Unwrapping one of God's Greatest Gifts—A blog series on prayer

My husband gave me a big leather box this Christmas. It was black and had a cool silver swirly thingy towards the top. But all I could see was a box. I turned it upside down. I turned it around. I touched the swirly thing. But I had no idea what I was supposed to do with the box. I kept a smile fixed to my face as I said thank you.

“Do you know what it is?” he laughed.

“Not a clue,” I admitted.

“Lift up on the silver handle and then pull down on the inside flap.”

It was a jewelry box!!

Apparently the push pins I had jammed into every surface of our bathroom closet to hold my necklaces provided the inspiration for the gift 😉

Over the next few days as I began placing my jewelry in that box—opening and exploring every nook and cranny, I began to think about prayer…

For as beautiful as the gift of prayer is, how often do we look at it without really knowing what it is? How content are we to just place it on a shelf without using it for its intended purpose?

Our pastor asked a this question on facebook last week:

If you could ask the Lord one honest question about prayer knowing you would receive an answer, what would you ask?

By the replies to his post, it’s pretty clear that I’m not the only one with lots of prayer questions.

Clearly, prayer is a gift from God—of that I am sure. But I think sometimes prayer a lot like my big black mystery box.

So this year I am on a quest to better understand the gift of prayer. I want God to show me how to lift the swirly thingy and lower the inside flap so I can better see the resource He has given me—given every one who trusts in His Son.

Want to join me?

I won’t pretend to have all the answers (in fact, I have more questions than answers in every area of my life!) But I want to learn and I want to share what I learn.

So if you would like to join me—and haven’t already—be sure to sign up to receive posts to your email. You will also get a spiffy JOEY poster for signing up! 😉

And if you have a specific question about prayer send it to me! I’ll add it to my giant list of questions and ponder over that one too! You can comment here or email me at jen@jenniferbleakley.com