Years ago, I received an email entitled PUSH. Push. Push? Not push as in the word, but push as in an acronym P.U.S.H.
I had no clue what P.U.S.H meant, but I found encouragement with this little four letter word in a whole new way. So simple and yet so inspiring the way someone so clever put this together for the greater good for some one’s spiritual wellness.
There has been times in my life where this is all I know to do – pray until something happens and cling to God’s word “faith is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things not seen.” In the late 90s was one such time. DH got laid off. Jobs in our area were few and far between it seemed. One week turned into another before melting into months which gave way to one year, then two, and three years of unemployment. P.U.S.H is all I could do.
At the turn of 2000 God answered our prayers providing DH with an opportunity to work in another state far, far from home. It wasn’t exactly where what we had planned, but grateful for the job.
We did not move. Instead, DH worked hundreds of miles away from home and visited us once a month. It was hard, but I remained hopeful of the things I couldn’t see or understand. I knew God had something planned for us.
While DH was out-of-town working, I helped him with his job hunting. I worked relentlessly 15 hours or more each day posting his résumé on every known lead crossing my path until one day a head hunter contacted me with a solid prospect in East Tennessee.
His new job was in Chattanooga just 2-hours south-west of us. That’s a long drive, but doable daily. Yep, it was hard. However, our appreciation superseded any thoughts of whining. We took a huge leap of faith several months earlier with DH’s job elsewhere and this felt like a walk in the park in comparison. This single act of faith taught us many things, things which helped us with dealing with his last lay-off in 2010. God rewarded our faithfulness mega folds with an immediate placement with a job in town.
Prayer works; remember when all else fails to P.U.S.H!
Thinking about my Christian heritage and deep ties of faith and prayer inspired my earlier post intended to go up yesterday. I want to invite you to view my Wordless Wednesday post entitled Peaceful Place.
My T2Q are:
- Do you pray along or do you ask others to pray for you?
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Does prayer make you uncomfortable?
Bonus: What is the most important answered prayer you witnessed in recent years?
Visit Miss Jenny and the rest of the Alphabe-Thursday classroom for more homework assignments of the letter ‘P’ and while you’re hopping around, be sure to play along with Miss Amanda in her latest edition of Thursday Two Questions.
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I heard this acronym years ago but I have forgotten it!
I believe in the power of prayer. Sometimes it’s all we have to offer in times of trouble and despair.
Often the prayers are answered!
It was great popping in here today. This was a wonderfully thought provoking and reassuring post!
A+
I am not uncomfortable praying, but I pray alone, which mostly talking to God than reciting a prayer that I’ve learned. I recite when I am with a group of people, or in church!
PUSH is an awesome acronym. I definitely push, but I also believe that you have to always do your part, not just pray and wait.
Hi Cathy ~~ I like your “P” acronym, P.U.S.H. I had not heard of this before. Your story to go along with it was great! Does DH still have that two hour drive? The last two of my working years I had a 75 mile commute into and through Houston, Texas. That was 75 minutes going to work bur two and a half hours coming home.
My P.U.S.H. is for my SIL in North Louisiana. We just found out that she has a mass in her throat that keeps her from talking. One day, about four weeks ago she lost her voice. The mass is operable but she doesn’t know if she will be able to talk after. It very likely is an answer to prayer that her voice was lost so that she could have an examination and the mass could be found.
Your Q’s:
1. Do you pray alone or do you ask others to pray for you?
I pray alone, Mrs. Jim and I pray together, and when serious things come up I ask others to pray for me also. I can really tell when they are praying, but it is something I cannot explain. My special times were for my abdominal aorta aneurysm repair, placement of my (four, four different times) stents, back surgery two times, and latest my new knee. They also pray for me when there isn’t anything special.
2. Does prayer make you uncomfortable? Probably not. Around our friends, social, church, and formerly work people prayed and also asked to pray. When 9-11 happened Mrs. Jim was golfing with three of her lady friends. A lady came out of her house and told the group over on the golf course. One of the other ladies wrung her hands, probably not literally, and asked what can, or should (??), we do. Mrs. Jim said, “We can pray.” The four ladies there prayed right there, each of them. One was Jewish, one was Buddhist if anything, another Catholic, and Mrs. Jim Baptist.
Bonus: What is the most important answered prayer you witnessed in recent years? I suppose is that our country can still run with such discord amongst our leaders.
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I’ve jawed long enough. Just a word on the scaredy cat. I’ll pray for her too. 🙂
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I am a prayer. I read about St. Therese (the Little Flower) years ago, and siezed her idea of turning menial chores into prayer. As i sort sicks, scrub floors, etc, I offer up prayer, and it makes my work pleasant. I pray with others, too. I don’t always have the great words that some people do, and I may be a little bit more soft spoken but I am praying almost constantly.
It isn’t recent, but my prayers while I was pregnant with my twin boys will always be the ones that I hold most dear.
I was advised by a harsh (and promptly fired) doctor I would never carry them to term. I was told by a more compassionate and wonderful doctor that we could surely both do our best to try and bring them safely into this world despite complications. At 18 weeks I was told it wasn’t looking so good. At 22 weeks I began preterm labor, and at 24 it looked like they would arrive any day. But we made it to 25, 26, 27, 28, 29.. and all the way to a day shy of 32 weeks. After a short 2 week stay in NICU they came home and are strong, healthy 12 year olds. Thanks be to God!
I truly believe that the barrage of prayers and the huge amount of faith that my doctor and I shared helped to guide all the right actions taken by myself and my care team – with a tiny touch of miracle on top.
I remember many years ago seeing an article about that word push. I’ve never forgotten it and so still to this day uses it.
Thanks for sharing your story Cathy.
1. I pray alone and have others pray.
2. Prayer is the best thing I could do in my life. Everyday, all day if possible. It’s a powerful weapon blessed to us by God.
3. I met my mother before leaving my country. God came about just in time, down to the wire! I was leaving in two months!
Dear Cathy,
I am a very spiritual man who do not live my this world’s standards. I am sure you will agree that this world is sick and wicked. Yes, man cannot fix it. Thanks for sharing my friend.
I really admire people who have faith and really pray…. I don’t really pray, but I do talk to my dad who passed when I was 14… I know that he looks out for me & my mom….
I pray for others. And no, prayer does not make me feel uncomfortable.☺
PUSH. I like this!
As for your questions, I do pray for others and ask for them to pray for me. And I am quite comfortable with doing that!
=)