4 minute read

Sometime There Are No Words By Kim Gomez

The Practice of Prayer By Jenn...

It's Summer 2021. Perhaps you remember the image that went viral when the US helped evacuate Afghanistan. The image was of a tiny baby being passed over a razor wire wall to an American Marine amid total panic and chaos at the Kabul Airport. The evening I saw that image on the news, I literally could not get it out of my mind. I looked long and hard at that image, and my heart kept breaking. I went silent. I couldn't talk to my husband about it, even when he repeatedly asked me what was the matter.

I couldn't even speak to God. I had no words to pray.

Our emotions are wildly complex, filled with more depth than any combination of words can communicate.

I imagined myself being the mother of that baby and the desperation she must have felt. Frantically lifting my daughter over that wall into the hands of a complete stranger? Unfathomable.

That entire evening and through the night, my mind was on the situation in Afghanistan. I couldn't comprehend the "why." That's a question I ask God often. Why? But in the asking, there were no answers. So, I decided not to pray with words but with the posture of my heart, knowing that God sees and knows my heart.

I intentionally allowed my heart to feel the Sadness Panic Pain Confusion Desperation Hope that the baby was safe

It was a silent prayer. I was praying from the center of my heart to the center of God's heart. I surrendered my words in order to be simply and silently in His presence. It was prayer based on relationship and trust - not on my demands.

I definitely didn't know what He was doing, but I did know that He is Good and He is Sovereign. It was still dark when I got up the following day and headed to the ocean. It was a short walk from my house, and as I walked in the dark toward the sunrise, all the pastel colors lit the sky. It was so beautiful. I stepped onto the sand and walked down towards the water. With every step, I felt something shifting inside of me. When my feet splashed into the warm, clear saltwater, I can only describe it as a moment of full-on Glory. The combination of the water, the air, the sky, and the sun were spectacular. And that's because our God is spectacular. That was a touchstone reminder that He knows even when we can't speak, He knows the posture of our hearts.

This momentary Glory reminded me there will come a day when I meet Him face to face, and then I will finally understand the WHY. I did a little research about that sweet baby. Her name is Liya, and she was 16 days old when she was handed over that razor wire wall to safety. She's now living in the United States with her mother and father. Hallelujah! Our God is mighty. He sees us, and he saw Liya. And He hears us, even when we don't have words.

Romans 8:26-27 TPT And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don't even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading with God with emotional sighs too deep for words. God, the searcher of our heart, knows fully our longings yet he also understands the desires of the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit passionately pleads before God for us, his holy ones, in perfect harmony with God's plan and our destiny.