I’m one of those people who work out of a virtual office in my home. A bad day of traffic for me is trying to attempt the staircase at the same time as my dog, Gracie. We have had numerous collisions on the staircase not to mention a few obstacles; she loves to leave her toys on the steps. Unlike the commercials, I can honestly say that, so far, I’ve never worked a full day in my pajamas but looking down, I can see that my slippers are much more comfortable than any other pair of shoes I own and have become the shoe that matches everything.

Working from home can be a blessing or it can be a hindrance. For instance, my office doesn’t necessarily open up at 8:00 am and lock up at 5:00 pm. There are times I’m in front of my computer very early in the morning or working way into the night to get a project done. Some days I have to rely on Gracie to remind me to take a break. It’s a balancing act that is still a work in progress.

What I have found by working at home, is that it gives me the freedom to decorate my office anyway I want. I don’t have the office patrol telling me that I can’t put religious items in a public place. I don’t have a manager looking over my shoulder telling me that my Bible is offensive to the person next door. I have four walls that I can fill with what ever I choose. With that said, what I have is a prayer wall.

What is a prayer wall? To me it’s a place to post all those emails that I receive each day asking for prayer. I print them out and post them under the cross that hangs on my wall. During my Gracie breaks, I’m able to take a moment to move around, stretch, and I’m able to look at each one of those prayer requests and lift them to God. Many of them are my own and maybe some of them are yours? Before you get concerned about having your information shown on a wall…remember this is my home office and no one else enters my private sanctuary except Gracie and as far as I know, she can't read.  

Sometimes my prayer wall is covered with prayer requests and sometimes I can actually see the wall behind it. That’s when I hear from you, the requestor that the crisis is over and all is well in your life. I don’t shred the prayer request when I know the prayer has been answered, I remove it from under the cross and put it on the praise wall. [It remains there for a couple weeks before it goes through the paper shreader.]

As Christians, this is the part that becomes so important but is often forgotten. We always cry out for help when in need but we seem to fall short on the other side of prayer…the praise.

It reminds me of an email that circulated through the Internet a few months ago.

A person dies and goes to heaven. Upon entering the gates of heaven she notices that there are angels hustling, bustling and scurrying around. She asks Saint Peter, “Why are they so busy?”  He points to the first group of angels and tells her that those are the angels taking prayer requests. Understanding how many prayer requests they must get a day, she wasn’t surprised. He continued to point at the second group of angels who were just as busy and told her those are the angels answering prayers. Again understanding that someone has to take care of the tasks, she wasn’t shocked. Saint Peter pointed to a lonely little angel in the corner, sitting at a desk with nothing to do. She asked, “Why is that angel by himself? What’s his responsibility?” Saint Peter replied, “That’s the praise section and he’s our praise collector, he’s there waiting to hear words of thanks.”

Our job as Christians is to lift each other in prayer, pray continually, and remember we need to put the praise collector to work too.

Written by the Holy Spirit through Brenda Bates – November 2005

Scripture:

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in ALL circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19

Prayer to the Father:

Heavenly Father, thank YOU for this beautiful day and all the wonderful people that you have placed in my path. Whether I’m talking on the phone or face to face with others, I want to represent YOU well. Father I confess that I fall short when it comes to praising YOU for all that YOU do for me. I get so caught up in the blessing that I forget Who blessed me. Lord, as I look at my prayer wall, I see that many of Your children’s concerns have been there for a long time. I know that YOU will answer them in Your perfect time and according to Your will. Please help me to see that it’s not about what YOU can do for me but what I need to continually do for YOU. Fill me with Your Spirit Lord so that others can see YOU as a friend to follow instead of a God to hide from. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

My Personal Thoughts:

Even when we think the angels are on break we can be assured that God is not. He is a Man of his Word and will answer each prayer prayed and each petition as if it were His very own.

Who do the think that I am?