“This is crazy!” Lately I find myself saying that over and over again as I look out across the landscape of current happenings in our country.  I’m still hanging onto that perspective of gratitude that God worked within me this summer, but goodness, things are a mess!  Hence my continual refrain, “This is crazy!” 

So, what is one to do with all the crazy? And I’m not talking just any one.  I am talking this one… me… a woman who has committed herself to Jesus, to walking in His Truth and to living His best way.

See it would be all too easy for me to get caught up in the fray. And let me just be real here… I have. And I wish I could say I’ve only gotten a little bit tangled in it, but since I’m committed to being real here, I’ll admit it’s been way more than that… I’ve gotten way too mentally and emotionally tangled up in all the crazy.

It’s just hard not to be.  Everywhere I look the messes in our nation wrap around my heart and mind with confusion, anger, frustration, hurt, fear and more… ugh!

But then there is this too…  I have also heard a deep cry from the Lord’s heart to mine saying, “Pray!” And I have. Well… I have tried to pray… I have meant to pray… I have even prayed a little…  but the reality is, the tangled up mess of all the mess has distracted me and wearied me and rendered me not the praying girl I would like to think I am.

But let me tell you what God did!

He saw my tangled mess… He knew I needed help to focus… and He gave it…

Earlier this week, in the still dark hours of the morning before I went to teach Pilates, I sat with Him in communion and God showed me a picture of me walking into Office Max buying a red notebook… you know those composition notebooks that abound in all the stores during this Back to School Season? Well that’s the kind of notebook I saw myself buying. And then I also saw another picture of me… a picture of me writing out prayers to God for our country and as I did, one by one He unbound the worries, the concerns, the fears, the frustrations off my heart and mind. 

And then…  I saw myself in a place of victory… not only because I wasn’t all tangled up… but victory because I was walking in the call of God upon me to pray as a warrior for my country in light of the TRUTH that I know to be TRUE!

See, in this moment, God also painted a backdrop of this familiar word that we often agree to, but more often miss the mark of really doing…

“If My people, who are called by My name, humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and heal their land.” II Chronicles 7:14

But that day I acted on what I saw.  I bought the red notebook,  I put a title on it, and I started to pray. And I made a commitment to do so every day until the crazy isn’t crazy anymore.  It is the simplest thing… but this notebook that cost me all of $1.06 is giving me a place of focus to pour out my heart before God on behalf of all the crazy in front of me. 

I can tell you that in the last few days, I have prayed for our country with more fervor, more focus, more detail, more hope, more Truth, more faith than I ever have before. And I know as I continue, those prayers are only going to grow!

And I know I am going to personally grow too. See, as I pen these prayers to God about our country, I know He is going to write words upon my heart too… words I need to hear to make sure I stay out of the crazy and centered in His goodness.

It is just a little red notebook, but it is already beginning to be filled up with prayers.  Prayers poured out to the only One who has power to change the crazy!

If you would like to join me and get a red notebook of your own… please do!

I’m dreaming of believers buying up all the red notebooks and penning millions of prayers to heaven.  Call me a dreamer, but I am… and you can’t deny that really would be crazy, but oh so good crazy!!!

Want to find out more?

Watch this video I recorded on the day I bought the notebook… many have joined in and I would love for you to do so too!

Praying,