A Prayer for a Writing Friend

I have about a million posts in my head today.  Such wisdom from my sweet friends and dreamers, Amy and Christine.  Yet so much of it is intermingled together that I will probably have to break it up into a couple of parts for next week.  Today I want to belatedly write for Holley Gerth’s God-sized dream team – her prompt was to write a letter to a fellow dreaming friend.  This is a prayer I wrote for my friend in Idaho, who I only met in person once, but who has become a precious prayer partner for me this past year as we both wrote books and met deadlines and worked through edits:

Dear Faithful God,

What a gift you have given my sweet friend.  A story to tell.  A God to glorify in it.  Beauty from ashes. 
 
But we know that beauty has to rise every day or else we will tell ourselves we still live in ashes.  We do not.  She does not. 
 
We claim Isaiah 61 anointing on her, that her message, given to her by You, would be shared to lift others out and encourage them that they too can be a planting of your splendor:
 
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
   and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.
 
We pray that she wouldn’t need a bolt of lightning as inspiration, but that she would hear you in the silence.  After the boys are done for the day and her weary bones are seated after a long day of work and family service, that she would hear you in the stillness.  That she would say YES Lord.  That it wouldn’t require loud revelations, but quiet words that quickly slip from her mind to the page.  Words given to her by you to display your splendor. 
 
Take her to a mountain and speak to her spirit: Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.  So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him… (I Kings 19)  You come in the whisper.  Just as Samuel finally said, in the still of the night, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.”  Let her hear you in the quiet.
 
We pray for her eyes to be blind to the calendar.  We pray for her ears to be deaf to the clock.  That constant tick-tick-ticking can enslave us and drown out your voice.  We pray that her eyes and ears would be filled with you.  That you would reveal yourself to her in the every day, in the singular small things of the hours that give her more words.  We pray that you would fill a daily notebook quickly with ideas and stories and revelations that you provide throughout the day that she can transcribe at the end of the day as she sits and waits upon you for more.  More of you.  More of your voice.  More of your words.  Because it is your miracle and transformation and work that will be on display through her. 
 
We pray as Daniel did for your mighty work and action in her life not because we are worthy but because we are YOURS and she is your daughter who bears your name:
“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant…. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”
 
As your children we come before you.  Bearing your name over every other label the world has given us.  We have Daughter of the Most Holy God emblazoned on our front and back.   We pray these words you give her will reveal your voice to an audience that she doesn’t even yet know she will reach. 

Thank you for the gifts you have given us.