Breaking the fast: Happy Birthday Adam!

Psalm 118:24

This is the day the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

We are celebrating Adams birthday (one day early)! I am sorry, but being a child of the 60s and 70s, I could not resist playing this birthday greeting!

Today, Adam in one day away from his birthday, and one day closer to a full recovery.

James 5:19-20

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Roper ends his book by writing, "To save a soul from death, to turn another to righteousness, to help someone rise above sin and shame to become better, wiser, more like God—who could ask for anything more?"

I have no way of knowing his total impact, but I believe that Adam has helped cover a multitude of sins. It may seem like he has been doing it the hard way, but the reality is that he has been doing it God's way. I know that he has made me better, wiser, and more like God (Yes, I do have much further to go).

Thank God for all that He has done in your life. Thank Him for the lessons that you have learned from Adam and Amy. 

Thank God for the miracle that He is working in Adam.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Ask God to continue the good work that He has done in Adam. Pray that Adam would remember his birthday in 2013. Keep praying for a full recovery and keep praying that memories of specific periods of times would be restored.

Then, enjoy your breakfast!

In Christ's service,

Uncle Doug

Evening: I am "Just Human"

James 5:17-18

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

"Elijah, James reminds us, 'was a man just like us'—an ordinary man yet he accomplished extraordinary things through prayer. He changed the unchangeable course of nature!"
~from Growing Slowly Wise, by David Roper

Here are a couple facts:

1. Elijah prayed earnestly and changed the weather!

2. We prayed earnestly and Adam avoided death, awoke from his coma, learned to speak & walk again, and now rides a bike, types 28 words per minute—to name a few of his miraculous accomplishments! 

Surely, if God can provide answers to the prayers of "regular people" that defy all human understanding, He can restore Adam's memory. 

Don't listen to doubters and skeptics. Listen to the Voice of Truth.

    But the voice of truth tells me a different story
    And the voice of truth says "Do not be afraid!"
    And the voice of truth says "This is for My glory"
    Out of all the voices calling out to me
    I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
    ~Voice of Truth, Casting Crowns



We have made it through the day. Before you retire for the evening, break your fast, or whatever else might be on your agenda, pray these specific requests:

Pray that Adam would remember:

• Working at Microsoft.
• Living in Washington state.
• Moving to North Carolina.
• The day that he married Amy.

Amen.

NOTE: In the morning, there will be one more post. We can unite in prayer one last time, and there will be a little surprise.

SPECIAL: Praying Over Adam (6:00 to 8:30 p.m.)

James 5:13-16

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

I have to admit that this particular passage used to be "just another few verses" to me. After Adam's accident, the Holy Spirit prompted me to fast and pray for healing. The more I prayed and the more I thought about Adam, the more aware I became of all the places in scripture where healing occurred. 

I used to think that "faith healing" was something that happened in Bible times, but not the modern world. Wrong! Not only does it happen, but James provides instructions for it. I was excited to see Amy post these verses on her blog, and invite people over to lay hands on Adam in prayer. I wish I could be there!

If you live near Adam and Amy, drop in to pray between 6:00 and 8:30 p.m. this evening (Friday, February 1st).

"Martin Luther wrote, 'No man should be alone when he opposes Satan. The church was instituted for this purpose, that hands may be joined together and one may help another. If the prayer of one doesn't help, the prayer of another will'...

...Prayer, in the sense it brings us to God, is 'powerful and effective.' It is therapeutic; it heals! It is as God has promised—not that He will put an end to every physical affliction, but that He will put an end to sin. This He will do in His good time and as surely as His own good name...

...It seems a small thing merely to pray.  Isn't there something else we must do? Indeed, but nothing essential. Prayer is the thing we must do before anything else is done."
 ~from Growing Slowly Wise, by David Roper

Prayer Request

Adam has the awareness that he is "suppose to work," and that he doesn't have a job.  Amy tells him that therapy and working to get better from his injury is his job, but this upsets him. With this awareness of not having a job and his awareness of his memory loss, he is fighting discouragement and grief.  

1. Pray that Adam would not be discouraged.
2. Pray that Adam would not suffer grief.
3. Pray that God would provide Adam (and Amy & Mackenzie) with encouragement and perseverance.
4. Pray for Adam's vision (he is unable to see out of the right side of his right and left eyes, and his visual perception is tilted)
5. Continue to pray for Adam's full recovery.

I pray that "healing rain" will be falling on the Root household, this evening.

Dinner: Purify Your Heart

James 4:7-10

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

"James' solution is profoundly simple: When you want something and can't get it—ask God for it...But there is one proviso: we must ask with a quiet and submitted will. We cannot dictate the time or terms of our satisfaction...

...We can 'draw near to God' in prayer...In His presence we find the satisfaction we crave. 

We must 'wash our hands and purify our hearts'—cleanse ourselves from all selfish actions and attitudes that defile us and demean others."
~from Growing Slowly Wise, by David Roper



In a previous post (I Want to See Your Glory!), I wrote about God's timing during the physical healing of Adam—that God is slowly peeling away Adam's afflictions. I am sure that all who know Adam would have preferred an instant healing. As Roper reminds us, we do not get to dictate the the time or terms.

With God's timing in mind, lets collectively spend dinner time asking God to restore Adam's memory of his college years. Adam attended the University of Colorado from August 2000 through December 2002. He transferred to Oregon State University in January 2003 and finished in May 2004. He majored in Computer Science at both schools.

Adam's education enabled him to become a software programmer. I love what Ben Hickman, Enterprise Sales Manager at Microsoft had to say about Adam:

"Adam is an excellent software engineer who can be consistently relied on to 

get the job done no matter what. He takes great pride in the work that he does 

and is a team player who will do whatever is needed to succeed."

Oh, how we wish he were still programming! In an email, Amy wrote, "Programming has always been so near and dear to his heart I would love to see him remember code."

In addition to praying for memory of his college years (2000-2004), let's pray that Adam would remember how to code. His specialties are C#, C/C++, XML, HTML, object-oriented design, and extreme programming (XP). 

Pray that God would allow Adam to access that knowledge that he used so well "to get the job done no matter what." Just as he is a great team player, we need to be team players and join together in asking God for restoration of Adam's memory of his college years and programming knowledge.

Are you hungry? Pray more.

• Pray that God will continue give Adam and Amy a fresh and new love for each other.  
• Pray for peace for Adam, often times his brain injury gets upset, causing him to be angry with Amy. 

One more post, this evening.

Lunch: I Don't Want to Live...

...like I don't care
 
James 1:19-25

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says (emphasis added). Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

"The problem is that the more we keep the Word out of our will, the more theoretical, abstract, and distant God becomes. Then terrible things begin to happen to us: our hearts begin to harden (because unlived truth always brutalizes us), coldness sets in, and eventually bitterness overwrites our souls."
from Growing Slowly Wise, by David Roper

Let's take this one step at a time. Today, spend more time with God. Spending time in prayer is part of doing what the Word instructs us to do (this evening we will take a look at verses with specific instructions for healing prayer). Spending time in prayer will soften your heart and help keep bitterness out. 

With bitterness out, we can more easily focus on the needs that are all around us, rather than sitting around, throwing ourselves pity parties. 

    But I refuse
    'Cause I don't want to live like I don't care
    I don't want to say another empty prayer
    Oh, I refuse

    To sit around and wait for someone else
    To do what God has called me to do myself
    Oh, I could choose
    Not to move but I refuse

    I can hear the least of these
    Crying out so desperately
    And I know we are the hands and feet
    Of You, oh God
    ~I Refuse, Josh Wilson



Some specifics to include in your lunchtime prayer:

• Pray that God will heal Adam's retrograde amnesia (loss of memory of events prior to his accident).
• Ask God to rid Adam of anterograde amnesia (inability to create new memories since his accident). 

And, rather than simply asking for restoration of Adam's memory, let's all focus (during lunchtime prayers) on one period of his life—high school. Let's ask God to restore Adam's memory of high school. There are many years missing from Adam's memory, so lets lift up smaller blocks of time to God and ask Him to give memories of those four years back to Adam. Adam was in high school from 1996-2000. He graduated from Wilsonville High School in Wilsonville, Oregon. Pray for memories of those four years to be restored to Adam's memory.

Pour your hearts into your prayers. Plead with God to begin restoration of those four years in Adam's memory.

We don't want to say anymore empty prayers.

See you at dinner time.

Breakfast: So the Word Might Fall In

"A student came to a rabbi and asked, 'In Isaiah why is God's word written on their hearts instead of being in their hearts?' The rabbi answered, 'They are not yet ready for that. It is on their hearts so that when their hearts are broken the Word might fall in.'"
~from Growing Slowly Wise, by David Roper

Is your heart broken? If it isn't, do you have God's words written on it so that they might fall in when it does break?

James 1:12

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. 

We all face trials. We lose jobs. We struggle financially. We lose homes. We watch loved ones make bad choices. A marriage with so much hope and promise ends in divorce. A child becomes addicted to drugs. A close friend dies. A church splits or dissolves because of the sins of its leader. The list goes on and on.  James tell us that when we persevere, we will receive the crown of life. Oh, how I look forward to receiving that crown!

Today, we are focusing our thoughts and prayers on Adam. He needs to recover his memory. How frustrating it must be for Adam, Amy, Mackenzie, and other family members. God has heard our prayers over the past couple years. He has answered them with a continual physical healing when there was no hope offered by doctors. 

Today, we are praying specifically that Adam would recover his memory.  However, I also want you to pray for perseverance—for Adam and his family, and for all of us. We all face trials that require perseverance (it just seems that mine are so insignificant in comparison to Adam's).  

A Prayer

Dear God,  we thank You for your creation. We thank you for this day. We thank you for hearing our prayers. We praise You, Lord, for the amazing healing that you have worked in Adam since May 15th, 2010. You brought Adam out of his coma. Thank you! You restored Adam's ability to walk. Thank you! You restored Adam's ability to talk. Thank you! Lord, you have worked a miraculous healing in Adam. We are forever grateful for your goodness and mercy!

Lord, we are sinners, and ask for your forgiveness. Make us holy and pure in your sight. Wash away our transgressions with the blood of  Your Son, Jesus. We humbly come before You—as forgiven sinners—and ask that You would continue Your healing process in Adam. Lord, we are asking that You restore Adam's memory. Just as You have allowed him to walk and talk, allow him to remember his past, whether five years ago, or five minutes ago, please restore Adam's memory.

Father, help all of us to keep Your words on our hearts, so that when they do break, Your words will fall in.

Thank you, Lord, for hearing our prayers. Amem.

    There's a grace that's there
    It's everywhere and it's equal to the fall
    A grace that'll let me suffer so that I can persevere
    Equal to the Fall, Satellite Soul



Let's meet at lunch.

Eve of Fasting: Suffering Successfully

    May all your expectations be frustrated;
    May all your plans be thwarted;
    May all your desires be withered into nothingness...
    That you may experience the powerlessness and poverty
    of a child and sing and dance in the compassion of God
    Who is Father, Son, and Spirit.
    Amen.
    ~Brennan Manning's blessing

In Growing Slowly Wise, David Roper refers to James' Dictum: "Suffering Matures Us," and in the chapter titled Suffering Successfully, he writes, "When trouble comes we have two options. We can view it as an intrusion, an outrage, or we can see it as an opportunity to respond to it in specific obedience to God's will. This is that rugged virtue James calls 'endurance.'"

Tomorrow (Friday), is one opportunity to respond in obedience to God by fasting and praying for Adam. I will be basing my posts on the book of James, and writings about it found in Growing Slowly Wise.

Why James?

An easy answer is to reply with another question, "Why not James?" My Quest Study Bible states that "If you're looking for practical ways to live as a Christan, you've come to the right book....expect a string of hard-hitting, specific, practical instructions to help you live an authentic Christian life." Does that sound helpful? Yes! Is that why I chose James? No!

On page 18 of his book, Roper writes, "Finally, I'm drawn to James because he makes sense: he speaks to those instinctive and essential truths that enable us as human beings to associate with one another in kindness, courage, faithfulness, love, and delight." Do I want to make those my truths? Yes! Is that why I chose James? Again, no!

The choice was actually much easier. My dear friend, Evelyn, walked up to me at church and handed a copy of Growing Slowly Wise to me. She did not provide any reason other than she thought that I would like it. If you know Evelyn, you know to revere these types of events as God speaking through her. It just so happened that I had decided to reactivate the prayer blog for Adam, and along comes Evelyn with this book! I love that God provides for me in so many ways!

The reality is that we will not get to experience much of the book in our time together on Friday. My hope, however, is that you might pick up a copy to guide you through the book of James, and that we all learn to suffer successfully!. As I wrote the prior sentence, I could not help but think of Amy. Does anybody reading this know of anybody who has suffered more successfully than Amy Root? I do not. She has chosen to respond to an incredibly difficult situation by viewing Adam's accident and slow recovery as an opportunity to respond in obedience to God's will. She must respond, daily. All I am asking is for you to respond one day (tomorrow).

Suffer a bit in hunger. Suffer a bit by spending time in prayer rather than in the sports page. Suffer a bit by passing up lunch with co-workers or friends. Suffer a bit more by passing up Friday dinner and movie. Instead, spend that time with God. Rather than the usual Friday, find yourself singing and dancing in the compassion of God. You will not regret it.

It's your choice.

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

    "Therefore, "consider it pure joy...whenever you face trials of many kinds." Cheer up! Sing! Rejoice! God is making of you a better a thing than you ever thought possible."
~David Roper, Growing Slowly Wise

You are redeemed!



I look forward to praying with you, tomorrow. See you at breakfast!

I Want to See Your Glory!

Let's see it on February 1st!

I am sitting here, listening to Pandora, and felt a chill go down my spine as Let it Rain played. I have always loved this song. In the middle of this song, Michael W. Smith recites these words from Psalms:

The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad;
    let the distant shores rejoice.
² Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
    righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
³ Fire goes before him
    and consumes his foes on every side.
⁴ His lightning lights up the world;
    the earth sees and trembles.
⁵ The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
    before the Lord of all the earth.
⁶ The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
    and all peoples see his glory.

~Psalm 97:1-6

There are many songs based on Psalms, but this one gets me in a special place with God, and the emotion in the reciting (what Smith does is much more powerful than mere reciting, but I cannot think of the word to use) of the above verses gets me every time. How can one listen to this and not want to see God's glory? I want to see it. Do you?

Many of us have had a front-row seat to God's glory as we have experienced, heard about, read about, or otherwise followed the healing of Adam Root. Adam has defied doctors and doubters with his progress. He has surprised many by walking, talking, and even riding a bicycle! 

Amy, and my fellow prayer warriors have not been surprised. We are simply thankful. Thankful that God has heard our prayers and chosen to answer them with healing. Not an instantaneous healing, but a slow, methodical healing. In the case of Adam's recovery, it is as if God is slowly peeling away Adam's afflictions. Something tells me that God is using Adam to keep us disciplined in our prayers and faith.

While Adam is regularly in my prayers, it is time to rally folks together. Adam needs to reclaim his memory. So, let's join Amy in prayer on Friday, February 1st (see Please Join Us...) Let's lift Adam up, together, as we fast and pray for God to restore Adam's memory.

We will pray as we have in the past. Fasting is suggested, but not required. A devotional will be posted on the evening of the 31st, at each meal time on the 1st, and one more in the evening (read more details).

I look forward to praying with you on February 1st. Let's experience God's glory (and His healing power), together!