Prayer Pattern

What I am about to say may sound like a grandiose statement, but I believe without a shadow of a doubt that this book was inspired by God Himself. Let me explain. In early 2014, my mom and dad received a devastating phone call from a family member, to whom I’ll refer to as Robert, regarding my sister’s behavior and how she had slipped into an even worse condition than what had been reported three months prior, which was bad then. Robert indicated that he was afraid for her life and was starting to believe that if things kept going in the direction they were headed, he may one day receive a call that she was found in a Dumpster.

When my mom shared this with my youngest sister, she recalled a childhood fear that this same sister might die an early death; consequently, she shared the same sentiment as Robert. At this point, great fear began to creep in on the scene. Over the last thirty years, this sister has unfortunately dealt with numerous behavioral issues, but this specific bout seemed to bring about a particularly high level of concern.

When my mom called to tell me about all of this, I could sense the distress in her voice. She asked what I thought, and for an instant, I felt the twinges of fear begin to rise in me, but Holy Spirit helped nip that in the bud. I had a quick revelation that Robert and my younger sister were looking through lenses of fear and, therefore, the only thing they could see was my sister in a Dumpster. He also showed me that both fear and faith are extremely contagious and that my mom and I needed to carefully guard our hearts, reject fear, stand in faith, and most important, trust God! After all, the Bible is very clear when it comes to trusting God: Jeremiah 17:7–8 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit” (emphasis added). It was clear—we had to trust God on this one. The Lord gave my mom the following word immediately following the news about my sister:

“You are under the shelter of the Most High and you abide in the secret place. I Myself will go after your daughter and bring her back from the kingdom of darkness. I will fight this battle, and every battle I fight, I win. See her now as I see her, whole and complete, missing nothing. I am so pleased at the confidence you have in Me, the trust that you have that I will do everything that I said I will do. Not one word that I have spoken will drop to the ground. This will not be a long drawn out battle. I have accelerated this time table. Rest in Me and My ability to redeem your daughter out of the pit that she is in. Believe Me when I say that everything will be okay. Isaiah 57:18 I have seen her (willful) ways, but I will heal her; I will lead her and restore comfort to her and to those who mourn for her.”

From there, God gave my mom and me some very specific strategies on how we were to navigate the mess that was before us, because in the natural, we had no idea how to approach this situation. The good news was that God knew exactly what was going to happen and that the victory was ours before we even got started. The amazing part is that with the Prayer Pattern that He would later give us, not only would it permanently change our family’s lives once and for all, but it would also serve as a blueprint for other believers around the world struggling to overcome their own uncertain or hopeless situations.