Daily Gratitude Year 10 - Day 96: Today, I will choose to be grateful for nights I can't sleep.
"Whenever you can't sleep, it's God's way of telling you to pray. That there's someone who needs your prayers." -Karen Kingsbury
In recent years, I have found this quote to be so true. Waking up restless and unable to go back to sleep is the perfect opportunity to pray. I've started to think of it as "taking the night shift".
Sometimes, in the wee, quiet hours surrounded by darkness, the opportunity to pray without distractions is not a curse, but a gift. There is a special intimacy in those nighttime prayers.
We can pray for those in the line of duty as soldiers, police, firefighters and other lines of work where they put their lives on the line for someone else.
We all have people on our prayer list who are struggling with brokenness, grief and loss. Their nights are often long and sleepless, too. Carry them to the Father in prayer, asking for hope, healing and respite from the heaviness of sorrows.
Many sick people need our prayers, too. Let's not forget the weary caregivers working in nursing homes, at hospitals, hospice or even caring for loved ones at home. These people are frequently bedside when the veil between life and death is thin. They walk on holy ground. Lift them to the Father for strength. Pray for them to feel the whisper-like brush of angel's wings.
"After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone." -Matthew 14:23
Jesus took time alone, in the hills as darkness fell to pray. He sent the distractions home.
"Night and day we pray earnestly for you, asking God to let us see you again to fill the gaps in your faith." 1 Thessalonians 3:10
Earnestly praying for each other through the challenges of daily living.
Today, I will choose to be grateful for nights I can't sleep.
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