Prayer in the Laundry Room

Last year, my dryer went on the fritz. Mason worked on it several times and we thought that perhaps it was repaired, but finally, it quit.

I made multiple trips to the Laundromat, and then we decided it was time to begin the search for a newer washer and dryer.

We found the perfect set. On sale. In red. So it was purchased and delivered, with the old washer and dryer to be taken out at that point.

They were beautiful! My laundry room is quite small and these heavy duty machines take up most of the floor space, but they are beautiful.

We didn’t purchase the bases (they were a little costly) so I practically have to sit on the floor to move clothes from the washer to the dryer, but they are beautiful.

There is no room to turn around in the laundry room now, but my washer and dryer are beautiful.

The owner’s manual was a delight to read. Pages and pages filled with the functions each machine will perform. Many of which I have yet to use. They did send the CliffsNotes version for each manual to hang on the side of the pair, in case I’m in too much of a hurry to read the entire manual to determine which setting to use.

But the greatest feature of these machines is that if something goes wrong; like if they quit working, or if the lights stay on for no reason, or if the door won’t shut, or any number of issues, I simply call customer service.

After reaching a person in customer service, they will ask to speak to the washer or the dryer. Yes, they will.

I am to hold the phone up to the malfunctioning machine and then I am to move a knob to a specific location. The machine will then speak to the customer service representative.

The machine will tell the customer service representative exactly what the issue is and why it has refused to work. I hope the issue won’t include the pile of towels sitting on top of the machine, or that the door is slammed just a touch to harshly on occasion, or that this family simply does too much laundry.

Oh the perils in the laundry room!

Isn’t it wonderful that our heavenly Father is waiting for us to communicate with Him? He can't wait for me to say, "Hi" or "Good Morning!"

Unfortunately, we take God for granted, believing that He will always be there, even if we don’t speak to Him. And we sometimes wait until something has gone wrong before opening the line of communication with Him.

If we only pray to God when there are tough situations in our lives, we will never know the joy of praying to Him when life is good.

Psalm 100:4 tells us to “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” Praising God through prayer is such a freeing expression. Why wouldn't you want to praise Him? Don’t hesitate to praise Him daily.

Psalm 34:1 says that we are to continually praise Him. “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.” Praise through prayer is to be continual. Always. Non-stop.

I love Ephesians 3:20. It is at the end of Paul’s prayer to the Ephesian church. He says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” When we know God will do more than we could ever imagine, it is much easier to drop to our knees in prayer. On any occasion.

Yes there will be trials. Yes there will be suffering, but with God on our side, why wouldn’t we seek Him? Why wouldn’t we run to Him in every situation? To be honest, that is a hard question to answer. Or maybe it isn’t hard, it’s just complicated.

For me, I sometimes fail and don’t pray to Him on a regular basis because I’m too busy. Sometimes I forget to praise Him. On occasion it takes a painful situation to bring me to Him. I don’t want to be that kind of person. I want to be in communication with God from the moment I wake up until the time my eyes close in sleep. Praising Him all the day long.

Won’t you join me? Spend a moment right now giving praise to your heavenly Father. Thank Him for His blessings and His grace. Let Him know how much you love Him. How you adore Him. How without Him, your life would have no meaning. Tell Him how sorry you are for not praying as often as you should or for taking Him for granted.

With great patience, God is waiting. Waiting for you to talk to Him. To tell Him all about your day. The good and the bad.

Fortunately, we haven’t had to call customer service for our washer or dryer. Yet. I know the day will come, but until then, I will continue to use this pair as I usually do. But, I will be praying in the process.

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Donna