The one accessory that is a must for me each day is earrings.  I feel “naked” or “undressed” if I don’t have my earrings on before I leave the house. My number one go to earring pair is my pearl earrings.  I can go to the store without make up in tattered jeans but I must have my pearl earrings in. I do wear other earrings for specific attires but my daily, most frequent wear are the pearls.  Lady Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough and the daughter of Sir Winston Churchill expressed my sentiments perfectly in a quote about pearls. “I feel undressed if I don’t have my pearls on. My pearls are my security blanket.”  Hum, I have never exactly thought of them as a security blanket; however, I do feel some distress if I reach up and touch my ear lobe and they are not there or one has fallen out. I will quickly purchase another pair. Pearls have been a favorite of mine for some time.  I totally agree with Jackie Kennedy – the wife of the 35th American President John F. Kennedy - who said, “Peals are always appropriate.”  So, when in doubt how to accessorize, wear pearls. You can never go wrong with any attire with pearls.  What makes pearls more special, in my opinion, than other jewels?  An old Chinese proverb says, “Pearls don’t lie on the seashore, if you want one, you must dive for it.” So lets do a deep dive about the significance of pearls. To do that, let’s look at the creation of the pearls.  Precious metal and jewels are found in the ground and excavated, cleaned, buffed, and cut to enhance their worth; however, the pearl is the only jewel found in a living creature.  Pearls are found primarily in oysters, fresh water or saltwater, but even more rare in clams and mussels. Pearls are started when a foreign substance, which becomes an irritant, enters the oyster and becomes embedded. According to HowStuffWorks, (April 16, 2021) How do Oysters make Pearls?, we learn that “­The formation of a natural pearl begins when a foreign substance slips into the oyster between the mantle and the shell, which irritate­s the mantle. It's kind of like the oyster getting a splinter. The oyster's natural reaction is to cover up that irritant to protect itself. The man­tle covers the irritant with layers of the same nacre substance that is used to create the shell. This eventually forms a pearl.” 
The oyster, by covering the irritant with nacre, is trying to make the irritant bearable but the outcome is truly a unique, beautiful piece of creation. I don’t know about you, but if I have a splinter, I to try to remove it quickly.  Honestly, if I anytime of irritant, I look quickly for a relief.  In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul is speaking about boasting.  In verses 5-7, Paul states, “I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.  Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say,  or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.”
 Paul was given an irritant to keep him from being conceited. Paul went to our Father.  In verse 8, Paul pleaded with the Lord to take the thorn away but to no avail. The Lord had another reason for that thorn. In verses 9-10 it says, “ But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  Paul embraced the “thorn” as part of his life, resting in the grace and strength the Lord gave him to endure the thorn.  I try to “run,” get rid of it, avoid the pain, and lessen the time of having to tolerate the irritant.  Yes, I need to seek God for relief or release of the irritant, but if He chooses not to, I need to rest in His grace, which is sufficient for me, to endure the situation and the difficulties it produces. It’s for Christ’s sake in my weakness I am strong.  We have all met people who have suffered so much and testified that it was because of the Lord as in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” “Thorns,” when covered with the Lord’s grace, strength to our weakness for His glory and purpose, create a beautiful, one of a kind “pearl” that we can share with others as encouragement with their “thorn.’
The oyster endures the irritant by surrounding it with his own substance, incorporating it into its very being.  As a result, a precious pearl, full of beauty and value is produced.  Could be that by us “hanging tight” to the Lord through irritants in our life, the trials and tribulations that are unwelcome but arrive at our door, the grace of the Lord to have His perfect work in our lives, will produce a life beautiful and honoring of Him? I will always look at my pearls as a reminder of the Lord allowing un-pleasantries to come my way for His glory. An anonymous author said, “What is important with pearls, is the woman who is wearing them.”  Let’s be women full of grace, having a long string of pearls reflective of the work of the Lord in our lives. Blessings, Karen
 

Fall is off to a quick start and I can’t believe October is almost over.  There are so many things I like about this month like candy corn, pumpkins, leaves changing and all of the butterflies in a flurry everywhere.  I have intentionally cultivated a garden that would attract these pollinators so I can selfishly enjoy watching them flutter around my house and yard. While I have no preference of butterfly color, I do have some that I notice and enjoy. For example, the small, bright, yellow ones that are very prolific or the Monarch Butterfly because of their migratory life.  I saw a beautiful large purple and a black butterfly that were so majestic.  I love all butterflies but I fancy the Monarch Butterfly mainly due to their travel life.
 
 
As missionaries, I can fully relate to maybe not a migratory life but certainly transitional lifestyle. We lived in multiple countries in multiple houses and traveled to multiple countries for various reasons.  During our “life span” in Mexico City, I learned that the Monarch Butterflies migrated to several areas in Mexico.  The closest area to us was the National Park of El Nevado de Toluca and I was determined to go see them dragging the entire family.  The perfect opportunity, so I thought, presented itself when Tiffany, our oldest attending college in Oklahoma wanted to bring her boyfriend Travis down to meet us during Spring Break.  Hindsight is perfect so “they” say and it was probably not the most perfect plan I ever had to implement with people who were not butterfly enthusiasts. To be painfully truthful…. teenagers do not care if they see the Monarch Butterfly in their migratory location.
 
We packed lunch and I enthusiastically talked up the trip as a great opportunity in life to see trees completely orange due to the magnitude of butterflies as we traveled the two hours to the areas. We had planned additional time in the park nearby to ride horses and four wheelers. That was to be the trip saver if the butterflies did not overwhelm them. Upon arrival and much to my dismay and anguish, we were at the conclusion of their overwintering hibernation.  To be able to see whatever butterflies were left in the forest mountain, we would have to hike up the mountain a couple of miles.  Okay, need I say more?  What I had envisioned our time being in the splendor presence of untold number of butterflies, painting the trees orange had just imploded in my mind.  At this point, only Travis was being kind about the adventure, because the rest of the troops were “belly aching” but marched on.  We did rent a couple of horses to carry a few of us up the mountain.  Why we did that I don’t know.  I yielded my horse to the most vocal complainant, which then turn into a comical fiasco because this is the child who was afraid of horses and to add insult upon injury was riding on a small trail straight up the side of the mountain.
 
I wish I could report that the lengthy endeavor bore out fruitfully but then I would be fibbing. Did we see some Monarchs,?  Yes we did but if I was honest, it was probably the dead carcasses of Monarchs who did not live long enough to leave the trees. Darrell said they were there by the thousands but not the millions as anticipated.  Fortunately, the entire trip was not a bust because lunch was good and the kids really enjoyed the four wheeling and horse riding activities. Oh the plans we can conjure up with very little consideration to the time, cost, value and potential damage on those whom we impose those plans.
 
The thought of plans led me first to the Tower of Babel.  In Genesis 11:1-19 we find that the whole world had a common language and speech.  The people were moving eastward and settled in a plain called Shinar.  It’s here that they concocted their elaborate plan to build a tower.  In verse 4, they lay out their plan. “Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” In their plan they had three goals: build a city for themselves, have a tower to reach the heavens and to make a name for themselves.  There was nothing about God in that plan.  Then God responded.  In verses 5-7 it says, “But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building”.  The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” And the Lord’s results: He scattered them over the earth and the building on the tower was stopped.  They couldn’t communicate with each other, hence, it’s called Babel.  People were scattered around the world with different languages. Oh the plans we can conjure up.   
 
 
I have heard people ask or discuss if God needs to be involved in every decision that we make.  I believe there is a balance, one that reflects the “sense” that God has given us.  Nowadays, that very word “sense” should not be held as an absolute because “common sense” and what is right and wrong is all mixed up in our society.  We take to God whatever decision we feel we need help making or appear to be in question.  That sounds simple, but for me that pertains to low hanging fruit decisions that we make daily.  Should I go to the grocery store today or tomorrow, where should we eat etc? Actually, we feel at a loss of decision-making power when it comes to where to eat so that might need to be prayed about.   A good practice is to start the day with prayer and asking God to order you steps, to be under the direction of the Holy Spirit and to reflect Jesus to everyone.  This helps with our daily activities.  God can put us in the right place at the right time with the right person who needs to know about Jesus.  Now for the bigger plans, those that affect relationships, finances, career, church, ministry, God should be in the very middle of those decisions.  We need Him to keep us on the straight and narrow, not to get derailed by our own thoughts that lead to ungodly decisions. Our plans should reflect God’s influence and direction.  He will work all things out with timing, resources, provisions and all that concerns us.  Scripture is full of biblical wisdom on plans.  I have listed just a few to encourage you to center on God before making plans,
 
Blessings,
Karen
 
 PS: Consider reading another tragic plan developed by people that took them to an unwanted destination. Exodus 24-32. (primarily Chapters 24, 31-32)
 
 Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 16: 3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
Proverbs 16: 9 In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

At the end of September, a friend posted an October scripture reading challenge where all of the verses mentioned eyes.  I picked up the gauntlet and have been reading various scriptures all pertaining to eyes, most of which are about His eyes, the Lord’s eyes, on us. This month’s verse focus has brought to mind the verse Psalm 121:3-4 which states “He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. His eyes are never closed.”  I have often said in my prayers “God, don’t you see how your loved one (or I might use a specific name) is suffering, in pain, is lonely, in need, etc.”  When I pray in that manner, I am questioning God as to whether He is seeing what I am seeing.  I feel my own rebuke for even giving a breath to His lack of seeing the situation.  The truth is that He saw it long before I did in a completely comprehensive, all knowing manner.
 
Three years ago, I had an experience that I fortunately had only heard about but never experienced.  I was sitting in my area in the ICU at the hospital one Monday morning and turned my head rather quickly to the wall clock wondering how time was passing.  In that movement I saw burst of light and flashes followed by “floaters” little spots floating in my vision.  As I turned back, I knew immediately, without asking anyone I had a torn retina. I also knew that to prevent permanent, irreparable damage, the eye would need to be treated by laser within a week.  Only by God’s help did I really have such a grasp on what just happened.  The experience was classic symptoms. I informed my supervisor and left early that day in search of an eye doctor who took my insurance so that I could have an exam.  I still had vision and drove myself to my area of town. I parked in one of the parking lots in the shopping area.  I began to pray, asking God to help me in my search of an eye doctor harshly chastising myself for not knowing my eye care insurance and my lack of attention to the care of my eyes.  By God’s power, the first office I entered was able to service me immediately giving me a limited report of both of my eyes given their exam limitations.  It’s an understatement to say I was overwhelmed with the description of what the doctor said but moreover dismayed that this was not a one-stop remedy office.  The eye doctor could not fully assess my eyes, so I would have to be referred to a retina specialty doctor.
 
Do you ever feel like things are just not simple in life any more?  While I felt some relief to have a referral to the retina doctor, I quickly discovered that due to insurance I needed a PCP referral not just a referral from the eye doctor, or maybe the better term is eye examiner. You know, the people who evaluate you for glasses.  Nevertheless, I already knew the PCP referral was going to be an issue because the Thursday before I tried to see the PCP for an issue; however he was out of town for several weeks.  I once again was going to the Lord for help because I knew this was a problem that couldn’t be shelved for weeks.  I had seen a random doctor the week before who, while not in practice with my doctor, was in network with my insurance.  Because he had seen me the week before, by God’s divine intervention, he was willing to write a PCP referral to the retina specialist. See, while God sees all, never sleeps nor slumbers, we know God is at work. In John 5, Jesus had gone up to Jerusalem and saw the pool called Bethesda. John 5:3-7 says “Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, Do you want to get well? Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath, which incited the Jews to persecute him for doing such things.  In verse 17, “ In his defense Jesus said to them, My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”  Jesus saw the man’s need and he worked on his behalf.
 
Not only are His eyes always open, He never sleeps nor slumbers but He is always at His work daily.  God knew the event would happen on that Monday morning.  The previous week, I had a rare occasion to need to see a random substitute doctor who then, because he had seen me the week before was willing to write a referral for me to see the retina specialist.  This was not just good luck or happenstance but God saw me, was already working on my behalf to meet a need I didn’t know I was going to have the next week. I saw the retina specialist the next day on Tuesday and on Friday had that week laser surgery for the torn retina, which was located at the 6-9 (0’clock) place in the right eye.
 
I never express enough gratitude for my husband. Prior to the surgery, Darrell called the elders from our church seeking to follow James 5:14-16  “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” I appreciated the elders coming to our home to pray for me. Prior to their visit, in my prayer time, the Lord led me to Psalm 37: 23-25 stating “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” This was a confessional of my faith as I faced challenging situation. 
The surgery was a success and I thank God for enabling me to see, literally, 2 new grandchildren and the others grow. Working through these eye verses reminds me that God’s eyes are on me. God is good, faithfulness and loves for me. He sees you too! He has not gone to “sleep” on your prayers!  He is working even when we don’t see Him working.  There is peace in trusting God.
If you would like the “eye” verses, I will share.
Blessings
Karen

I grew up in a home that was a fan of John Wayne (JW).  I don’t recall a single movie that “was out of bounds” to watch with JW.  I remember going to the drive in and having to close our eyes during the previews of other movies but not with JW.  The one movie I remember from the drive in was “McLintock”.  The movie was a western comedy, which was released in 1963.  True to his form, JW was “loud and proud” in his performance.  This movie’s copyright was not guarded and became public domain about 1991 as a result often telecasted.  Our “smart” tv plays the movie frequently and I was intrigued by a line I heard recently while watching the movie. In addressing his movie wife, Maureen O’Hara MH, JW says to her “you women are always raising h__ about one thing when it’s something else you’re really sore about”.  Who knows how many times I have seen that particular scene but never gave it another thought until now.
 
I have to agree with JW’s line.  So many times, what presents, with our demeanor, tone, words, and actions are really a “smoke screen” to what is really bothering us.  We initiate the “silent treatment”, avoidance and short responses as evidence that something is wrong in our heart and mind but when asked we dismiss the actions, as “oh nothing is wrong”.  I don’t know who, we think we are fooling, our husband, God or even ourselves. I would suggest there is a root cause to our outward responses that don’t match up to “oh nothing is wrong”.
 
I would venture to say that the story of Jonah is an all time favorite of most “churched” children.  I certainly have mentioned the story in a previous blog but let’s look at it again with maybe a different “filter” or “lens”.  In Jonah 1 it opens with  (NIV) “The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” There is no doubt that Jonah received the instruction but refused to accept the assignment.  We see immediately Jonah in action.  Instead of “fight”, Jonah took “flight”. He ran away from the Lord boarding a ship going in the complete opposite direction than Nineveh. God had not merely suggested to Jonah to go to Nineveh but commanded him to go. God pursued Jonah because God had a purpose to be fulfilled in the lives of the people of Nineveh.  Jonah, chapter 1, details how Jonah was tossed over board by the sailors to calm a storm and gobbled up by a large fish that God sent.  Up to this point in the story, most of us would classify Jonah’s presenting problem as disobedience to the command of the Lord. I would agree but let’s continue into this book of Jonah.
 
Chapter 2:1-10 opens with Jonah praying.  His problem has brought him to communicate with God.  From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.  He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.  You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.       I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; toward your holy temple.’  The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.  To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.  “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.  “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.  But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.”  And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. 
 
Jonah voices a powerful prayer to God and exposed that he had previously vowed to God. Jonah has a change of mind and goes to proclaim the message that the Lord had given him to the people of Nineveh. In Jonah 3:10, the result was “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.” These results of a change in the heart of people and their return to God would be what any Sunday morning preacher would be shouting Hallelujah. But it was not so with Jonah.  Now we deep dive into the root of his problem. 
Jonah 4:1-4, But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry.  He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.  Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”  But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”  Jonah is in a full pity party, sitting by himself in the heat.  God grows a plant to shade him, provided a worm to eat the plant, which withered the plant, sent extreme wind and heat so much so Jonah wanted to die.  God has the final words in verses 10-11; But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.  And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
 
What would you say “really” is the problem with Jonah?  What is the very root of his anger?  Jonah did not want the people to have opportunity to repent because Jonah knew God was gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love. Jonah was angry, that the people has an opportunity to repent and could it be that he was also angry at God for his compassion and love for the people?
 
I think many times we have just “surface” problems like Jonah’s disobedience but there is a deeper root problem and I would even go so far to say it might be anger.  We are angry that our expectations were not met, we were not valued or respected by someone or God disappointed us and the list goes on of the violations we feel.   I would even go so far as to say, with anger we attach a face to it.  Maybe not the correct face, which would be displaced anger, but there is usually a human face we see as the culprit or cause of our anger. 
 
I do believe that sometimes we don’t really know what the root is of us being out of sorts.  Next time you find yourself falling into giving the silent treatment, avoiding people, expressing curt or short responses and lack the joy of the Lord, go before the Lord and ask Him to work Psalm 139:23-24 in your heart: Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me.
 
We need to deal with the root of our problems because our heart is affected. Remember Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it”.
 
JW got to the root of the issues with his movie wife, MH.  Later in the movie at the high point of “shenanigans”, JW says to MH, “You are going to tell me why you packed up, picked up and walked out on me 2 years ago”.  MH response “You came home from Denver with lipstick all over” at which point MH falls out of the window. She was angry and suspicious of JW’s behavior. This is a great example of the lack of communicating with each other about what is truly bothering us but having surface responses something is wrong. An additional comment on this movie is that while it was a western comedy, JW, at the root of motivations wanted to express his political position, which was in opposition of what was historically happening in the US.
 
 How do we respond? Communicate with God first, sorting things out and getting our heart cleaned up.  We may have to make amends to those who have been the “faces” of our anger.
 
Blessings,
Karen

Saturday was an interesting morning.  Darrell and I had our usual walk and I had “directed” myself that I was going to attend to some long overdue garden issues.   Since my mother died, I haven’t had much gusto to decorate for the holidays but this season I was going to improve upon my feeble attempt from last year.  I rummaged through a corner in the garage and located some of my fall yard décor.  I had decided to stick a cute sunflower flag in the corner of the front stone flowerbed.  At that spot, the bed is mid thigh high.  Instead of climbing into the bed to step down on the prongs, I just threw my right leg over the top level of the stone bed and was successfully able to press the prongs down.  It was a quick fix.  No problem until I attempted to swing my leg back over the top of the ledge and my shoe got caught.  My foot flew up and I braced my fall to the ground with my left hand. Lying on the ground, I thought quickly I should arise lest one of my neighbors would think I was injured.  Two prideful thoughts infiltrated that colossal mistake.  Scripture says in Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.  Certainly it was my overwhelming pride in my agile ability to do the act in that manner and caution to the wind that while I am 63 I think I can move as if I am 30. I certainly did not want my neighbors to see me laying in the yard, in the front yard of the house on the corner by the neighborhood entrance in need of help.  My whole mentality and actions screamed of my pride and haughty spirit, which did end in a fall. I will check with Darrell about that scriptural application.

Pride is not the topic this week but prayer.  I called out to God in prayer in the midst of my excruciating pain and in between making some phone calls. I asked God to sustain me through the pain.  I even pepped talked myself that I had birthed 5 children naturally, confident I could manage the wrist and arm pain.  That was another one of my prideful moments. Darrell was not at home at the time of my fall but I called him. We were not sure if it was a sprain or a break/fracture.  After some time, I decided I would take myself to urgent care.  Darrell was coming right behind me in his truck.  On the way I focused only on God, asking Him to continue to sustain me in the pain, to heal me and give the doctor wisdom.  How quickly I called on the attributes of God to meet my needs.  Prayer is our lifeline to our God for all of our needs.  Prayer is one of our foundational activities in our fellowship with God our Father.

Every thing, topic, thought, forgiveness, sin and need can be taken to God in prayer. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV) scriptures says: Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:4-8 instructs us to: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Jesus speaks about prayer in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:1-13 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
 Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts,
 as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Later in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:7-12 Jesus stated,  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!  So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.  These words ask, seek, knock are commands in present tense to 2nd person plural “ya’ll.

 Our prayer is not only for our needs but to also express our adoration of God, hallowing His name and expressing gratitude.  I did get to the point of expressing thanksgiving to God that the waiting room was not full, I was seen relatively quickly, there was a clear diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. 

Here are some people in scripture you might know that prayed to God for help.                                                                                  
Courage:                                                                       Moses - Exodus 3:12-12
                                                                                        Daniel - Daniel 6:10
Direction/Wisdom:                                                    Solomon – 1 Kings 3:7-9 
Distressed/Help:                                                             David – Psalm 77:2-6
Provision:                                                                          Abraham Genesis 22:1-18
Healing:                                                                            Ananias prayed for Paul Acts 9:13-17
                                                                                           Peter prayed for Tabitha Acts:9:32-43
Fear:                                                                                  Gideon Judges7:3-15
 Thanksgiving:                                                                 Paul - Philippians 1:3-6
I leave you with this truth we can go to God with anything and everything.  God is big enough to handle all of your emotions, thoughts, worries…. the whole kitchen sink of dirty dishes.  God is good and loves us. 
I did fracture my wrist. No surgery needed.  Brace for 6 weeks.  (I am thankful that I have another hand to type)
Blessings,
Karen