Friday, April 4
Exodus 2:1-22
Psalms 95, 107
1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3
Mark 9:2-13
Psalm 107:6
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress
I am what is called a “cradle Episcopalian”
actually a “cradle Anglican” would be more correct. One of my earliest memories
is of my mother praying. Every morning when she made the bed she and father
slept in, she would kneel down beside it and say her prayers. I would kneel beside her. This was a time of quietness and peace.
It was in London in the 1940’s during WWII. Her
prayers always included thanks to God for sparing us from bombs that were being
dropped on us and our neighbors, most nights. There were so many things she
prayed about, and requested, many of them prayed in silence, very often my
knees would get tired and I would have to stand up. She always ended with the
Lord’s Prayer and that is how I learnt it. I also learnt many hymns she sang,
along with more prayers when we spent the nights in the air raid shelter in our
back garden.
My mother was a gregarious, fun- loving Irish
Protestant Mum who believed that prayer is, and was, the answer to any problem.
Pray every day and give thanks for all His gifts to us. She also told me that
God doesn’t always answer your prayers, as you would like, but be patient and
an answer comes, often in a surprising way. He is always there for you, any
time, and any day. I have followed her advice and you know what? In some of the
darkest, loneliest and most painful days of my life I have found His peace and
solace. Thanks, Mum and thanks be to our most loving gracious Savior.
Amen.
“To be empty of things is to be full of God”
Joyce Merrett