March 10, 2005 Romans 8:12-27

March 10, 2005                                                                                   Romans 8:12-27

 

Romans 8:26-27 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.  And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

 

            Our eldest son, Todd, abruptly broke off all ties with us.  He dropped out of college and we started living our lives without Todd.  It was January of 1999, the second semester of his senior year.  Todd had been home for Christmas break and we took him back to school for what should have been his final semester.  We always maintained an 800 number so that Todd or other family members could call us toll free when needed.  That semester he stopped calling completely.  We’d call and he would never return them.

            Eventually, Todd got a cell phone of his own and gave us the number (this only after Andy made a trip to St. Paul to find him several years ago).  The number still works and we hear his voice mail, but our calls are never returned.  For me, this is always the first sigh, a complete loss for words.  I cried and still cry, but I could not pray.

            It’s been 6 years now and my sighs have grown deeper.  I know the Spirit prays on my behalf to God with all the pain and emptiness I feel.  And I’ve learned that I am not the only one who sighs during my prayer time, for words can often escape us.  To all who sigh instead of finding words for prayer, I say God’s blessings on you.  Be comforted in the knowledge the Spirit prays for us.

 

Abba, Lord, you and your Spirit have saved many a wretch like me.  Hear the groans of our prayers, as we come to you with sighs to deep for words.  This we ask in the name of Christ.  Amen.

 

Contributed by Rachel O’Dowd