I’ve shared many stories of Bethany; lifting my cell phone to call a sibling, regularly texting everyone to see what they’re doing and when they’re coming over to see her, how she has everyone’s phone number memorized and has no problem navigating any phone she happens to find.

Victory- Her 1st IPOD touch

So it made sense (in my limited little brain 🙂 )

to gift her with the one and only thing she wanted for Christmas-

an I Pod Touch.

A nifty little thing-a-ma-bob by Apple-

You can’t make phone calls but you can text, do Face Time (video chat like skype) read books, listen to music, and play games.

I seriously underestimated its power. lol

She immediately figured out how to download apps and upload her music.  She ran up to her bedroom and began “connecting” to first Jeff, then each sibling with Face Time- even though they were all in the family room downstairs!  Amazing technology. (you can tell  how old I am by how impressed I am- kids just accept technology – they don’t oooh and awww like old people.) I mean, its better than the Jetsons- you hold a little phone in your hand and you SEE and TALK to your loved one! How awesome! Incredible really!
It became “grafted” into her body- it never left her hands.  She kept carefully checking to make sure if the battery needed to be charged.  So fun-  u n t i l  our son, Noah called me.  He was laughing and asked if I knew that Bethany had “face timed” him 37 times while he was at work?

ooops.

Great gift- forgot to give her the parameters and boundaries.

Needless to say, we talked about one time calling and then people would see she had called and call her back when they could. We talked about leaving a text message for her siblings, and not calling everyone on her address list- Face Time was for family and a few select friends.

But this whole experience has me pondering.

We’ve been given a gargantuan gift- a gift where we have unlimited access to our Father in heaven at any time, any place, no matter our mood or logistics! Maybe we should call it “space time” for He literally fills every space of our universe.  He simply calls it PRAYER!

We can “face time” our Father. Now I grant you, we can’t literally “see” Him-

YET-

But the Holy Spirit indwells, fills, stirs, prompts, impassions, ignites us to CONNECT with our Father!

We have a 24/7 connection and His power never runs low.

Maybe I should treasure that GIFT of CONNECTION called PRAYER, like Bethany does her I POD?  Maybe I should be enthralled that I can call on Him and “chat” and share my every thought and care?

The day after Christmas was dismally difficult because Finley and Cohen left for a week to Colorado to visit their dad and his wife.  It felt so far away to not have any kind of connection for a week! (especially since I see them every day!)  I was so thrilled when their dad said we could face time them while they were gone.

The blessed comfort of CONNECTION!

God has not left us as orphans! He is our Father and He’s generously given us the Holy Spirit to stay connected to Him so that we might always know

His love,

His comfort,

His joy,

His peace,

His strength,

His presence!

We need to see the POWER of staying connected!

We need to let prayer become part of our spirit and daily habit.

We need to call upon the Lord and He will answer us!

Let’s be like Bethany and get tenacious and determined about CONNECTION– only I promise- you won’t have to call 37 times- God picks up every time- He somehow can Connect with each of us at any given moment. Now that’s truly amazing! Even Apple hasn’t figured that out! 🙂

Surprising Treasures:

New Living Translation (©2007)

No, I will not abandon you as orphans–I will come to you. John 14:18

New Living Translation (©2007)

Never stop praying. I Thessalonians 5:17