THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 6, 1996 TAG: 9607040089
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Issues of Faith
SOURCE: Betsy Wright
LENGTH: 88 lines
Last Week's Issue of Faith: The importance of prayer in good times.
This Week's Reader Responses:
From Juanita S. Rein of Virginia Beach: ``I agree (that) we must pray without ceasing. I don't know how people make it in this world without being close to the Lord.
``I just lost my mother of 81 years and I thought I couldn't make it without her here to pray for me, because every time I had something to go wrong or if I was sick I would call my Mom and ask her to pray for me. Then I realized that she is in heaven and she will be praying for me there. What a wonderful thought. I don't have to call her and ask for her prayers because she is doing that in heaven with the angels.''
From Susie Sykes-Smith of Portsmouth: ``I very seldom read the newspaper for any reason! As a matter of fact, I only use it as place mats after my husband has read it. Today, however, I glanced at the top of my `Daily Break' place mat and saw two words that I'm very, very familiar with: faith and prayer.
``So I lifted the edge of the paper to reveal your column and that's just how I read it in its entirety. How blessed I was to read of such a praying sister-in-Christ! . . . Thank you for your encouragement to others, to call on the name of the Lord not just as an escape or an excuse. Thank you for God-given wisdom you share (with others) to remain faithful at all times (Hebrews 10:23).
``I think I might be reading my place mat more often!''
From Annie M. Hare of Edenton, N.C.: `` . . . I pray that many will read your article and realize the need to read the Bible and pray for guidance in everyday life. God is so good to each of us and the Bible contains many promises and God keeps his promises.''
From Michael Simone, pastor of Spring Branch Community Church in Virginia Beach: ``A friend sent the (following, written by Stephen Shoemaker), to me for my birthday:
`May the Lord bless and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.' (Numbers 6:24-25)
May God give you grace never to sell yourself short;
grace to risk something big for something good;
grace to remember that the world is now too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love.
So may God take your minds and think through them;
May God take your hearts and set them on fire.' ''
From M.J. Spivey of Windsor: ``I was reminded of hearing someone say, `If you don't pray when the sun shines, don't pray when it rains.' I was (once) guilty and realized I was spiritually immature.
``Now as a senior citizen, I know life is precious and precarious and every second is God's gift. He is the God of the glad and the God of the sad and his love surrounds us and provides for our needs. Let's praise him constantly!''
From Rabbi Israel Zoberman of Congregation Beth Chaverim of Virginia Beach: ``It is human nature indeed to sense a compulsion for prayer when faced with a confounding reality or upon a significant celebration, allowing prayer to slip by in between when `all is normal.'
``Reserving the outreach and in-reach only to polar manifestations of the human condition, robs us of an easily available venue for support, growth and maturation, enabling us to walk life's journey with added grace, dignity and confidence.
``The discipline of prayer, which is truly an enriching component of the universal art of living, thus becomes a blessing and not a burden.''
From Tess Stroupe of Virginia Beach: ``I called to respond to your article about how we should pray in both good times and bad. Well, I used to do that a lot, and it just reminded me that I should do that more often.''
From Pat Stultz of Norfolk: ``. . . It reminded me that I too visit what you called, `the land of neglected grace' a lot of the time. Sometimes I've sent thank-you cards to friends more promptly than prayers of thanks to God. Yet, I'm truly awed when considering the blessings that God's love gives to me and my family. I cannot have earned these gifts, but I believe God is waiting (for my thanks) because he has given, and then I feel blessed again when he hears my prayers, because as a daughter once said, `God listens.' ''
From Beth Swanner, Lindale Christian Church Prayer Ministry, Chesapeake: ``I wholeheartedly agree (with last week's column). We should pray without ceasing, pray at all times, be thankful in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:17,18).
``In good times, there are so many prayers of thanksgiving (to be said) for life's journey, (for) the beauty of all creation around us, as well as the encouraging people we meet along the way.
``In bad times, we are exposed to a multitude of problems, just by reading the daily newspaper. Sometimes we feel we're sitting on a pile of gunpowder, while the world leaders play with matches. At any moment we may be surrounded by personal problems.
``Though God does not promise to remove pressures that cause fear and worry, he does make it possible for us to face the pressures of life with inner peace.'' by CNB