yellow highlights...

prayer is a huge huge part of my life...after all...it is the time spent chatting it up with my Father up above...

i have had a book...a prayer book for many many years...in it i kept two columns...two items...date and comment of people...things...situations that i was praying for...

this was no ordinary book...i don't quite know when it started...but one day i started highlighting in yellow...every time a prayer had been answered...

some were answered soon...some took days...some took months...some took years...some were still unanswered...

but many times..when i would tell a friend that i was praying for them...i would follow it up with..."remember all the yellow highlights"

i can't quite put my finger on the value of this book...to me...

it served so many different purposes...

it was a book of hope...for when things seemed tough or chaotic...i would open it up...and see many yellow highlights...it gave me the push needed to keep praying...

it was a book of reminders...the yellow highlights served as moments in my life where God had come down and done miraculous things in the lives of my family, friends...and me...

it was a book of adventure, drama, love & loss...for it chronicled so many events in the lives of those around me...

it was a book of love...for it showed that no matter what the situation was...God ALWAYS showed up...maybe not in the way that i thought...maybe not in the way that i had hoped...but He always showed up...and showed up in a way that you knew that it was the right ending...

well...you have probably noticed that i am speaking of this book in the past tense...

this weekend...my book had an unfortunate situation....and ended up in a puddle...a big puddle of water...and by the time i realized it...it was beyond recognition...

my once bright yellow highlighted book...was completely wet...words were erased...yellow highlights strewn together with black & blue ink...no trace of the history...

i was pretty devastated...

so i contemplated...did i want to start over? it isn't really starting over...it is a continuation...but i have nothing to fall back on...
as most of my friends can attest to...i have the memory of a gnat...so this book held years and years of memories for me...

the wonderful thing is that...i may not remember specifics...but i can always remember yellow highlights...and i still can visualize opening that book and seeing all the yellow highlights...

my God still answers prayers...so i dragged myself out to the book store...had to find the perfect "new" prayer book/journal...

although it is still new...with crisp white pages...and empty...i know that it will be just a matter of time...before i see yellow highlights...filling up the pages...faster than i can pray...