The Power of Prayer

Today's Sunday School lesson was called "Choose Prayer." The Biblical Truth in the lesson was that because each situation is different, prayer helps us know how to proceed when facing attacks or difficulties. The Sunday School lesson reminded us to (1) Stand Firm Even With No Guarantee of the Outcome (2) Pray Before Stepping into Battle and (3) Pray Before Retreating from Attack. This lesson hit home. Hard. When we found out we were pregnant with the twins, we started added "and bless the babies" into our prayers whether it was meal time blessings or even Abby including them in her night time prayers. And then when it was obvious that there were difficulties with the pregnancy, we started adding "And please bless Barbara and her health." Every day we were praying for this pregnancy and those babies. Then the bottom fell out in April (no pun intended, ha!) and we were off to Pensacola. If you don't know the story, one twins sac ruptured while the other's was in tact. The one that ruptured (Reagan - no surprise there...she was the most active in the womb for the pregnancy's first 5 months) wasn't doing well. When I was admitted to Sacred Heart Hospital, Reagan's AFI (Amniotic Fluid Index) or MVP (Maximal Vertical Pocket - what you measure the AFI with when it is a multiple pregnancy) was low - very low. Basically nothing. Of course we cried. How would she survive? But we prayed. And we got prayer warriors on top of it as well. God heard from everyone of us from Pensacola to Texas, from Canada to Mexico, from Alaska to Colorado...everywhere. Sitting in the hospital, I would tune out TV and find myself constantly talking to God. No, that's not right - I wasn't just talking, I was begging. Two days after Reagan's water broke, another ultrasound showed something unbelievably crazy - amniotic fluid! Now, a baby can urinate and refill the sac but (1) it was more fluid than just urine and (2) there was no leaking out of the sac - not one drop. When we talked with our Maternal Fetal Medicine (High Risk) doctor, he flat out said "This is God's work." The result of prayer. You think it doesn't work? Ask me for one of the hundreds more examples of his work that we experienced as a result of prayer. (Including watching the doctor fall to his knees in prayer in the middle of one of our amniocentesis. An image I will NEVER forget.) Have you ever wondered if God is listening to you? Prayer is how God communicates with us. Through prayer we can learn of God's desires for our lives. Want proof? Look in the pudding... Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. (Psalm 25:12)