Praying in Public

It's coming up on two months since I blogged, a rather embarrassing record, but I have several excellent excuses.  The last blog was posted the day before we went on a family vacation and just a week and a half before we learned that I was pregnant.  

Indeed, the family trip to Oregon was difficult for me because the nausea started as we landed in Denver on the first leg of our journey.  It was much more intense than my first pregnancy and began much sooner.  The reason:  we suspected I might be carrying twins.  The hormone levels for the pregnancy test were very high.  However, this fact would not be confirmed until we had the first ultrasound the day after we returned from our trip.   And the first ultrasound did confirm we had two sacs and two heartbeats.

Yet it was too early to share this information with our church family and friends.  It was also too early for me to blog about it.  But since it was almost all I could think about I began to put my own thoughts and feelings in a journal.   Two weeks passed.  The next ultrasound would show us, we hoped, two healthy babies, and we would be released from the fertility doctor to our regular OB.  

We had a long wait for the second ultrasound.  It was a busy morning at the clinic.  We wondered if both little guys would be doing okay, would have heartbeats.  Having been through this before, we know it's not a given.  The encouraging part was the continued nausea--another reason I wasn't so keen on blogging or much of anything extra--and I seemed larger already, much sooner.  I was also eating like a horse to keep the nausea at bay and simply felt a deep craving for food.  

My husband stood behind me while the ultrasound began.  He commented that he saw something else.  With his medical background, he knows more about ultrasounds than the average expectant father.  The doctor then said something to the effect of, "Yes, it appears there is a third one."  I said, "A third what?"  After a few moments, the doctor leaned over my drape, took my hand, and said, "You are going to have triplets."

Never, never in my life have I been more stunned or shocked.  Suddenly everything that seemed manageable before, including twins, got wildly out of control.  Our car was too little.  Our house seemed to small.  The pregnancy seemed much harder and scarier.   And how we would juggle it all?

After we had another ultrasound that showed healthy heartbeats and shared we were pregnant publicly, we began to feel more support.  Indeed, my husband encouraged me to go ahead and share the news earlier than I would have since I was feeling overwhelmed.   

At the end of that week, my husband and I were eating at a local restaurant.  A large family came in and sat at the table behind our booth.  Our son was asleep in his stroller, and we were visiting about life with triplets.  At one point, we began to visit with the family.  They were laughingly apologetic for their long table set-up, a result of so many children.  Two grown sisters have six and four children respectively.  One sister is married to an OB who was also sitting at the same table.  The other sister works in his clinic.  We said we needed to learn as much about large families as possible because we were about to have triplets.  This big family was overjoyed to hear such news.

After a few minutes, the sister who is a nurse and works with her brother-in-law came over to our table and said something like, "Would you mind if I prayed for you?  I feel the Lord's laid this on my heart, and I want to lift you up."   Did we mind?  Absolutely not!  I did appreciate that she asked us and that should be common prayer etiquette.  

Then this nurse, this mother, this sister, wife and Christian took our hands, and we bowed in prayer.  It was full of encouragement and support for us, our family, and our babies.  I began to cry.  It was such a relief to have someone pray for us.

I find that many United Methodists are uncomfortable with such public prayer, either because they are shy or feel incompetent or because they are concerned  others will think they are zealots of the worst kind, exclusive Christians.   I think there is one more reason:  we don't do it enough to feel that we are truly connected to God, and so it feels uncomfortable or artificial.

But it doesn't have to be that way.  When the Spirit moves, don't be afraid or reluctant to consider offering a prayer for someone you know to be in need.  Prayer should be an integral part of our relationship with God and one another.  It is our conversation with God in private and as a community of Christians.  Prayer for others in need--either done quietly by a hospital bed or at a crowded restaurant--is important ministry.  Sometimes it's the best ministry of all.

Peace,

Rev. Betsy