Purpose-full Interruptions
But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, at an acceptable time; O God, in the greatness of Your lovingkindness, Answer me with Your saving truth. Psalm 69:13
One of my grandkids had a major writing project and it was really stressing her out. She felt so frustrated and “stuck!” We worked together on brain-storming ideas for how to go about completing it, but nothing clicked.
Finally, realizing she was exhausted from a week of studying late into the night for finals coupled with getting up early for gymnastics followed by even more studying all day and now this project, she decided to go to bed extra early (6 pm), then wake fresh in the morning. I thought that was a great idea.
As I told her, I learned – when I was struggling with college algebra a few years ago – that a problem which seemed impossible to complete in the evening was practically a “piece of cake” in the morning when I was fresh and well-rested. So we prayed for wisdom and clarity for her, and she went to sleep.
I continued to pray for her as God reminded me that evening and first thing in the morning. As I did, God gave me the great idea of helping her organize her project in a different way than she’d been thinking – using a basic outline form instead. I gave her some examples to show her what I meant and left her to it. It wasn’t as simple as I had hoped, but a couple of hours later, she had “cracked the code” and come up with an excellent paper.
Many times, when we are “stuck” with our own writing projects, taking a purpose-full break coupled with prayer (including asking others to pray for us) can make all the difference in the world.
Dear Father, Please give me the wisdom when “stuck” to stop, pray, and rest, as I wait on You for the wisdom to proceed. Amen