Asking Expectantly

What have you been praying for lately? In your prayer life, do you pray hesitantly or expectantly? I confess that often I pray timidly, not totally praying in faith for God to answer my prayers and meet my needs. You would think that after all of the examples of His faithfulness in my life, I would pray expectantly, knowing that He would sovereignly answer the prayers of my heart. Yet He used a 3 year old girl to remind me that too often I pray hesitantly and not expectantly.
While in Juarez, I bonded with a tiny 3 year old girl, who fell asleep in my arms within hours of me meeting her. Over then next 48 hours, we shared many songs, car rides, naps, and smiles...even though I could only speak a little of her language, and she could speak none of mine. She captured my heart as she sang, danced, and wouldn't let me put her down before we left. While her face will remain in my mind, the way God used her to teach me about prayer will remain in my heart!
A little while before we left, I was talking with some of the older girls, and this little 3 year old walked up to me, tapped my leg, handed me her two ponytail rubberbands, and turned around. Without a word of communication, or even really thinking, I squatted down to put her pigtails back in her hair. I didn't ask her what happened or wait for her to tell me what she needed, I just acted out of seeing her need, and her boldness of knowing she could ask me to do this for her and I would respond.
And I realized that just as she approached me, knowing I would help her, that is how I am to approach God with my needs and requests in prayer. Jesus taught us that through Him, we can bring all of our requests, prayers & needs to God...knowing that it is natural for Him to answer them because of who He is (Matthew 7:7-11).
So as we go through our day, let us come humbly,continually, and expectantly before the sovereign God of the universe with our needs.

"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)

"...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." (Philippians 4:6)

Forgotten People

Recently, I was blessed to be able to spend some time in Juarez with some very special kids at an orphanage. These kids, who have been abandoned by their families, are living very tough lives in a city that is known for it's violence and evil. The atrocities that are happening in this town are at times hard to comprehend, and so often when we can't comprehend something, we ignore it. Or we hear the statistics so often that we become too familiar with them and can become numb to them. But as I spent time with these forgotten kids, I was convicted.Convicted because one of the comments I heard from several people in Juarez was that they felt like the church just over the border in the US had become so numb to the deadly statistics that they just forgot about their brothers and sisters who were suffering just miles from where they are living in comfort and safety.
And I am among the guilty! Juarez isn't that far from where I am, yet I haven't even consistently prayed for what is going on there. I confess that I am not prompted to pray enough - even as I read more stories on the killings in Juarez or hear another story on the news.
Not only was I convicted about Juarez, but it also spurred me on to ask what my Juarez is here in Denver. Who are the people who are suffering that I am often overlooking? Who are the people who are suffering that I have become numb to as I hear their stories?
Lord, let me be more like the Samaritan who has compassionate eyes to see those in need, and less like the man who asked "Who is my neighbor?" as he tried to avoid the messiness and danger of getting involved in serving those in need.