1 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 1: Life Audio. You're listening to Everyday Prayers with Million Praying Moms, 2 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:20,759 Speaker 1: helping you pray God's word for your family in the 3 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:24,120 Speaker 1: areas you need it most. I'm your host, Nicolette Bell. 4 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:27,800 Speaker 1: Here we believe prayer isn't a last resort. It's our 5 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:31,640 Speaker 1: first and best response in parenting, and every day we 6 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: come together to partner with God for the hearts of 7 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: our children. Today's devotion is written and read by Emily T. Wrenga, 8 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: author of her new book Commune with Me An Invitation 9 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: to Feast with Jesus Today, Emily shares a prayer for 10 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:51,080 Speaker 1: when we feel broken? Can anyone relate to feeling broken 11 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: in motherhood? Emily shares how Jesus meets us right where 12 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: we are. To find out more about Emily, or to 13 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 1: learn more about the ministry of Million Praying Moms, visit 14 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: Millionpraying Moms dot com. You'll find a link in our 15 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 1: show notes. After a quick word from our sponsors, we'll 16 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: pray together for our families. 17 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:18,039 Speaker 2: A prayer for when you feel broken. Lamentations, Chapter three, 18 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 2: verses nineteen to twenty four. Remember my affliction and my wanderings, 19 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 2: the wormwood and the gall my soul continually remembers it 20 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 2: and is bowed down within me. But this I call 21 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 2: to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love 22 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 2: of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to 23 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:44,040 Speaker 2: an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. 24 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 2: The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore I 25 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 2: will hope in him. Josea chapter eleven, verses one to four. 26 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:57,280 Speaker 2: When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out 27 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 2: of Egypt I called my son. The more they were called, 28 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 2: the more they went away. They kept sacrificing to the 29 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 2: bales and burning offerings to idols. Yet it was I 30 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,080 Speaker 2: who taught Ephraem to walk. I took them up by 31 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:16,760 Speaker 2: their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. 32 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 2: I led them with chords of kindness, with the bands 33 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 2: of love, and I became to them as one who 34 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,360 Speaker 2: eases the yoke on their jaws. And I bent down 35 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:31,240 Speaker 2: to them and fed them. John chapter thirteen, verses twelve 36 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 2: to seventeen. When he had washed their feet and put 37 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 2: on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said 38 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 2: to them, do you understand what I have done to you? 39 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 2: You call me teacher and Lord and you are right, 40 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 2: For so I am. If I, then your lord and 41 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,840 Speaker 2: teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash 42 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 2: one another's feet. For I have given you an example 43 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 2: that you also should do, just as I have done 44 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,079 Speaker 2: to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant 45 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 2: is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger 46 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 2: greater than the one who send him. If you know 47 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 2: these things, blessed are you if you do them first. 48 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:17,079 Speaker 2: John chapter four, verse ten. In this is love, not 49 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 2: that we have loved God, but that He loved us 50 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 2: and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. 51 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 2: I'm standing on the terrace with laundry behind me, Indian 52 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,960 Speaker 2: saris flapping in the wind, the city of Kolcutta around me. 53 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 2: Below me, down two flights of stairs are men and 54 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 2: women in wheel chairs pulled from the gutters. I used 55 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,040 Speaker 2: to dream as a girl of Mother Theresa flying into 56 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 2: my back yard in her aeroplane, picking me up and 57 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 2: taking me to work with her. Now I am here. 58 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 2: Each morning, I take a motorcycle taxi. I ride for 59 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 2: half an hour to the mother house, and as I ride, 60 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 2: I see her. Kolkutta a mass of humanity, big shiny 61 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 2: box stores shoved against slums, people washing babies, and laundry 62 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 2: on the sidewalk, women wrapped in beautiful saris, cows and tuktuks, 63 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:17,159 Speaker 2: and bicycles and yellow taxis, and big golden carriages and 64 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 2: long blue buses, the smells of urine and cologne, the 65 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 2: constant blare of horns, and yet somehow everywhere order. I 66 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,160 Speaker 2: worship with the nuns in the chapel at the motherhouse, 67 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 2: the songs in Latin, a priest offering the Eucharist. Afterward 68 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 2: we are served steaming milk, chai, bananas, bread with jam, 69 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:43,840 Speaker 2: the sister's mop and do laundry. The rest of us 70 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:48,120 Speaker 2: pile into buses, taking us to Mother Teresa's homes, one 71 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 2: for the physically disabled, the home of the Pure Heart 72 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:56,159 Speaker 2: or dying, and one for abandoned children. I spend my 73 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 2: days in Caligat at the Home for the Dying. We 74 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:03,360 Speaker 2: do laundry there in a big plastic tub with a 75 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 2: wooden stick to pull out the sopping blankets and clothes. 76 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:09,719 Speaker 2: We wring them out, then put them into a big 77 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 2: industrial spinner. After this we carry them up the stairs, 78 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:17,360 Speaker 2: three flights of them, to the terrace, where we hang 79 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,200 Speaker 2: the clothes like flags, red and yellow and orange, banners 80 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 2: of love. Their limbs are like Christ's on the crucifix, twisted. 81 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 2: The ones who wear the clothes, the ones who were 82 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 2: found naked on the streets, tortured, some abandoned by parents 83 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 2: since childhood. They can't feed themselves, can barely move. They 84 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,359 Speaker 2: just laugh or murmur at lunch. One lady is tied 85 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 2: to a chair so she won't fall out of it. 86 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 2: We cut their nails, sing with them, spread cream on 87 00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 2: their skin, feed them, take them to the bathroom and 88 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,279 Speaker 2: lay them down for naps. Then they awaken, and we 89 00:05:55,360 --> 00:06:00,359 Speaker 2: do it all over again. Only some don't awaken. This 90 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 2: love is a mystery to me, the kind Catholics ponder 91 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:07,840 Speaker 2: as they grip the rosary. When my time there ends, 92 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 2: I leave Kolkatta, go home, even as the nuns remain. 93 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,279 Speaker 2: One night, I hold my daughter while she cries, heart 94 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:19,600 Speaker 2: broken at the sins of the world. I hold her 95 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 2: and stare up at the world map on the wall, 96 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 2: and I see it how all the countries seem but 97 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 2: jigsaw pieces, and how fitted together they would seem to 98 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,159 Speaker 2: make a heart. I see God's heart in the countries 99 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 2: of the world, His pure, heart broken by sin. We 100 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 2: are vessels of life, not yet full of the wine 101 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:44,560 Speaker 2: of life, says George mac donald. Where the wine does 102 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:49,160 Speaker 2: not reach there, the clay cracks and eggs and is distressed. 103 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:55,160 Speaker 2: Life must be assisted, upheld, comforted. Every part with life. 104 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 2: Life is the law, that food the necessity of life. 105 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 2: Life is everything. This is love, friend, This poured out life, 106 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 2: this letting the wine reach the driest places of our souls. 107 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:13,360 Speaker 2: It's the mystery that glues the heart and countries back together. 108 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,840 Speaker 2: More than me learning it, It's a love that's learning me, 109 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 2: forgiving me when I fail it, when I fail to 110 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 2: feel it, when I run from it. It rings us 111 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 2: out and hangs us up a bright display, like colorful 112 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 2: flags banners of love across the sky. It's the love 113 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 2: of a crucified Christ. Lord Jesus, I have so much 114 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:41,800 Speaker 2: to learn about love. I am so careful with my love, 115 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 2: so reserved, and that really isn't love at all. May 116 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 2: your lavish love pour through me onto everyone I meet. 117 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,800 Speaker 2: May the world know I'm a Christian by my love. 118 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 1: I hope you are following along with us in our 119 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: summer book club featuring the book When Mothering Is Hard 120 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 1: and no one by Scheline Roberts. If you have not 121 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: joined us yet, it's not too late to jump in. 122 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 1: Head to the homepage of our website to find out more. 123 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: Until next time, friends, the Lord bless you and keep you. 124 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: Make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. 125 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:19,640 Speaker 1: May the Lord look with favor on you and give 126 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: you his peace.