Question About Prayer

I have a question that I have often wondered what the answer is or if there really is a proper answer…or if the answer matters at all.

Many ministers say – Charles Stanley included – to pray for what you want and believe you have received it. God, they say, loves to do the impossible so dream big.

My question is do you pray for it once and then wait for an answer or do you pray for it over and over? If we continue to pester God about a request – doesn’t that indicate a lack of belief that you’ll receive it?

If we only pray for it once though, how do we know God heard us for sure or that he’ll remember to answer later. Shouldn’t we get some sort of “prayer received” notice? How do we know God wasn’t in the bathroom when we called and his answering machine wasn’t working? Or maybe the prayer got lost in cyberspace the way so many of my emails do.

I honestly don’t know what is the right way – I keep a prayer request book and cross items off as they are answered. Each month I start a new list with new prayer requests on it but don’t include the ones from the previous month. I keep the previous month so I can remember what I asked – I love being able to cross things off.

Each time I ask for something more then once, I’m reminded of children who keep asking for something until they wear the adult down and you’d give them almost anything to shut them up. I don’t want to be that way to God.

So, while I have used jest here, the question still remains – how much reminding is too much reminding??

Good Laugh

We all got a good laugh at work today when a woman called 911 to say she just saw a raccoon go up a tree. When asked what the problem was, she said raccoons don’t climb trees so this one must be mean or something. She was very concerned it would break into the house to attack her indoor cats.

We explained raccoon behavior to her – and that yes, they climbed trees – but she wasn’t satisfied. She called back four more times upset that we weren’t taking the threat to her cats seriously. The supervisor had to tell her if she continued to call 911, she would get into trouble and could be arrested before she quit calling. {sigh}

I know some people really have concerns that are silly to us and I try to tell myself they can’t help themselves – maybe where they are from they don’t have raccoons…

Purely Nonsense

My arms look like I was an extra on the “Prey” movie though my “lion” was little Simon. I have scratches all the way up to my neck from Simon using me as a climbing tree.

I’m here at work on overtime which they may have cancelled but it is my required 8 hrs so they couldn’t. I was informed that my working 8, 12, 8, 12 isn’t going to be an option this next three months – my alternative choices are either 12, 8, 12, 8 or 12, 8, 8, 12. I decided I’d try the 12, 8, 8, 12 – see how I like it.

In other news: Simon, Baxter and I had a family meeting this afternoon. After a bit of debate we unanimously agreed that we’d like to move back to Iowa in the spring if possible.

I thought I might get some resistance from Simon because of the cold winters but he was surprisingly willing to work out a compromise. During winter months in Iowa the window sill in houses gets unduly chilly. As Simon loves to sit on the sill to watch the birds, I promised to get an electric blanket for him so he thought that was reasonable.

Baxter’s minor concerns were about leaving the paw park because Iowa doesn’t have them but I told him every park in Iowa is a paw park. What excited him about moving was the number of dogs in the family – he’ll always have plenty of playmates.

Rearranging and, dare I say, reorganizing?

Managed to get the tv and dvd’s back downstairs. Sure makes a lot of room in my den which is fine because that will become my packing/sorting room. Hurt my back badly again today moving that huge ass tv. Hurt it yesterday so much that I couldn’t sleep flat last night – I had to sleep on my right side or it had pains shooting through it. Today it just aches and aches.

I have to go to work here in a few minutes. It is overtime and while I don’t cherish the idea, I will need to work a lot of it to get moved. What a gorgeous day though to stay home and hang out – 71 degrees with a nice breeze blowing. Love it.

My son said last night around midnight my time that they were having a few flurries where he was. Nothing sticking to the ground – but a prelude to what is on its way.

Paw Park

Took Baxter to the paw park a few miles from the house. He loved romping around the big yard there with the other little dogs. At one point, he raced back and forth along the fence line with a bigger dog. The big dogs and little dogs are separated by a chain link fence which, by the looks of some of those huge dogs, it is a good thing.

Baxter would walk on his side of the fence all the way to the gate when one of the big dogs was leaving – guess he was saying bye or something. New big dogs came and went but not many little dogs did. Still he had about four or five to play with so he wasn’t alone by any means.

I’m afraid I let him overdo it. He threw up in the parking lot and then was excessively salivating all the way home. He had water to drink but was still panting and salivating a lot. When he got home, he went over to the water bowl, took a long drink and then flopped right down beside it to go to sleep. Didn’t even wait for me to take the leash and harness off.

Now he is laying on the couch. I think the car ride bothered him more then it has any other time we went – it was the longest one for sure but he seemed to be struggling with it on the way there as well as on the way back. I’m not sure what to do or think about that. It has been a very long time since I owned a dog – about 20 years.

He really had me worried there when he threw up but he seems fine now.

Cooler Weather At Last!

Well, we have finally had some cooler weather. It is 59 out now and suppose to get lower yet tonight. I talked to my son and he said it is snowing in Iowa…makes me laugh.

I took Baxter for his evening walk – had to wear a jacket. I did some cleaning and laundry but still haven’t accomplished everything on my list. Maybe I’ll have time tomorrow to do more. Right now I am very tired and looking forward to bed…even though I have to make the bed because I washed the sheets. Ugh.

The medical helicopter has been out twice in the past three hours which means there had to be accidents or stabbing/shootings. The one sounded really close by – probably down the street on Tamiami.

One of my neighbors told me that the news played a 911 tape today of a little boy who called 911 because his mom was unconscious from a diabetic attack. My neighbor thought it sounded like me on the phone. I told him I’ve only had one like that and it was so long ago that no way they would be playing it now. It was probably a call we got within the last week – I’ll have to ask tomorrow because he was so adamant that it sounded like me.

Well, I’m going to go to bed now. I hope everyone stays safe and happy.

End of Thursday

Well, it is the end of Thursday – my last day off – it sure seemed to go by fast. Wish I was rich.

I spoke to one of the board members. He said I should rent my unit whenever I wanted – that many others do so I should worry about it. He said I’d have to make sure only quality tenants rent it though. I will have to see how things go – June is still six months away.

I’m anxious to get going on moving. Hope I can start working more OT and sock away some money. Maybe I’ll try to move up the end of May so the trip to Wyoming won’t seem as rushed.