I think it is beyond wonderful that both the Governor of Texas and the President of the United States made formal declarations asking us to pray for those impacted by Hurricane Harvey on Sunday, September 3, 2017.
This prayer business is a big deal. I hope you took some time to pray today, and I hope your prayers for the victims of the storm were more than a quick "God please help them." Take time to look at some of the pictures we have seen on the news. Pray for the people in them and for what they need. Thank God for the government, organizations and volunteers who are there to help them. Think about how you can help. There are lots of things to pray about.
To my way of thinking, prayer does a lot of things:
It draws our attention to God and how God can accomplish things we cannot.
It puts us in the other person's shoes.
As we pray for those who died, their loved ones, those who were injured, those who have lost homes, property and livelihood, we learn empathy.
As we pray for first responders, National Guard, Coast Guard, law enforcement, and the multitude of search and rescue volunteers, we are grateful to them for putting themselves in danger to save others. We pray for their continued safety.
As we pray for those helping the displaced get through another day with food, clothing and shelter, we realize how blessed we are to have what we have.
Then there are the untold volunteers donating time, energy and money to provide what needs to be provided and do what needs to be done. Thinking about them might just encourage us to think about how we can help. Prayers are important. So is giving. So is helping.
National days of prayer remind us that we are more powerful and effective together than on our own. We need each other. We are grateful for our combined resources flowing through Texas, Louisiana and the entire United States to help. We are grateful for the many churches and non-profit organizations who, like the government, were on the ground, ready to help before the storm even hit.
Our prayers might also lead us to think about how we would respond if a disaster happened to us. Andy Stanley shared a great prayer about preparing for trouble: "Heavenly Father, help me see trouble coming from a long way off and give me the wisdom and strength to deal with it." This doesn't just apply to to those of us who live in hurricane prone areas, but what disasters might await you - and how prepared are you to meet them. As you pray today, pray for yourself as well.
Prayer is not only us telling God what we want, but opening ourselves up to listen to God. It is often said that prayer changes things by changing us. As Mother Teresa said: "I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I'm supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I'm praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.”
How will your prayers for the victims of Hurricane Harvey change you? How will the fact that they we are praying together change us as a nation?
Make America Good Again - let's pray.....
In case you missed them, here are the links to Governor Abbott's and President Trump's proclamations.
https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-issues-a-proclamation-for-day-of-prayer-in-texas-after-hurr?platform=hootsuite
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/09/01/president-donald-j-trump-proclaims-september-3-2017-national-day-prayer
