Upside Down

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Lisa T. Bergren has a book out entitled Upside-Down Prayers for Parents. Her premise is that we typically pray for “no harm” for our children but that this prayer may lead our children not to trust in God. Trust in God comes through challenges, hurts, failures and obstacles. Life is filled with these forces. They are unavoidable and, perhaps, needed for a healthy faith walk. They cannot be avoided completely and, maybe, they should not. A person develops both faith and character through adversity. Here are some upside down prayers.

• I pray you’ll get caught doing things wrong—and experience the power of confession.
• I pray your prayers will go unanswered—and you’ll find a deeper trust in Him.
• I pray you’ll fail in things that don’t matter—and learn what matters to God.
• I pray you’ll encounter battles—and discover that God is your greatest ally.

Are your prayers for everything to be easy? If so, are they the best prayers? Do your prayers take you closer to God (utterly dependent on God’s love) or farther (removing life’s challenges so faith is not needed -  God being more of a cosmic butler?)

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have obtained access  to this grace in which we stand; and we^[c] boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³ And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Romans 5:1-5 (NRSV)