reading book "Breakaway: 28 steps to a more prayerful life"

Hello, everyone,

Just a recap - among the books Joyce gave me for possible inclusion in the Mustard Seed Library, is "Breakaway: 28 Steps To A More Prayerful Life" by Mark Link. Every time I reference a page number, it is from this book.

The book is composed of 28 meditative writings on prayer and I've been skipping around in it. On page 45 is the following:

"When Jimmy Carter became president, he placed a plaque on his White House desk. It contained an old "Fisherman's Prayer".

"O God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small."

Some people hesitate to call it a prayer. Actually, it reveals the basic starting point for all prayer: a person standing consciously in God's presence.

Standing consciously in God's presence means standing before God as we are: happy, bored, angry. We do not try to kid God or ourselves about our situation or how we feel about it."


The dictionary says "consciously" means "knowingly; with awareness." That means standing consciously in God's presence means standing knowingly and with awareness in God's presence.
The author of the book, Mark Link, did a curious thing in relating President Carter's action/Fisherman's Prayer together with his own further meditation about how the starting point for all prayer is being honest before God about ourselves and our situation. Actually the book was printed in 1980 and the situation then, according to the internet was "Plagued by the Iran Hostage Crisis and mounting domestic opposition, Carter lost the 1980 presidential election to Republican Reagan. In his first term Reagan introduced expansionary fiscal policies aimed at stimulating the American economy after a recession in 1981 and 1982, including oil deregulation policies which led to the 1980's oil glut."

Remembering the early 1980's and knowing what is happening in our own time now, and also remembering some of the more tranquil years between 1980 and 2009, and knowing a bit of what has been occurring in Jimmy Carter's life, I think we do get a sense that God must be hearing our prayers and responding to our needs and the needs of our nation and our political leaders. At Emmanuel, Pastor Maddox just led a Bible study for us on the "Book of Faith Initiative" and we studied reading the Bible historically, looking for the context of the author's writings and now we can also see that that way of reading can be applied to all writings. And it is still helpful and can promote a hopeful and optimistic perspective. I'm thankful that so many people back in 1980 were able to stand consciously before God, being honest about their situation and how they felt about it. Thankful so many people were praying. This is sort of a long rumination and, if you or any of you have waded through it, it is my way of wishing all of you a very, very Happy 4th of July. God bless the world, God bless His Church, God bless our country, God bless our political leaders, God bless us all and free us from the devil and oppression and slavery and all the things that would separate us from Him.
Peace,
Sharon