When I was a little girl, I kneeled next to my bed every night and said my prayers out loud with my hands clasped, my head lowered, and my eyes closed. At some point, I stopped praying that way and instead said them silently as I laid in bed, most of the time falling asleep before getting anywhere close to “Amen.” When I moved away to college, I stopped praying altogether. Thankfully, God never abandoned me as I abandoned Him.
When we reconnected, I went back to praying every night as I laid in bed. I managed to stay awake through the entire prayer most of the time, but that was probably because I had insomnia.
About two weeks ago, my right knee started hurting. Whenever I put any weight on it, I yelled out in pain. So I quickly learned to stop doing that. After a few days of this, God urged me to pray on my knees. I said, “I can’t. It’ll hurt.” He urged me again, but I tried to dismiss Him. I crawled into bed, laid down, and tried to pray but really felt like I needed to do what He was telling me to do. I didn’t understand what was going on, but I blurted out, “Fine,” threw the covers off, and prepared to kneel, bracing myself for the impending pain. I couldn’t imagine why God would ask me to do that while my knee was hurting.
When my knee touched the floor, it was as if there was nothing wrong with it–there was no tinge of pain whatsoever. I began to cry and ask for forgiveness for not being immediately obedient to what He wanted me to do. I knelt there, next to my bed, saying my prayers with my hands clasped, my head lowered, and my eyes closed. I was so overwhelmed to be rid of the pain and to have heard what God wanted me to do (I just wished I hadn’t ignored the first two urgings.)
When I finished, I put my miraculously cured knee on my bed to lift myself up and… yelled out in pain. My knee was killing me. This repeats every night now. I kneel in prayer and have no pain in my knee, but once I’m done praying, I can’t put pressure on it anymore.
I believe God was/is teaching me a lesson in obedience and probably a couple of lessons about faith and trusting in Him completely. Every day, I draw closer to Him. What a blessing.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what the will of God is, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 ESV
Please join me this week in praying for obedient hearts and minds. Let’s pray that God speaks clearly to us that we may discern His voice and His will for us. Pray that we seek to be obedient every single day. Ask Him to guide us to do His will and help us grow to become more Christlike in our daily walk.
