365 Days of Prayer - 4 - I will undo all that afflict thee

Nothing major yesterday. I was extremely tired, which is common after such a bad headache. They're a little out of control right now -- I get them probably five days a week. I hate the word "headache". I hate to be defined by it. I hate how they slow me down... and, unfortunately, I think that's what they're there for, to slow me down to prevent a more serious underlying condition (dissected carotid arteries) from doing some damage. I've been told in a blessing that the Lord will not remove them at this time... which I take to mean that they serve a purpose. I hate that it makes me "not strong", but with a vulnerability.

So I take great hope in today's scripture: "I will undo all that afflict thee" (Zephaniah 3:19). It has a much broader meaning but it occurs to me that I didn't list one of the things I frequently pray for, to have some relief from blistering, frequent migraines. Well, these little "afflictions" won't last forever, they're going to get "undone" someday. Hurray!

I was greatly and sweetly influenced yesterday by the story of a man I knew nothing about. Cresimir Cosic. He was a basketball player from Croatia who went to BYU in Utah (in the 60's or 70's). He was already an Olympian, he was not a nobody, he was well-renowned. In fact, he has been known as the "Michael Jordan" of Europe.

He was also not a Mormon when he arrived at BYU. He was an avowed atheist, he drank, he smoked, he had wordly morals. But it all made for a beautiful conversion story -- he was touched by his Mormon friends, read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it and knew it was true, and he repented and turned his life over to God on the spot. He wound up getting baptized and when he was done with BYU, he played, I think, on three different American NBA teams. He said becoming a member of the church even changed the way he played basketball -- he was kinder, less cocky and boastful. But he felt like God wanted him to help establish the church in Croatia so he turned down multi-million dollar contracts and returned to Croatia. He was the ONLY member of the church there.

There's much more to the story. In short, he worked tirelessly to introduce people to God's plan of happiness and to let them know that His true church was on the earth today. He was in a position to influence leaders of his country to permit the church to function there. He went on to play basketball throughout Europe, became a coach, and then, with so much war in his country, he went into politics and became the Croatian deputy ambassador to the United States, where he sought to keep people aware of what was happening in his country and to try to bring peace to his beautiful homeland.

I found a connection with him in that he got non-Hodgkins lymphoma and he died from that. I do marathons for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help fight those diseases. His friends reported that, in his final days, he was very concerned that people who'd been fasting and praying for him to recover might lose their faith when he wasn't healed, so he prayed that the Lord would help them. He thought of others clear til the end.

I think I want to find a book or something about him, but I just googled and you pretty much just get foreign language sites when you plug his name in. I'll keep looking.

Anyway, very special experiences in prayer yesterday. The Lord is showing me what He wants me to pray for, and He is most definitely listening. Of course, He knows how my heart and prayers are drawn to others, but there is something sanctifying about putting such a special effort into it. It's all about "His will be done", but He kind of whispers to you what to pray for with these people and these situations.

I have done prayer experiments before, but they are usually the "four days of 20 minute prayer" and "30 days of 20 minute prayer". This time, I'm shooting for "365 days of prayer for OTHERS". And I'm keeping track of what I pray for and what happens to those people and in those situations. I read a scripture to see what the Lord wants me to know about what I'm praying for and I'm journaling it.

Today, I'm adding prayers that Joran van der Sloot is found and arrested after the murder of a lovely young woman in Peru. Just so you know, I read the news all the time and as you can tell from reading my very first posts, I often seek God's intervention in reducing the victimization of women and children and to catch those who prey on them. I am praying for the safety of a young LDS woman who is in Thailand to help make a documentary to expose and stop human trafficking (that is the nice term for what is really happening). I believe in prayer and I often wonder how long we would have these evils in our midst if we all prayed consistently to get rid of them. (And you realize it's not that simply, it's about praying for law enforcement and for good parenting and for good influence to spread and triumph over people who are inclined to do bad).

I really have two scriptures for today.

One comes from the story of Hannah. She went every year to the temple with her husband and she prayed for the Lord to let her have a child, a son. She was persecuted for not having children, although her husband loved her dearly and spoke to her most tenderly. 1 Samuel says "she was in ^abitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore" (1 Samuel 1:10).

She made a covenant with God -- which we know she kept -- and it would involved a great sacrifice, giving up this son that she was praying for.

The priest, Eli, saw her quietly praying, assumed she was drunk, and went to speak with her, whereupon she let him know that she had a "sorrowful spirit" and was pouring out her soul to God. Eli told her, "Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him" (Samuel 1:17).

The second is from Zephaniah. I opened at random and had these notes in the margins:

8/12/2007 - 2nd set of 30 day prayer experiment. All problems not gone but after 2 months of intense, consistent prayer and change of heart, I feel like God is telling me he is pleased [with me] and that He will undo all that afflict me. What a great shot in the arm today.

3/11/2010 - No coincidence as I'm going another prayer experiment and have [these] trials that I find this -- "undo all that afflict me".

Here it is:

Sing, O daughter of Ziom [that's me]; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.

The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thous shalt not see evil any more...

The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing...

I will undo all that afflict thee.

Zephaniah 3:14-19

P.S. I saw the other missing kitty in the crawl space, Tigger, and he's eating and drinking. I should be able to catch him or coax him to me soon and get him out of there.