Lenten Refocus

This is another in a series of letters to members of the Prayer for Prodigals community. Dear Lover of Prodigals, Lent began today.  For some of you it has spiritual and family significance.  For others it has little meaning now or in the past. The 40 days of Lent represent the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert, being tested and tempted and surviving without food and water.  It was His time of preparation for the ministry that would begin when he returned. We do something similar during Lent:  Most of us choose a discipline—giving up something we enjoy or doing something we don’t particularly enjoy.  This denying of self helps to strengthen and prepare us for the depth of pain in the crucifixion on Good Friday and the ecstasy of joy in the resurrection on Easter morning. It seems that this might be a good time for us—those of us who love prodigals—to take some time to refocus.  For most of us our lives—or at least our emotions--revolve around our wanderer and the pain he brings us and our hopes for a different future. Good Friday and Easter are about that exactly—great pain and great hope.  Though we don’t when our loved one will come to her senses and return to the fold, we all believe it will happen.  But perhaps part of the progress, the desired transformation, is waiting on work God is doing in us. So perhaps we should turn our eyes from the rebel in our midst and shine a light on our own hearts/attitudes/sins.  We can ask God to reveal where He wants to work in us:  actions and attitudes to change, sin to confess and abandon, new ways to demonstrate love, pursuing God as our first love. The following links will take you to prayers in the Prayer for Prodigals community that might be perfect Lenten meditations: Know the Father’s Heart Hindrances to Answered Prayer Forgiveness for the Family Declaration of Release May God do a beautiful work in each of us that will reflect Him and woo our very loved prodigals. In a few weeks I will begin our preparations for the June 2 Worldwiide Day of Prayer for Prodigals.  I know it will be a special time together, as it always is. Grace and peace to you, Judy If you would like to visit the links in this letter, you will need to be a member of this wonderful praying community--Prayer for Prodigals.  You can write to prayerforprodigalsatgmaildotcom for an invitation to the community.