Finished; not DONE! ;^)

I hate endings; they always make me cry! Even happy endings are hard for me. (I'm strange; I know.) Well, earlier this year I started reading a book and today I finished it. 

I know what you're thinking: "Isn't the whole point of starting a book-to finish it?" And, yes, you would be correct. I always knew the book would come to a conclusion. What I didn't know, though was the profound effect this book, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference, by Philip Yancey, would have on me!

As I finished this book I was hit by 2 things. First: I had it all wrong. And second? This is only the beginning! I've included a few of my favorite excerpts from the last chapter.I hope you enjoy!

I pray in astonished belief that God desires an ongoing relationship. I pray in trust that the act of prayer is God's designated way of closing the vast gulf between infinity and me. I pray in order to put myself in the stream of God's healing work on earth. I pray as I breathe-because I can't help it.

The book of Revelation describes a time of full restoration when "they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will pass away." 

Prayer itself will necessarily change-not end, exactly but realize its rightful place as conversation. Prayer now is a kind of awkward rehearsal, like talking on a mobile phone to someone in Africa, the connection garbled and staticky, the English broken and accented. God "has never acquiesced in the break which was brought about in Adam," wrote Jacques Ellul. Indeed God has not. The entire Bible chronicles God's effort to renew what was lost on that day in the garden when Adam hid and no longer conversed with God as a friend. One day we will all have that chance. 

The Lord used this book to profoundly, and I hope forever, change the way I view prayer. I want to close with the last paragraph of the book and a thought: I may be "finished" with this book but I am not done. Something or rather Someone, led me here-to this book. His desire? A stronger; deeper; more intimate relationship with me. One that will carry me through this life-right into the next!

Yancey (a much better writer than I) speaks about that day, when we will see our God face-to-face.

Sometimes I think about my first face-to-face conversation with God. I have so many unresolved questions, so many laments and regrets. Where should I begin? Various openings play out in my mind, until I remember with a start whom in fact I will be talking to, the One who spun out galaxies and created all that exists. Objections fade away, doubts dissolve, and I imagine myself falling back on words akin to Job's: "Oh, now I get it." And then the conversation resumes.

 Loving and praying for you all today!