Thursday, February 10, 2011

Pray to Reach Peace

 
Photo stolen from Amazon.com

     Over the past few weeks, I read Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist.  I'm not much of a book reviewer so I will simply say:
  • I would recommend this book
  • It didn't blow me away like her previous book, Cold Tangerines
  • I wanted to dissect it, and give certain chapters/essays to certain friends--friends who seemed to need to hear just what she was writing about because it was what they were living at that very moment.
     The thing that grabbed me most firmly while reading the book was not something she created, but a thought attributed to her father, Bill Hybels.  I liked it so much (needed to read it again and again), I dog-earred the page so I would easily find it again.  It is beautiful, but I needn't comment on it more.
     "Someone asked my dad recently how often we can pray for the very same thing, and he said that we should pray as often as we need to until the anxiety subsides, until, as it says in the Bible, we are filled with the peace that passes human understanding."
by at
Somewhat organized... ,

3 comments:

ALI said...

The quote grabbed me, as the question was similar to a situation shared with me during my conversion.

Our teacher conveyed a Priest once asked her during confession why she confessed the same sin repeatedly?

She responded with how she was still bothered by her previous action.

Father responded to her "Do you believe God was lying when he spoke of confessing sins & that you would be forgiven?"

Of course she didn't.

It helped her to find peace with her past actions and to learn from them.

So yes, I agree with your quote on some things - things we don't understand or are contemplating, but on confessions of sin? No, I think we need to focus on what we learned from the experience & focus on how to not repeat it.

February 10, 2011 at 6:54 AM
Ellen aka Ellie said...

Interesting thought, but I don't know that I ever pray a prayer of confession more than once unless it's something I'm struggling with not repeating/perpetuating.

I hadn't thought of that...mostly I was considering praise and requests (supplication?)

February 10, 2011 at 6:55 AM
purejoy said...

i am always reminded about abram and sarai and how they prayed so long for a family. or for elizabeth and zachariah and how they prayed without ceasing… in today's culture if it doesn't happen instantaneously, we lose interest and move on.
this is yet another spiritual discipline in a long, long list of disciplines. perseverance. thanks for the reminder.

February 10, 2011 at 7:49 AM

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