Communication Lines
How healthy would your family relationships be if you never talked? Not very. We don’t need a Ph.D. in psychology to know that communication is the lifeblood of any relationship. The success of any relationship rises or falls upon the level of healthy communication.
The same is true spiritually. Our Christian life is a one-on-one relationship with God, and prayer is a vital part of the communication system that sustains this relationship. Open and frequent communication makes for thriving relationships; pallid and sparse communication leads to relationships that wither on the vine. If our prayer life is humming with freely flowing conversation, it infuses our Christian life with holy power. Our potentially powerful Christian life takes on a sickly pall and dwindles if neglected.
Within a relationship, communication is the vehicle by which we share our hearts, our minds—our very selves. Through talking, we share what makes us who we are, our life stories, our wounds, our joys, and our deepest longings. When a friend cares enough to listen, a beautiful thing transpires—we are woven together. We are now inseparable because we are knit together.
The same thing happens in our relationship with God through prayer. He already intimately knows us because He created us. However, He desires that we know Him and be known by Him through our relationship. We speak to Him in prayer, and He speaks to us through Scripture.
Through prayer, we share our hearts, minds, and very selves with the One Who created us. We are reunited with our Maker and Father as we discover who He made us to be and how He hardwired us. We discover what great works He has prepared for us to carry out in His name. Through prayer, He guides us in the truth of Scripture, pointing our way and guiding us—transforming us into who He had in mind for us to become from the very beginning.
As we lift our hearts to Him in prayer and share all the stories, wounds, and longings, something beautiful transpires between the Creator and creation as He stoops to take us up. He delights over us with singing—the Creator adoring His creation and condescending to engage with us in a life-altering relationship.
Even though I was raised in a praying family, prayer was more of a Christian duty than a life-giving connection to my divine Power Source. I believed my prayers should rock the heavens with their on-point theology and articulate petitions. I would labor in prayer, and God would act according to my well-stated wishes. Then, harsh reality collided with my lofty expectations. I was caring for two preemies—Luke was tiny but healthy, and Matthew was tiny with obvious needs. I had no other option but to go straight up and straight down—straight up to God for strength and straight down oin my knees in prayer.
I began a conversation with God in the wee hours as I fed and resettled babies. My conversations continued through early mornings as I fumbled about bleary-eyed, trying to start my first pot of coffee. We talked about my exhaustion, confusion, and disappointment. We discussed the sermons on Christian radio and how the truth resonated with my soul. We talked about Matthew’s lagging development.
He talked to me through Scripture of His unfailing love, power, wisdom, and strength. He urged me to trust Him and sent me again and again to His word to show me why He is trustworthy. He was at work, bringing about His deep and beautiful plan. He asked me to cooperate with Him, to allow Him to do His work in His time and His way. It was not the easiest way, but it was the best. However, I must cooperate as He did His marvelous work. His way would likely crush me. However, He would be with me through it all. Something profound and lovely would transpire between He and I, and I would never be the same again.
The life-breath of our relationship was prayer; it remains so to this day. Our conversations often begin somewhere in the night as I reposition in bed and continue in the early morning as I grope about for my reading glasses and squint into the bathroom mirror at my bedhead. By the time I settle in with my Bible and journal and the first of many steaming mugs of strong black coffee, He and I are already deep in conversation. As I settle in for an unhindered conversation with the Ancient of Days, He speaks through His word, and I listen and respond through journaling and prayer.
The reverse is also true. When I rush headlong into my days, dragged along by urgent demands, I am soon reeling, without solid footing, sinking and powerless. The route back to strength and stability is tapping into the powerful communication line that immediately connects me to my heavenly power source. Within moments, I am infused with His love, and our vibrant communication is restored, and my soul affirms the words of the psalmist:
“I had said in my alarm, “I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help. . . Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 31:22 & 24)