Prodigal: Nothing has changed with the plants yet.

Me: No, but the growth will happen, just wait and see.

This is from the book Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster

To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ.

We also will seek prayer when we need to change. God called me to forgive. It really was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to ignore the conviction in my spirit. I wanted to pretend that I had forgiven. God does not want our spirit to dry up like the leaves in fall. No, He wants us to grow, become alive. He had given me several different verses on forgiveness. I finally stopped the running. I acknowledge the call. I dropped to my knees in prayer. In that instance, I pray. I pray because I cannot forgive alone. I pray because my spirit needs help to focus on the things of God at this time. I pray because God, I need to change.

LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

Isaiah 25:1

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org