A Doorway into Prayer

Melissa Logsdon – June 4, 2024 3 Comments

Hello NCF family and friends! I have a personal prayer update to share with you. 

After a week of increased pain around my port, heart palpitations, chest pain and shortness of breath, I ended up at the ER last Friday. The good news, I did not have a heart attack; the bad news, after multiple, painful, attempts they were unsuccessful at accessing my port, in addition to some other health findings. I came home with a continuation of all these painful symptoms.

Sunday morning, I had gone back to bed only to be woken up at 10:58 AM with refreshing, cooling air filling my lungs, allowing me to breathe in full breaths, without any chest pain. For those of you who were at the in-person service this past Sunday, you know that right around that time Renée shared several prayer requests, including mine, and invited the congregation into a time of prayer for these requests.

I’m not one to quickly call something a miracle, but I do believe that in that moment, your prayers made an immediate difference for me. As this week has gone on, I have had no more troubling symptoms. I went to see my surgeon about my port, fully prepared for him to have to remove it. Instead, he was able to determine it was working fine and there was no pain on my end. The pain is completely gone that had been radiating up into my neck, back, and head. This, too, seems to be a miracle. So again, thank you for your prayers.

I’ve prayed for hundreds and hundreds of people, and prayed thousands upon thousands of prayers for my own health. Sometimes, God has answered with immediate relief, sometimes the answer came later, and sometimes, the prayer seems to go unanswered, or answered with a “no”. I’m not going to try to explain the mystery of prayer. I, myself, have grieved greatly over the delays and the “no” replies. And yet, I keep praying…for I believe prayer does make a difference. So, thank you to those of you who prayed for me. And may this good report encourage all of us to keep on praying.

In my last blog, I mentioned the mystery of entering into God’s presence as portrayed in the Chronicles of Narnia. Today, I share with you a poem by Mary Oliver, “Praying”, in which she too talks about the surprising, seemingly insignificant, things that present a doorway into God’s presence.

“Praying” 

by Mary Oliver

It doesn’t have to be

the blue iris, it could be

weeds in a vacant lot, or a few

small stones; just

pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try

to make them elaborate, this isn’t

a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which 

another voice may speak.

May you and I find such moments to enter into God’s presence this week!

–Melissa Logsdon, NCF Associate Pastor