Prayerful Paranoia

Disclaimer: I am not crazy. I am not OCD. I am not losing it.

Every morning I pray with Karie, Olivia and Ella. We gather at the front door just before they go off to school and hold hands and I pray over them. They get into the van and drive off. I stand on the front porch until the van drives out of sight… at which point I say a prayer again that usually goes something like this… “Keep them in Your hands today, Amen.”

Throughout the day, I also pray for them. There are times when I just sense it is time to pray for them and I do. I don’t have this eerie feeling or anything but just whisper a small prayer for them.

Then there are the personal prayers… the ones I pray for myself. I ask for forgiveness about 30-40 times a day (even when I know I haven’t sinned) and maybe they are intended to cover anything I may have missed throughout the day. I pray for God to lead me at least once or twice an hour (even when I’m not doing anything at all). Even today, as I climbed a ladder to clean off the top of my shop in my backyard… I prayed for protection as I worked. Most days… are all like this. There’s a routine of prayer that seems constant.

I have had a recurring thought about prayer-obsessive compulsiveness… is that what I have or does that even exist… OR am I just “praying without ceasing”? I know the value of talking with my heavenly Father. I have had some great conversations with Him over the years. I am constantly reminded of the verse that says something like… “you have not because you ask not.” Maybe I am just trying to cover all of the bases and ask for everything just in case.

I guess I write this today to see if there is anyone else out there that has ever had a similar experience? If so… let me know. Until I hear from you, I’ll just keep whispering my daily regimen of prayers for you, me, and everything else I can think of.