Have you heard of the color perception theory? It’s this idea that we’ve all been taught to identify the same things as the same colors, but, the color I see might actually be different than the color you see. So, grass is always green, but, if we could see our greens side by side, they might look very different.I have a feeling this theory might apply to our prayer lives as well. I love to hear people talk about prayer. If you gathered together a table of your favorite people and asked them how they pray, I bet each person’s prayer life would look different. Our prayer life is a beautiful reflection of our actual life, colored by our families of origin, our faith traditions, our experiences, our strengths, and our weaknesses. Together, these elements set the stage in our own temple… the space where we commune with God.Now, when I pray, I like to think of it as going to work. I usually come with a purpose in mind. But, there have also been seasons in my life where I couldn’t find the words… And I would rely on the kind of prayer that Paul describes in Romans 8:26:“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”This is one of my favorite verses in the bible because it shows the character of God… That even when we’re unsure, God is still sure… He simply wants us to come. In a particularly difficult time in my life, I was having a hard time bringing God much more than wordless groans. I was feeling anger and fear and while I knew that God could handle my emotions, I also felt like they were getting in the way of “going to work.” So, I shared with a friend who is strong in her faith. She told me something that changed my prayer life forever: There is praying and there is talking and God wants to hear both. Now, when I feel like what I’m bringing to God is too heavy, I spend time laying it down first. I talk to God before I pray.
 
These conversations aren’t always comfortable for me, because they reveal a lot of my own weaknesses. I tell God when I’m angry with him. I tell God when I’m scared. And ultimately, the same two things always come out of this time: 1.     I’m reminded that God cares.
2.     And I’m reminded that God is worthy of my trust.Whatever your prayer life looks like, I want to remind you of these same things today. God simply wants you to come… He cares… And he is worthy of your trust.