“It doesn’t matter how you pray. Just pray. All religions are beautiful, and they all have one common belief. There’s something bigger and greater than us that can give us and take from us life. It is better than the here and now.”–Mattie Stepanek  

Prayer often times all we have in our darkest moments. My belief when we have nothing but prayer to hang onto. This is God giving us his private number to call.

At this moment, don’t beg for what you need, don’t need something for you. What you need is God’s favor upon your life. We must learn gratitude in the face of total ruin. If you learn from the quote, take a moment to learn about Mattie Stepanek.

This little boy died in 2004, but before this amazing lads final day, he left the world a much better place than he found it.

From Mattie’s website:

Mattie J.T. Stepanek, a well-respected poet, and award-winning peace activist lived a life that was brief in length but powerfully blessed with depth. Born on July 17, 1990, Mattie began creating and sharing Heartsongs at the young age of 3. He explained that Heartsongs are “gifts that reflect each person’s unique reason for being.”

Mattie ultimately published six collections of his Heartsongs poetry books and one collection of Just Peace essays and e-mail correspondence with Former President Jimmy Carter. All seven of Mattie’s books became New York Times Bestsellers and touched millions of lives around the world.

He died on June 22, 2004, due to complications of Dysautonomic Mitochondrial Myopathy. Visit Mattie’s website: http://www.mattieonline.com/

My point to all this is. No matter what life throws at you, and for this beautiful child, it was a lot. You can choose life, or you can roll up and die. No matter the circumstance in our own lives, we can go to God in prayer.

God knows what you need, so just tell him to thank you for bringing it to you. Be grateful. Yes, I can hear many of you saying this child Mattie died where God was in that? Beyond our comprehension, it was Mattie’s destiny (hugely painful loss) to go home. We will never understand the reason but will need to accept that while he was here, he touched many souls. His gifts live on in his books.

This child if anything taught us that no matter what this life throws at you; choose to live or want to die. It is a choice. This precious child decided to live.

Our stewardship of his legacy is that we follow our hearts in prayer just as Mattie spoke. As he said, “Just Pray!”

Just as Mattie died from a disease, we will never comprehend. You too may be suffering through something in your life beyond comprehension. Makes no sense and seems terribly unfair. On some level, it might be. The choice is ours how we choose to live. When we go to God in prayer, life will open up in ways, none of us expected. In a good idea!

Life can throw at us losses we will never comprehend. It’s our obligation to that loss, to live. It might hurt from time-to-time but live we must!

If you’re in pain, I pray that God gives you the wisdom, strength, and hope to see your way clear of the rocky shoals ahead. Once you clear them, you a free to navigate the seas open up for the next adventure.

God bless.