Pray it Once and then just Trust

“Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayers.” Saint Padre Pio

I have a special prayer request that has gone unanswered for many years. I pray for it every single day, and yet, it seems that God has gone deaf. I’m not praying for anything out of this world. It’s not even a prayer for myself. It’s an intercessory prayer for someone else. And yet, God is totally ignoring me.

I recently read that when we want something from God, to pray for it just once and then just trust Him. In this book, the person was praying to find a husband. Her friend told her to write down everything that she was looking for in a husband, to offer her request up to God just one time, and then to leave it in His hands. I thought that it would take a huge amount of trust for me to be able to do that. Pray it once and then just trust? The nagger within me has been having a very hard time reconciling with that. I feel that unless I nag God every day, He’s going to forget about what I’m asking.

This is dumb, of course. God doesn’t forget anything. I know that if He has not answered me is because the person I’m praying for is not ready to receive what I’m asking. God needs to get the soil ready first so that the weeds of the world won’t choke the seeds that He needs to plant. Honestly, I think the seeds have already been planted, but the weeds have taken over. I believe God is working on removing them, but He’s taking so long that I’m beginning to grow a bit desperate. Nagging Him has not helped, so maybe if I leave Him alone, He will be able to work a bit faster. 

In the book that I read, the lady ends up finding the husband that she was praying for. She prayed, she trusted, and God came through for her. I have to trust that He will also come through for me, no matter how long it will take. But should I stop praying all together? I think I’ll pray for it one more time, and then, I’ll just trust that He won’t forget.

Copyright © 2023 Christy Romero. All rights reserved.

Surrender the Fear

 “Dare to do something courageous and step out onto that water.” Roma Downey in “Box of Butterflies”

I had never heard the name Harrison Butker until this past Sunday. In case you are sports illiterate like me, Butker is the Kansas City Chiefs' kicker who kicked the winning field goal during the Super Bowl. I probably would have forgotten him already, but his name keeps popping up on my phone. The reason is not because of his victory kick, but because of his faith. It turns out that the 27-year-old kicker is very outspoken about his Catholic faith. He is not afraid. When he was interviewed before the game, he said: “I always pray for God’s will to be done, so whether that’s a make or a miss, if I’m doing my absolute best to maximize the talents that He gave me, if it doesn’t go in I’m gonna keep the process and keep going as much as I can until I’m not kicking footballs anymore. ‘Jesus, I trust in You’ is a great prayer.” At the end of the game, he gave “all glory to God.”

It warms my heart to see young people, especially those that are public figures, speaking boldly about their faith. They are not afraid to talk about God and glorify Him in public. The Chiefs’ quarterback, 27-year-old Patrick Mahoney, is also outspoken about his faith. In an interview during a Super Bowl news conference, he said: “My Christian faith plays a role in everything that I do. I always ask God to lead me in the right direction and let me be who I am for His Name… We’ll be on a huge stage in the Super Bowl… and I want to make sure I’m glorifying Him while I do it.”

On the other side of the field, the other quarterback was also not shy about speaking up about his faith. Jalen Hurts, the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback who is only 24, has repeatedly credited God with keeping him strong during difficult moments in his career. “You have to put God at the center of everything that you do,” he told CBS Sports. “In all the things that we experience in life —good, bad or indifferent— you have to keep God in the center.” He has the phrase “Be who God called you to be” displayed at the top of his Twitter profile.

It is inspiring to see all these young athletes give witness to their faith on national television without fear. We all could learn a lot from them. I have been doing a challenge on social media during this month of February. I asked all my friends to boast in the Lord. I have been tagging five friends per day asking them to post about God for five consecutive days, and in turn for them to tag five of their friends, asking them to do the same. As of today, I have tagged a total of 85 people, and to my surprise, only two have accepted the challenge. Most of the people that I tagged are strong in their faith, so it never dawned on me that they would be afraid to post about God on their social media pages. And yet, to my disappointment, they have not been courageous to do so. Many of my friends have not even allowed my post to show up on their pages. It may be that they have been busy with other things, or that they simply did not see my request. Whatever the reason, I know that if the challenge was to post about our children, grandchildren or spouses, we would do so in a heartbeat. But when it comes to post about our faith, we hesitate. We are afraid to be called “holy-holy” or to be labeled a religious fanatic.

If I have learned one thing this week from these young football players is that as hard as they trained to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy, they never lost sight of the race that will lead them to win the trophy that will last forever. While they ate healthy meals to prepare them for the Super Bowl, they continued to feed their souls with spiritual nourishment. These young men taught me that no matter what I do in life, I cannot be afraid to speak about my faith and give witness before others.  We must surrender the fear in order to win the race of life. And it starts with not being afraid to speak up about our faith.

Copyright © 2023 Christy Romero. All rights reserved.

Trusting God in Spite of…

 “Living by faith isn’t living with certainty. It’s trusting God in spite of unanswered questions and unresolved doubts.” Pastor Rick Warren in “Box of Butterflies”

I have been reading a book titled “Box of Butterflies” by Roma Downey. Roma used to play Monica in “Touched by an Angel,” one of my favorite shows in the late 90s. As much as I liked the show, I’m liking the book even more. It was recommended by my friend Marcia because she said that my motto for this year, surrender and trust, is “peppered throughout the entire book.” She’s right. 

In the book, Roma Downey shares her life with us. She has not had an easy life, but her trust in God has allowed her to surrender all to Him, especially in her most difficult moments. 

It’s easy to trust God when all is going well, but we have to trust God “in spite of unanswered” prayers. We have to trust God in spite of our difficulties. We have to trust God in spite of changed plans. We have to trust God in spite of our fears. We have to trust God in spite of our doubts. We have to trust God in spite of the mountains He places in our path. 

In addition to her own personal story, the book is full of quotes, poems and scriptures. One of my favorite quotes is “We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us” by Joseph Campbell. This is a great lesson for the planner in me to learn. I plan and plan and plan, and God just laughs and messes up all my plans. I’m learning to accept that He is the captain of my boat so I might as well let Him steer. 

One of the reasons why I’m loving this book so much is because it’s reinforcing what I knew deep in my heart but didn’t trust. When we surrender and allow God to be the captain, He will lead us through rough and uncharted waters, but what an amazing journey it will be. This is exactly what happened to Roma, an Irish girl who allowed God to steer her boat. It brought her to New York where she started her career on Broadway. This eventually led to “Touched by an Angel,” and later to producing “The Bible” series for the History channel in which she starred as the Virgin Mary. When we surrender our plans to God and trust Him, He will do amazing things in our lives in spite of all our fears and insecurities. 

Roma didn’t allow the world of Hollywood to deter her from her faith. She always kept her eyes on God, and even though she encountered many storms in her path, with God as the captain of her boat, she has had an amazing journey. Needless to say, I highly recommend the book. I still have about 100 pages more to read, and I’m savoring each one. 

In addition, just like Roma, I love butterflies, and they too remind me of God’s presence. He knows when I need them, and He sends them to me, even to my fifteenth floor balcony. One day, I was having a tough day. I sat on the balcony, closed my eyes and just prayed. When I opened my eyes, a subtle movement on the leg of the chair next to mine caught my eye. I looked closer and it was a huge brown butterfly. 

“What is she doing all the way up here?” I asked myself. I soon realized that it was God letting me know that He was in control of the situation. Three days later, the butterfly was still on the balcony. I had a feeling that I had to release her, just like I had surrendered my worry to God. She was hardly moving so I carefully placed her on a cardboard, walked to the banister, and dropped her. I looked down, and she was just falling. “Oh no, I killed her, she cannot fly,” I said aloud. And just a few feet from hitting the ground, she opened her wings and began to fly. She came up as high as my balcony. It was as if she came to thank me for reminding her that she could fly. She fluttered for a few seconds in front of me, and then she just flew away. I was so in awe, I just sat and thanked God for letting me know that I could trust Him because He was in control. 

I conclude with another quote that I loved from the book: “For there in the journey and stuck in the sting, the struggle… the struggle… is what gives you wings!” Karen Kingsbury. We don’t like to struggle, but just like the butterfly has to struggle to get out of the cocoon in order to get her wings, we have to struggle to gain ours. If we trust God in spite of the struggle, He will give us amazing wings and lead us to great destinations. And once in a while, we need to be reminded that we can fly. 

Copyright © 2023 Christy Romero. All rights reserved.