Prayer; Melody of My Heart. By Grace Sales

“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” -C.S. Lewis

Melody came in on a Sunday morning, 18 years old and looking a bit frightened and laid on the bed as I began to check her baby's heart tones. “Is it okay?” She asked with big eyes. “It sounds good. There’s nothing to worry about, I will stay right here with you.” I assured her. About an hour or so later the pain increased and her contractions began to pick up and her breathing got heavier and more rapid and she grabbed my hand and with tears in her eyes said “I am scared will you pray with me?”

“God can’t give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing.” -C.S. Lewis

It was a midweek afternoon when I met her. “Hello!” she greeted me with a big smile on her face. “Hi! Komusta?” I greeted back. I began to check her vitals and baby’s heart tones. She was ten years my elder but she didn’t seem to mind a bit. She joked about it and asked me many questions and we laughed together as she danced around the clinic trying to get her labor to progress. “zumba! zumba! I will do zumba until my baby comes!” She said in a sing songy voice. Due to her labor’s failure to progress she needed to be transported. She continued to stay in a joyful mood throughout preparing to transport and I was surprised to still see a smile on her face as she asked me questions in the back of the ambulance. “Can I pray for you and your baby Melody?” I asked. “Please! Please!” she replied. I began to pray and thank the Lord for her overflowing joy. I asked His hand to touch her and her baby’s body and to give the doctors at the hospital wisdom. As I finished and looked up at her I noticed her face had changed. She still smiled but her eyes were red and she had tears streaming from her eyes. “The Lord is good and He knows. I am thankful He sent me you.” She said.

“I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God- it changes me.” -C.S. Lewis

In the joyful and the sad I see the power of my prayers. In my helplessness I can do nothing else but pray and His power gives life to the words that flow from my lips. It is my prayer that the melody of my heart will always be words from the Lord and that He would change me and those I pray for through it. I ask that you pray with me that the Lord continues to give me a song that overflows and the opportunity to pray with the women who come into the clinic will never cease.