Prayers for a Friend

A few years ago, when Ben and I went to Charleston for Spring Break, I thought I might be pregnant. This meant that I may or may not have been able to eat certain types of seafood on the trip. Ben LOVES seafood, and I'm not crazy about it, but I was still excited about having the experience. But, if I was pregnant, I would probably be missing out on some good food, and of course, accompanying wine. :-) Either way, I was golden: Not pregnant - seafood. Pregnant - no seafood, but a BABY!

One of my very best friends is trying to get pregnant. She has been trying to get pregnant for a loooong time. She and her husband are in the part of the month where they are waiting to find out if they indeed planted the seed. (Hehe.) She asked me the other day to pray for them. So, I did. And then I prayed some more. I have been praying so hard for them that I feel like my head is going to explode.

My prayers usually start out like this:

Dear God, please give my friends a baby. Right now. They have waited long enough.

But I know that this is not how prayer works. God is not a magician, or a genie who grants wishes. If He was, then Kurt would still be here. So instead, I pray like this:

Dear God, give my friends peace. And no matter what, let their hearts be full.

These friends are getting ready to go on a big trip. I won't tell you where they are going, but I will tell you that it involves characters and insanely happy people and sunshine and roller coasters. I think about my friend preparing for this trip, not knowing if she is pregnant or not. I imagine her being pregnant and missing out on some things on this trip because of it, and I imagine her being so happy that she doesn't even give a crap. And, I imagine her not being pregnant, and being disappointed...again. But then I think about all of the wonderful things she will get to experience on this trip that she wouldn't otherwise. So I change my prayer again:

Dear God, please give my friends a baby. Very soon. They have been waiting for a long time. But if that is not Your will, then let it be so. Give them peace and let their hearts be full, even in their wanting. Let them have a WONDERFUL time on their trip. Let them ride rides and roller coasters and have so much fun that they can't see straight. Let them stay up late and laugh until their bellies hurt and eat and drink and make memories. Fill them with so much joy that they don't even think of looking to the future (which will most certainly ALSO be filled with joy). Help them to hold fast to their dreams of parenthood, but also let go, knowing that what You have planned for them is better than anything they could imagine. AMEN.

It turns out that I wasn't pregnant when we went to Charleston. I wouldn't be pregnant for years to come.

And the seafood was AWESOME.

HOLLA -