5 Friday Favorites: February 7, 2025

   

It's time for my Friday link up with  A Little Bit of Everything and Momfessionals. 

On Fridays I share things that made me happy from the week - a photo, a song, a quote, a beauty product, a recipe, a pair of cute shoes, etc. If it's a product, sometimes it's something I actually own and sometimes something I just saw online that gave me a smile. Sometimes it's serious and sometimes it's silly. I suppose I believe that God is in the simple details of life and yes, I can even find Him in a tube of lipstick.

Good morning. It's opening weekend for Drew's college baseball team so we are on our way to watch three games this weekend. February baseball is always a um, blessing? Repeat after me:

I love baseball, I love baseball, I love baseball.

I will not list this coat in my favorites for this week because I've mentioned it infinity times, but rest assured that it will definitely be the MVP of opening weekend. Here are some OTHER favorites from the week.

1.  All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

You guys. Friends. People. Readers. All y'all. LISTEN TO ME. This book. OH MY GOODNESS. Might be one of my favorites ever. Seriously. That's all I have to say. 

2. The Lioness

Steve and I blew through two seasons of this show recently. The acting is phenomenal. Zoe Saldana is the coolest and also stunningly beautiful even with cuts and bruises all over her face. Just FYI, the subject matter is intense. Total 180 from last week's TV suggestion, The Man on the Inside. 

3. Really Sweet and Sentimental Valentine's Gifts for Your Sons

I got these candles for my boys for Valentine's Day. Not sure if they ever actually read this blog, but if you're reading, Joe, Kyle and/or Drew: SURPRISE! I'm not kidding. It's true. I would punch anyone for you.

4. Squeaker of the House by OPI

I got a manicure and pedicure last week and this is the polish I chose. It's a greyish-brown and I love it.

5. On Cutting to the Chase with Jesus

https://biblepic.com

Last week in my Wednesday Bible Study which is my favorite hour of the entire week, we contemplated why many of us are hesitant to be fully honest with God in our prayers. I personally have said more prayers than I can count where I'm basically beating around the bush rather than asking God for exactly and specifically what I want. I was rather stunned to find that in a room of about twenty people, most who have been following Jesus for decades upon decades, I was not the only one.

Isn't that the thing? The lie we tell ourselves, among others? Turns out that we are very rarely - if ever - the only one.

We discussed this tendency to hem and haw around as we pray to the Almighty (and all-knowing, btw) God. 

Seems to be a pattern. My Wednesday friends and I chatter for an hour and half and then I come here and try to work out all of our thoughts. We threw out a few reasons we struggle with this in our prayer life - all of them legitimate to a degree and some I think are certainly Biblical. 

1) We are very aware that "Thy will be done" is a huge part of the first prayer many of us recited by heart. We know this is the "right" way to pray. And it's true. I try very hard to ask God to line up my wants with His will. I don't think this is wrong, but I also think we can hide behind this in an attempt to be "good" Christians. If we are seeking a deep relationship with Jesus, I think that requires us to be honest and vulnerable.

2) We are consumed by guilt and shame that we are asking for anything at all when we have been given so much. Personally, I find this to be my most significant battle when praying. I know there are others with more serious concerns. I might even priortize my prayers - laying out my case so that He is sure to understand that I have a very clear perspective on suffering. 

I battle this nonsense all the time, despite the fact that for years and years the main theme of most of my writing has been that God sees, loves, knows and cares for each of His children - none more significant to Him than the next. One of the first pieces I ever wrote that was read by eyes other than mine encouraged us to remember that when we do that we box God in and limit His power. He is big enough to handle every last request, every sin, every confession, every need. I don't serve a God who is too overwhelmed with requests to hear mine. 

3) Some of us admitted we might "ask around" our true request. If we are sick or in pain, rather than ask for a miracle, we'll ask for wisdom to take the next step, for the skill of our doctors, and for peace and understanding when the struggle or pain remains. None of these prayers are wrong, of course. But we wondered why we won't go all the way in? "HEY, JESUS? PLEASE HEAL ME."

4) We are afraid the answer to our request might be "no" which could result in all manner of crises to our faith. Will the "no" indicate that the God I was certain was good, is not? Will it mean that I am not worthy enough to be blessed with my request? Will it mean that He has rejected me for any number of reasons including that my faith was not strong enough? And the worst of the worst - the thing we dare not whisper - does it mean He is not even there and I have been praying to nothing but the air, my words once spoken, evaporating into an empty void?

I don't have, and on this side of heaven, never will have a full handle on these questions. Which is why I am so grateful to my group of wise and kind and very often confused believers who gather together every week to hash it all out. Sometimes we leave our Wednesday morning with clarity, sometimes with more questions, but almost every time, we leave feeling less alone in a world full of uncertainty.

But more than even this, I am grateful to Scripture which over and over tells us to lay our burdens down at the feet of the One who understands our suffering, who has borne our sin on His shoulders and who will never turn His ear away from a single word we utter. 

Let us then approach God's throne with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need. - Hebrews 4:16

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence - Ephesians 3:12

And this is the confidence that we have toward him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us - 1 John 5:14

And from The Message which always cuts to the chase:

If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get His help and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.- James - 1:5-8

Oh and our very own Jesus did say "Not My will, but Yours be done, Lord." But He started with, "Take this cup from me." Pretty bold, yes?

Go ahead and spit it out, Friends. He'll listen.

Have a blessed weekend.

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