Wash your Hands (and Pray)!

My daughter Emmy just started her first job as a registered nurse this past October. Little did she know that several months later, her floor would be designated as one of the two COVID floors in her hospital; however, God knew it. I am confident He is with her each time she enters a patient's room.Because Emmy lives with Mac and me, she is somewhat quarantined to the upstairs for now. (We practice social distancing at the stairwell often). We decided that I would bring her things to eat and drink so that she would not have to enter the kitchen. Because of this routine, I wash, rinse, and dry my hands multiple times throughout the day.I bet your hand-washing has increased in the last few weeks as well.With this health-conscious activity that is already going on in your home, I invite you to accept this simple yet powerful challenge: while washing your hands for the recommended 20 seconds...pray.Let's utilize this time standing still at the sink for the greater good. As your hands are underneath running water, you have the ability to say words to an all powerful God that will go beyond the walls of your home. It's your way, and my way, of contributing to both the care of our spiritual hearts and also the defeat of this physical virus. While others are on the frontline, we can be their strong support through prayer.Because God is lovingly concerned about our deepest issue, which is the condition of our heart, let's start our twenty-second-praying there. He says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick" (Jeremiah 17:9). So let's pray these three things:

1. Pray for your own heart. Ask God to change anything in your heart that needs refining. How do you want to be different when all this is over? Ask Him to draw you closer to Him, to make you more like Him in thought, word, and deed. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10.
2. Pray for the hearts of your loved ones. Again, ask the Lord to change anything in your loved one's hearts that needs redirecting. Pray for them to know the Lord Jesus; ask Him to give them true life, peace, and provision during this hard time. I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their whole heart. Jeremiah 24:7
3. Pray for the Lord to change the direction of this virus. God is all powerful. God is able. Tell Him. Praise Him. Claim Him. And then ask Him to do His mighty work. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. Psalm 33:8-9.

Choose to pray as your stand still for twenty seconds at the sink. Do this seven times in a row, and it will become a habit, right? I'm doing it now, and it is a game changer for me. I feel like I'm actually contributing something in this battle!Believe these short meaningful prayers will have profound implications for you, for those you love, and for the world. Become a prayer warrior because the people on the frontline need you, and so do the patients. Commit; persevere; fight the good fight. Remember, you are talking to Almighty God several times a day... He's listening ....He's responding .... believe you are making a difference...because you are.