I learned first hand about the value of cumulative written conversations with God when I began to gather the information to write my parents’ testimony. How dismayed I was to find I had very little written testimony from which to pull.
During my dad’s seminary years he documented his healing in a six-page paper. After his death a year later, the rough draft and final manuscript with its scribbled grade and a brief note from a seminary professor were packed away. Eventually the box was relegated to the attic. If I am remembering correctly, mice made a nest out the some of it and other pages were misplaced. By the time his testimony came into my hands, all that was left was the first three pages of the handwritten rough draft with Dad’s scrawled additions squeezed into the margins.
A few years after Dad’s death my mom purposed to write her version of their testimony. She handwrote the first portion in great detail, beginning with the events of winter 1966 through the spring of 1967. Her sister volunteered to type her notes and began the editing process. But when Mom saw the edited notes she became demoralized by the magnitude of the work and simply quit. (Thank goodness, we still have her notes.) I syphoned every detail of these original testimonies and my mother’s vivid memories to write the first chapter of my book Prayers that Must, The Power of Conversational Prayer.
Mom did not return to the calling to write her spiritual legacy until age seventy-five. She has just completed her book called The Lamp, Be Aglow and Filled with the Spirit, which highlights my parents’ testimony plus a lifetime of conversations with God. She is the proof that it is never too late to begin the prayer-that-must-be-written.
Those who know the Lord have a story to remember and a witness to share. No, not everyone is called to write a book, but each of us is responsible to treasure up and live by the wisdom of God. Though His thoughts and ways are high above all things, He mercifully stoops to communicate with us. What wondrous love is this? Love is a Person and what the reveals should be rightfully treasured.
“Guard my teachings as the apple of your eye” (Prov. 3:3b).
Blessed are those who find wisdom,
those who gain understanding,
for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold. . .
She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
those who hold her fast will be blessed. Ps. 3:13 -18
Where there is no vision, the people perish . . . Prov. 29:18a
Let this be written for a future generation,
that a people not yet created may praise the Lord. Ps. 102:18
One generation commends your works to another;
they tell of your mighty acts. Ps 145:4
jointjournal 