Christian Reflection and Prayer

Jesus said…"I came to bring truth
to the world. All who love the truth
recognize that what I say is true."
John 18:37 NLT

A wife prays for her husband's salvation
(from "God's Daily Promises")

After a rather gentle talk [one evening]
about Christianity, [my wife Davy] went
to bed, leaving me lying upon the sofa
in front of the fire reading.…A half hour
passed. I let the book fall and switched
off the lamp. Gazing upon the glowing
coals, I wondered with a strange mixture
of hope and fear whether Christ might be
in very truth my God. Suddenly I became
aware that Davy was praying beside me—
she had stolen into the room in her
nightgown and knelt down by the sofa.
I looked at the quiet figure for a few
moments. I have never seen her pray.
Then she spoke.
"When I was in bed," she said very softly,
"it seemed to me that God was telling me
to come to you. I have prayed to God to
fulfill your soul."

She paused a moment, and then she
whispered: "Oh, my dearest—please
believe!"

Moved almost to tears, I whispered
back—a broken whisper, she wrote
in the Journal [the book we both kept
of our searching for God and truth]—
I whispered, "Oh, I do believe."
I was shaken by the affirmation that
swept over me.
"Hold to this moment," she murmured.
"Hold to it when doubts come. This is
the truth—I know it it."
Sheldon Vanauken in A Severe Mercy

Adapted from The Prayer Bible
Jean E. Syswerda, general editor,
Tyndale House Publishers (2003),
p 1657.