Can you hear me?

As I have embarked on the daily bible reading journey, one thing continues to come up in my prayer, blogging, friendships, marriage, parenting....the list goes on. I pray. I wait. I listen. And seemingly, nothing. No thunder claps. No signs from above. I just don't know. God's word tells me that he responds to our prayers. Notice I didn't say "answers" because I think that implies granting our requests. And I know that is not always the case. In the midst of this, I have come to weep daily for babies that I don't even know. This blogging world has brought me in "contact" with families from all across the US who are in the throws of illness/death/grief involving their precious children. It is sometimes too much to bear to read these stories. Then I stop and think - really? Too much to bear, for you? You who are NOT living through these things? Get over yourself and get down on your knees and do the only thing you can. Pray for these children and their families. In the same manner in which you pray for your own family and friends. In a conversation I had with some girlfriends last night, we discussed the notion of just how small blogging makes our world seem. It's like six degrees of separation, except on the Internet. One friend commented on how that makes her a tad uncomfortable -a bit too claustrophobic to know that only 2 people are between you and some random person in Arizona who blogs about her life as a STAHM. But this is where I find comfort. We are all so similar in our desire to connect and be heard. We want our stories to matter - to someone. we want to know that our lives, no matter how mundane or normal, mean something. In faith, we trust that God's plan for us intrinsically holds meaning, even if it requires a lifetime of quiet, unnoticed service. God notices and that's all that counts. But in our humanness, we so long for our thoughts to somehow be acknowledged. It's like when you meet someone and you just "click." You think, "wow, this person gets me!" We all want someone to "get us." And while in faith we know that Christ always got us and will always get us, it is clear biblicly that God designed us to seek relationship with others, and in doing so we have that deep desire to be known, here and now. I am blessed to have people in my life (yes real people) who get me, and love me in spite of that, it is also a blessing to know that I am connected to these families who are reaching out in faith, asking for prayers for miracles, prayers for healing, prayers for God to deal with them kindly in the grief of losing a baby...I thank God that He allows me to feel connected to His family and to be privileged to come before Him on their behalf.