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EN(dur)ANCE by Robin Gudal

I was warm and snuggled up in a fuzzy blanket, and then … I was awakened. A call to prayer. Often when I am awakened in the night to pray, I’ve had something heavy on my heart when I fall asleep. I will not miss this opportunity to lift to his throne what weighs upon my heart. Prayer wakes us up in the night, it has graced the lips of many grandmas and grandpas, it impresses us to pray as we hug an acquaintance in the snack aisle of Walmart and it is a privilege. We should heed the moment when it comes upon us.

“Pray in the spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere” — Ephesians 6:18, NLT.
I remember when Greggy and I were first married he would get up in the night and escape to the next room. I — being young and having moved from my parent’s home to his after we married — got a bit freaked out as I would wake up in the middle of the night to find my new husband “missing.” It became a tongue-in-cheek joke; did the rapture happen and whoosh he was taken? Was I left behind? Now, I knew I was saved so this merely was a silly statement, and in the era of a movie called “Left Behind.” This is a normal occurrence within our 40-plus years of marriage; a call to pray in the night hours. I now see it as a blessing for our family, ministry, friends and to further his kingdom.

“I have come to see prayer as a privilege, not a duty. Like all good things, prayer requires some discipline. Yet, I believe that life with God should seem more like friendship than duty. Prayer includes moments of ecstasy and also dullness, mindless distraction and acute concentration, flashes of joy and bouts of irritation. In other words, prayer has features in common with all relationships that matter.” — Philip Yancey, “Prayer; Does it make a Difference.”

Years ago, when I was leading the TNT Middle School Ministry at YFC I remember sharing with the youth that prayer is just talking to your best friend. It makes the process of prayer so much easier if we equate it with “a conversation.”

“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” — Psalm 145:18, NIV.

We are called to pray for others, whenever and wherever. It is our mission as a Christian and a privilege.

Robin (Beckman) Gudal is intentional in life, a wife, momma, nana, friend and a flawed and imperfect follower of Jesus.