Lessons from a Text Message

"Hey, on a serious note, I'm trying...", that's the start of the text message I sent through to a friend asking for her support in prayer. When I returned to my phone later to check for new messages, I read her reply, smiled, thanked the Lord for good friends, then read my original message once more...

Sometimes I struggle to ask for help when praying for situations in my life. I suppose I feel that me and Jesus should be able to handle it on our own. (I laugh out loud to myself! He can totally take care of EVERYTHING on His own, this I know.) However, He puts people in our lives to help us bear our burdens. I just have a difficult time trying to figure out when and where to share those burdens. Anyhow, I had been in the valley of decision...should I, or should I not send this text through? I had finally taken a deep breath and hit SEND...

"Hey, on a serious more, I'm trying...", that's the actual text message that got sent through, thanks to auto-correct. Uugh! That didn't even make sense! Bless her heart, I laughed to myself as I imagined her initial response to that message. What?! Again, I made myself a mental sticky-note to ALWAYS go back and read, then edit if necessary before pressing the SEND button. Oh, my. I still smile and laugh inside when I think about it. I'm sure we all make these mistakes occasionally and have to fix the error of our ways.

But as I thought about it for a moment. Her response to "agree with me for the miraculous" proved to me that my message came across loud and clear...even with a slight error. She didn't have to ask, "Now, what exactly did you mean by that?" No, she understood and agreed to offer her support in prayer. I immediately thought of this verse:

"... if two of you shall agree on earth

 as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be 

done for them..." Matthew 18:19

Amazingly enough, like only He can, God showed me two important lessons from this text message:

1) I don't have to get my wording correct when I pray in order for Him to understand what I'm trying to say - and He understands me far better than anyone else I know. I believe that's why the Bible says He knows our needs before we ask. We won't always ask correctly. (However, I have learned to ask His will be done regardless...always - it's best.) WHAT A RELIEF!

2) I can confidently ask for a friend to help me pray. It's OK! God's intentions are for us to come together and help each other. We're not meant to always do it on our own. As we can see in this verse, we are encouraged to bind together in prayer. It brings strength and encouragement to us and helps build our faith TOGETHER. Two are always better than one...unless they're agreeing together as ONE.

So, whatever the outcome, I know God has heard the prayers. I am confident of this one thing: Whatever He wills and however He chooses to work it out, all will be well. Oh, and I'm thanking Him for the lessons He teaches me - on my level. I'm thankful for the people He's placed in my life who will agree with me and pray. I'm also thanking Him for always showing up and answering according to His perfect will. He is ever faithful...even to the point of teaching me a message through a messed up text message.