There are two important things I was reminded of this week. The first one came to me when I was reading Nehemiah. In the first chapter, Nehemiah had just arrived in Jerusalem, which was not rebuilt yet. There it reads, “I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem.” (Neh. 1:12)

I was thinking back to the times in my life where God had put something in my heart to do and the impact of those ideas. God does give us ideas. When He places them in our hearts, we must act on them. Sometimes they take great courage, other times, not so much. It can be something as small as an act of kindness which is not a huge deal, except perhaps to the recipient. Or it can be something big, like writing a book or making a change that really was not on your radar. The fruit of our decision is not always known to us. In my experience, when I have had the privilege of knowing, I am pleasantly surprised by the impact of that one idea which God placed in my heart and which I then acted on.

The second thing is this. I had just sat down to pray for one of my kids and, honestly, had no idea how to pray for them. I just knew that I wanted to pray for them. Then I was reminded, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”(Romans 8:26) Sometimes He gives us words and precise prayers. At other times, all we feel is a great burden and deep love. Either way, He is helping us. I am so thankful that we don’t always have to worry about what the exact prayer should be, because the Spirit will take care of that as I just lay my loved one down and trust God to do what is best.

Dear Father,

Thank you for the way you remind us of important truths. Thank you for planting ideas in our hearts and for helping us in our prayers when we don’t know what to say.

In Jesus Name,

Amen