Susan Lafferty“Is your arm hurting?” she asks. Yes. The broken bone near my shoulder is healing. Slowly.
It’s 2015 and Manga is prepping me for physical therapy at a hospital in Malaysia. “Be happy!” she says. “Think positive thoughts. Then you will not be hurting.”
I smile. She’s friendly. Gregarious. Her speech and ways and dress make me feel at home.
South Asian home.
“What’s it like entering a new country and culture. How do you prepare?” Her questions take me back to the early days. Of crossing borders and dwelling in the land.
My reading the next day is Joshua 1-4. God’s people are leaving their wilderness wanderings and entering the promised land.
The context and purpose differs, but in the preparation of God’s people, I find strategic practices. For entering the land.
Whether that land is across the river, across the street or across the ocean.
I remember the day it hit me. Specific prayer for my teen was a much more effective way to persuade her to do something. Words seemed to have little effect. Even triggered resistance. And created a rift between us, making matters worse.
But silent prayers by faith—with a sincere heart—brought change in a way my parental speeches had not.
And praying changed me. Helped me consider what was true. What was necessary. Brought back memories of my own journey in adolescence.
This experiment was a process. And led to a few practices that paid off in building relationships with our teens.