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L.O.V.E - Living out our values inside and out is something that as a church and staff we felt would be important for us to focus on for the next year. During this pastor's corner, I want to speak on the value of prayer. Billy Graham famously said, ‘Prayer is a two-way conversation between you and God.’

However, often our prayer lives look more like a voicemail message, rather than a call. We’re so keen to speak to God and share our requests that we can so easily forget that he might want to say something to us. Have you been there with your laundry list for God, I know I have. God, I have this I need or thing that you need to do in my life or in someone else’s life…. fill in the blank.  I sometimes have a hard time with this aspect of prayer, where I am silent and I listen to God’s still small voice of the Holy Spirit leading me and guiding me even during my laundry list prayer. As I think about prayer and a prayer that I pray often, I am reminded of the psalmist's words “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.“ Psalms 23:2-3 NIV In this scripture we see those words “quiet waters” and I have always thought of this as something physical I walk through but it can also be the place where we are quiet before the Lord and can hear His voice. I know that in the world we live in we are constantly bombarded by noise and silence is not something we readily seek, but it is the silent times of prayer that we can truly quiet our waters, lay down in silent pastures, and find refreshment for our souls. Will you join me in the silence of prayer and place value in God’s refreshment?