Prayer Streaming – #9

Prayer Streaming – the Abiding Heart

This chapter is so good, that I can’t quite process all my thoughts without writing the great American novel. It also connects to the post I did on Friday about being a prisoner of hope. So here’s a little testimony to go with the abiding in Him chapter.

Last fall we got notified that the IRS was going to audit our 2005 income taxes. Even when you have not done anything wrong, the word audit is pretty intimidating. I got all in a snit and a bother and the stress of this weighed heavy on me for several weeks.

One Saturday morning, I came to prayer and my dear friend Gay came up to me with something in a bag. She told me that she had been in Walmart and God had told her to give this to me. I opened the bag and inside was a coffee mug with a penguin on it. Penguins are my FAVORITE and I really appreciated the fact that of all the mugs in the store God had directed her right to the one I would have picked up for myself.

But God wasn’t done with me. I went home that afternoon and as I was cleaning, I felt the LORD tell me to look at the mug. Then it hit me again that penguins are my favorite, and that I am God’s favorite. It blessed me and I thanked Him for the reminder. But God wasn’t done with me yet. He said to me, “LOOK at the penguin.” And it hit me. This penguin was praising God. He had his little face turned to the sky and his wings were lifted up. God showed me through a gift that if I will turn and praise Him no matter what is going on, that since I am His favorite, He will take care of me.

So the discipline of learning to always look up and praise (or abide in Him) even when I am afraid or the circumstances around me look like the waves did to Peter when he got out of the boat is a huge lesson for me. I have been working on this daily since the end of November, and you know what – it’s working. The fear and anxiety are not the hallmark of my days. And somehow the hard times seem to be shorter than they have in the past.

Oh and by the way, even though 75% of the people who get audited end up having to pay more taxes, the IRS ended up owing us $147 since we had under-reported our church giving. Hmmm…giving to God paid out in the end.