Something about prayer

Lately, my sleep pattern has not been the same! I'll find myself wide awake at 3:00 am and sometimes at 2:00 am no matter how late or early I went to bed. I'd find myself sitting on the bed unable to get back to sleep until 5:00 or 6:00 am which is when my alarm goes off for my devotion.

As a Christian sometimes I jump to conclusions about things like that when they happen. So for me, it was either I needed to hear or see something, or something was disturbing my spirit. In speaking to my best friend I mentioned to her about this awkward sleep pattern and she said, 'try praying or listening to worship music.' Having had insomnia before, I thought it was just another round of it coming around but nevertheless, I prayed that night. I've never been able to stay wide awake during prayers while laying down but here I was praying and awake. I stopped, I looked at my phone and I saw the time, I lay there in shock asking myself what could possibly be wrong with me.

It wasn't long until I heard in my spirit loud and clear "You are scared!" At first, I didn't understand what that meant but I fell asleep not long after. I woke up the next day and everything started to make sense to me. I have been in my head a lot lately and though I speak to people and remind them that fear is not of God and the like, here I was denying myself the possibilities that lay before me because of fear. I let the word failure play over and over in my head to the point where the times that I needed to rest were being used to overthink. I had to remind myself that God never gives a vision or a dream that can not be fulfilled. The fact that I could think of what I wanted to do and while the process that I am currently in is taking a toll on me, was proof enough that I could do it, and one way or another he would show me the way in his time.

Often times we go through these moments alone without sharing it with someone, carrying every single burden alone to the point where sometimes these things almost drive us to our detriment. A simple message to someone can change the course of things for us. It was by just sharing with my best friend how I felt at the time that impacted the change I needed to sleep better. As a woman who is so involved in church and in her faith, you would think I had this under control! That I'd know right away that I needed to pray about it! But I didn't and I realized that was ok.

I am what my older sister calls a "routine girl," I do everything at a certain time so prayer for me is at the beginning and the end of the day, you would rarely find me praying during the day unless something happens that I need to be thankful for and so praying at 3:00 am because I could not sleep was not the first thing on my mind. Guilty!

Whilst trying to figure things out, there is a verse in Matthew that I got reminded of, it says " Come to me, all who are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." and Proverbs 3:24 says “When you lie down, you will not be afraid, when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.” and lately all these verses kept flooding my mind and the one that stuck with me the most is Matthew 6:34, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today." I really can't go into details of how stressed out I've been but having God by my side has made it all lighter.

My encouragement to you is if you ever find yourself unable to sleep, say a prayer, listen to worship music or read the word. Even if you are a Christian or not God hears all prayers! Sometimes we see the mountain that is in front of us before anything else but today I am reminding you to look past that mountain because sometimes I am guilty of that and I forget how good my God has been to me.

Hope you are keeping safe during the pandemic!

Love,

SJ