Casting off the cares of the world

Dear Readers,
The day I hit the "publish button" for this blog, it seems like everything went south. Winter flu, helping others with the winter flu etc. I hope to be more consistent on the blog. Your patience is appreciated. 

Over the past few days I've been grieved for the world! The mosque shooting in New Zealand shattered my image of the peaceful setting of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The violence rate in NZ is so low! How could this happen?

A letter from Bairon, our Compassion International sponsored child, wrote to ask us to pray for his safety. Gang violence in his city in Columbia is rampant. 

My son-in-law went on a mission trip to Africa. While there, on the very same road he was on two days prior, a Christian pastor was killed at gunpoint, by radicals opposed to Christianity.

So we have a lot of violence in this world. It's weighed me down. No wonder Jesus was a man of sorrows while on this planet.

"...a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief...." Isaiah 53:3.

I'm re-reading the book, The Jesus I Never Knew, by Phillip Yancey, and according to his research, Jesus lived under such oppression from the Roman Empire, it's hard to imagine. Very, very violent. 

So, how do you do a casting off prayer for the entire world? I have no words sometimes. 

 "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.…" Romans 8:26 

Can our moaning and groaning, crying out to God that we don't understand and please help this fallen world count? 

“A sigh, a sob, is the most you can get out. . . . The inward moanings of a broken heart are music in the ears of the Infinite Jehovah, and he accepteth the sincere prayers of his people.”  Charles Spurgeon

Richard Foster, in his award winning book, Prayer, echoes Spurgeon's thoughts. Yes, when we cry out to Jesus, He hears, and then He intercedes. Fosters book has helped me the most. It's heavily underlined. To think that I have to say the right words hinders me from praying. Sometimes I just want to...groan and moan while praying. 

I did this past week when the life of a 35-year-old local girl was taken by the flu. Unbelievably sad. Hard to understand.

So I get speechless at times and just bow my head and cry. Jesus wept, too. And the Holy Spirit intercedes. We don't have to have the correct words to pray. We just need to pour out our hearts to a very understanding, empathetic God. 

Blessings,
Karen Anna Vogel