In God's eyes, we are all autistic

Book Review: A Praying Life, by Paul E. Miller. Connecting with God in a distracting world.

Jesus is Lord over context! 

Paul Miller is both profound and accessible. A natural storyteller, he relates innumerable personal examples of how God has used circumstances of his life and family, especially his autistic daughter Kim, to teach him and form him. The core lesson that he learned and shares with the reader is how to make conversation with God a continuous practice in our daily lives, and to approach Him as Father, talking to Him about everything, all the time. 

When we face situations, the natural response is to deal with them. But through prayer, if we choose prayer as our first response rather than our own ideas, God is able. He can reveal to us His glory, how He sees the situation, and transform it to a growth opportunity, which is why He allowed it in the first place. 

We go through different dimensions of prayer growth. Consistency and perseverance. Truly trusting God for the outcome and overcoming cynicism. Expressing thanks in God’s presence, not as a ritual but from the heart. Recognizing God in all circumstances.  Praying from a heart of desperation, but avoiding despair. Walking the narrow path between not asking and asking selfishly. Overcoming the scariness of God’s kingdom actually coming into our lives on earth, giving up making our world in our image. Seeing God as a good Father, despite the shortcomings of our earthly fathers. Dealing with unanswered prayer. Living in the story that the Father is telling. Recognizing the hidden connections that give meaning to suffering. Listening to God, cultivating the synergy of learning from God’s word and hearing His voice.

The final few chapters deal with using tools, such as journaling, a prayer list, prayer cards, and so forth, to enrich our spiritual life and not become a dead ritual. Personally, this is important because I grew up in a church with a liturgy that was mechanically recited every Sunday. The service was dead so I concluded God did not exist. He had to intervene directly, with power, to convince me of His existence, His nature and character, and His power. The words of the liturgy were Godly and born of the Truth (i.e., scriptural), but rote repetition encouraged deadness.  And thusly this book concludes with how to use tools to bring life and not death.

I have learned many (not all!) of the dimensions of prayer over 49 years of knowing the Lord, but I appreciate the confirmation. Paul Miller’s explanations of how we can and should relate to Jesus, who sees the whole picture and has the Master plan, are readable and accessible.