![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.auderset.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/prairie-web.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Prayer walk<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n You can\u2019t force some things\u2009<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u2013 Am I feeling sufficiently at PEACE to go to work today…\u2009?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Hmmm… I\u2019m not sure… the thing is, there has to be a real desire from the heart to go \u2013 it mustn\u2019t be just something I do out of a sense of duty…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n If that\u2019s how you think on getting up in the morning, don\u2019t be surprised if in the evening, your boss follows your example:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u2013 I don\u2019t know if I really WANT to pay them their salary this month… I don\u2019t think I really feel like it…\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t feel at PEACE with that idea…<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n A \u2018Shortcut\u2019?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I often take shortcuts through the forest to get to my studio. It\u2019s a bit strange, because it\u2019s only one floor down from where I live! At the same time, it really helps me to save time (as long as I don\u2019t get lost!), because I have a daily meeting with God (unless it\u2019s God who has a daily meeting with me…\u2009?).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n To \u2018waste\u2019 time on things that really matter, is to save time.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n My feelings and desires, whether I\u2019m being tossed about on a stormy sea of emotions, or whether I\u2019m enjoying a respite from the stresses and strains of life, don\u2019t actually change anything \u2013 it\u2019s not my feelings that are in charge (capiche!?…I\u2019m pointing it out because sometimes you get the impression that our emotions haven\u2019t quite realized that…).<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Warning: religion about!<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n When I\u2019m walking but not really concentrating, sometimes I\u2019ll serve up a whole raft of meaningless phrases:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u2013 Be to you thanks! Ohhh my Lord!\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n (What\u2019s the \u2018ohhh\u2019 about again?)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Arggh! Imagine someone spoke to you like that \u2013 I can\u2019t think of anything more cringeworthy! God deserves more than that…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m not here to do my \u2018prayer\u2019 homework,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n but to sincerely seek God <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n (seeing as how I often lose sight of Him).<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Yoohoo… is anyone there?!<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m walking through a meadow, feeling a little ridiculous, because it seems like I\u2019m talking and there\u2019s nobody else there…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n At the same time, Jesus said: Believe in me…\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n not: \u2018Feel something through me…\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n … Okay, so I\u2019m going to decide to believe.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I embark on an animated account of all my woes:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u2013 It\u2019s terrible – I don\u2019t seem to be able to get my comic books onto the shelves \u2013 all the store bosses tell me thanks but no thanks (what\u2019s more, they say no because I want to talk about you!).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n (That was my challenge! At that time, I thought it was the toughest one I\u2019d ever have to face\u2026)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u2013 Lord,\u00a0it\u2019s like there are walls blocking my way…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Give me a chariot with a snow plough* mounted in front (*it\u2019s a Swiss thing, you wouldn\u2019t really understand…) so that I can break them down!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n My prayers are accompanied by extravagant, Italian-style arm gestures (from a distance, you might think I was on the receiving end of a hornet attack!). As I returned home, Gritsburgerandfries (not his real name) was there to greet me.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Swept along by the torrent of people exiting the church, I slip out of the building. There, hidden behind a few believers exchanging pleasantries, my eyes met those of a stranger.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I immediately saw that those eyes had already looked into God\u2019s gaze.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Intrigued, I went up to him and asked:<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u2013 So who are you?<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u2013 I come from Geneva. At the moment I\u2019m working on a local farm but they haven\u2019t been very welcoming towards me…I\u2019m finding it pretty tough…<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n – Really? Well, why don\u2019t you come and stay with us for a while if you want? (he stayed for 2 weeks….).<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n He sports a big beard and boasts an imposing physique\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n (his big belly really suits him).<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n When he prays, he simply sinks into an armchair \u2013 he can spend hours there, completely still…<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n When Gritsburgerandfries opens the hall door, it\u2019s like receiving an enormous gust of God\u2019s presence in your face, there\u2019s something almost physical about it, like a kind of cloud\u200a!!! Gritsburgerandfries\u2019 head appeared through the half-open door and with his usual calm, he looked at me and said: <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Hey Alain, I was praying for you and I saw you in a vision! You were on a chariot which had a snow-plough mounted on the front and you were breaking down all the walls that stood in your way!!!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u2013\u200a\u2009!!?\u00a0(Incredible! Had he got news by fax or what?!\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Hmm… Lord, if you tell everyone all my secrets, I\u2019ll stop telling you anything at all…\u2009!)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n When you talk to God (I\u2019m talking about the God of the Bible, the only one I\u2019ve got in stock), you\u2019re talking to a God who really does listen….whether or not you can actually sense that…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Like many people, I\u2019m going through a very difficult time, and the tumult of this is preventing me from hearing God\u2019s voice clearly… but this real-life story reminds me that He listens…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n and that He will not let those who put their trust in Him to fall any further than into the palm of His hand.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n (Translated by Stephen Kells)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Prayer walk You can\u2019t force some things\u2009 \u2013 Am I feeling sufficiently at PEACE to go to work today…\u2009? Hmmm… I\u2019m not sure… the thing is, there has to be a real desire from the heart to go \u2013 it … More…<\/a> More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.auderset.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.auderset.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.auderset.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.auderset.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.auderset.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14219"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.auderset.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14224,"href":"https:\/\/www.auderset.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14219\/revisions\/14224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.auderset.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.auderset.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.auderset.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}