Confession time: Lately I’ve felt in a spiritual dry-spell. My prayer life has felt like a struggle. Far too frequently I feel tempted to avoid my evening devotions. When I do turn to evening prayer, these devotions have felt more routine than anything else. I say the words, I read the scriptures, I turn the pages. My prayers feel more a matter of the brain than the heart.

I tell myself that part of the discipline of prayer is the resolve to keep going even when prayer doesn’t feel explosive and earth-shattering. After all, prayer can be frustrating, dry, and routine for everyone, but in love we keep going. I remind myself to push through these times because we seek not a feeling, but a person. But lets, be honest, these spiritual dry spells can be hard to navigate.

The other night I ended my evening prayers and looked out the window. I looked at the night sky, and the dots of lights signifying people’s houses. I found myself reflecting on the myriads of people who long for something more in their spiritual lives, those who feel an inward ache, but don’t know where to turn. I uttered a silent prayer for these people, praying that whoever needed to feel God’s presence might find their way into a community of faith. I prayed that God touch their lives and help them embrace their identity as one loved by God. The prayer took a whopping 15 seconds.

The following Sunday morning, a woman came to the door of the church. As I held the door for her, she looked at me and said, “My last time in church was 34 years ago.” I observed that throughout the service she was deeply moved, even to the point of tears. Following the service, she lingered in her pew with a box of tissues. She sat crying in her pew, until finally she walked over to me, said “Thank you”, and exited the sanctuary. 

Isaiah 55 reminds us that God’s ways are not our ways, God’s thoughts not like our own. God’s activity in the world often occurs in ways we could never imagine.

In this woman’s presence there is a beautiful intersection of divine activity. This woman’s presence in the church, after 34 years of absence, displayed God’s unyielding attentiveness towards us. Clearly, God had been working in her life prior to my late-night prayer over the city lights. In silent ways God had been whispering to her soul, nudging her towards a needed response. Still, I can’t help but feel it significant that she attended the church after I prayed my late-night prayer. Could my prayer have been the thing that moved her to the point of action?

At the same time, her presence was a blessing to me. God was attentive and present to my deep yearning. In my restlessness, I wanted to see how my prayers were part of God’s work in this messy world. I want to witness effect in prayer, beyond simply form or liturgy. And so, in God’s perfect love, God responded.  God used this woman’s presence in the church to witness to my place in God’s magnificent and mysterious work.

Could it be that the fallow times of our spiritual lives are just times of preparation for the next thing?

There are times when God peels back the layers of God’s work, allowing us to see the intricate working of God’s will. It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does, it is an encouragement to our souls. These moments become touchstones upon which we can hang our faith, knowing that we do not have a God who is distant and uncaring. These beautiful intersections of God’s will with our participation remind us that God is active in ways far beyond our perception or understanding. 

Do you feel stalled in your faith? Does prayer seem dry?  I would love to give you a magic prayer to pray, or a new discipline to try that will move you past such dryness. But I can’t. All I can do is encourage you to keep going. Remember when you last witnessed God’s work and allow that to be a testimony and an encouragement. Be bold in resilience and daring in hope. Because at some point, in God’s good time, the intersection of your spiritual life, and God’s perfect work will become evident in unexpected ways. So be patient and expectant, because when it happens, it will glorious.