did too.

When we moved here with my husband's work, we knew that these times would no doubt come, and the distance would make it difficult. But we knew then that it was the right move for our family, and we still believe we are where God wants us.

But what do you do on days like this, when the distance makes a "quick trip over" impossible? What do you do when your heart aches to give a hug to someone you can't reach?

Pray. It's all I can do.

I'm praying that God would encourage them. That He would comfort them. That He would show them they are not alone. That He would send someone to help with the physical chores I can't do. I'm praying that He would touch them in ways I can't and that He would take care of them.

It's all I can do right now.

That, and pray that He'll help me to Trust Him. That's the hard part, for I'm a worrier, and emotional burdens are often the hardest for me to lay at His feet.

I know that praying is much more than yelling into a finite pipe. It is bringing the burdens of our heats before an almighty, all loving, and all sufficient Father. That helps, but it's still hard.

If you think of us, pray for my parents (and our family), that we would feel God's love and provision in a special way this week.

Blessings