H
holyrood
Guest
Last night, I prayed for a friend (former friend?) who is engaged in all sorts of hedonism. I have prayed for him a great deal for 5 years. He quit these things for two years while he was with me, but when I broke up with him, he went back to it.
As I prayed last night, I once again wondered how long we pray for someone, especially when we see not only no answer to prayer, but even see people going farther from God. Theologically, I’d say we pray forever.
But I thought of Monica, and how she’s held up as a hero for praying for Augustine for 30 years. (Or so I’ve always heard.) She is to be our model of persistence, right? But he converted when he was 31. So this means she prayed for her son from the time he was a child–from years before he went off on the wrong track.
Somehow, this doesn’t seem quite the same as praying for 30 years for someone living actively against God, or praying for 30 years despite lack of seeing an answer. It seems like praying for 12 or 13 years before seeing an answer.
It may be splitting hairs…but then again, lots of people get off track for a decade. By the time someone gets off track for 30 years, it becomes a lot harder to believe they have intention of, or desire to, respond to God’s grace and the help of our prayers.
I suppose in a sense it was a little discouraging to me to realize Monica didn’t actually spend 30 years praying for a wild son, but only for a dozen or so.
I just am interested in thoughts on this. Perhaps encouragement to keep praying for this friend and others, year after year, when there never appear to be any answers to my prayers.
As I prayed last night, I once again wondered how long we pray for someone, especially when we see not only no answer to prayer, but even see people going farther from God. Theologically, I’d say we pray forever.
But I thought of Monica, and how she’s held up as a hero for praying for Augustine for 30 years. (Or so I’ve always heard.) She is to be our model of persistence, right? But he converted when he was 31. So this means she prayed for her son from the time he was a child–from years before he went off on the wrong track.
Somehow, this doesn’t seem quite the same as praying for 30 years for someone living actively against God, or praying for 30 years despite lack of seeing an answer. It seems like praying for 12 or 13 years before seeing an answer.
It may be splitting hairs…but then again, lots of people get off track for a decade. By the time someone gets off track for 30 years, it becomes a lot harder to believe they have intention of, or desire to, respond to God’s grace and the help of our prayers.
I suppose in a sense it was a little discouraging to me to realize Monica didn’t actually spend 30 years praying for a wild son, but only for a dozen or so.
I just am interested in thoughts on this. Perhaps encouragement to keep praying for this friend and others, year after year, when there never appear to be any answers to my prayers.