A Vision bigger than Eurovision

I became part of history last Sunday when I, an Australian, voted in Eurovision.

[NB. For those of you who don’t have a clue what Eurovision is, it’s a giant European song contest held every year. It’s amazingly wacky,  highly entertaining, and somehow, Australia managed to finagle their way into it this year, despite not being a European country, and were therefore allowed to vote alongside their European counterparts. Picture Australian Idol, but a lot LOT bigger, and crazier, and a large portion of the world watching it…]

Exciting as it was, voting really wasn’t that big a deal. I picked my favourite performance, clicked a little button beside the corresponding photo and sent off a vote along with a couple of hundred million other people watching. Since every one of those people could potentially vote twenty times, believe me, my little vote didn’t mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.

But when the winner was announced, and turned out to be the performer I’d voted for, I felt pretty proud. As if, maybe, my vote actually had made a difference. Had it? Probably not. I’m pretty certain he still would have won without my vote. But I was part of it. I voted for the winner. 

I love being part of history. There’s something seriously cool about being able to say, even if it’s just to yourself, “I was there. I was part of that.” It’s that realisation that you’re part of something bigger – that your life counts for something more than just what you can see.

It’s one of the reasons I love prayer.

I’ll admit, I pray a lot. It's always come pretty naturally to me. A friend once joked that I’d pray if an ant crawled over my foot. I laughed, not so much because it was funny as because it was likely true! Awkwardly, I’ve also found myself praying during movies – more than once -  only to have to consciously (and frequently) remind myself that one, those characters are actors and two, nothing I pray is going to change the outcome of said movie… Believe it or not, the Titanic is still going to sink…

Still, that aside, there’s just something incredible about prayer. It’s power, it’s relationship, it’s peace, it’s war, it’s something far bigger than me.

So often in life we’re rendered helpless. We watch the news and see people hurting over the other side of the world, drive past car crashes, hear of presidential campaigns, friends who are hurting, celebrities whose lives are falling apart. Much as my heart aches to help them, I physically can’t.

I remember watching the news after the Boston Marathon bombing and hearing about a young girl who’d been badly injured. In a single moment, her life had drastically changed. I was heartbroken. I wanted to give her a hug, help her somehow as she tried to put her life back together. Of course, I couldn’t. I didn’t even know her name. And yet, I’ve prayed for her ever since. Prayed that someone else would be there to hug her and get alongside her as she learnt to walk again and found reason to smile. I doubt very much that I’ll ever meet her, and yet, I know God has listened to those prayers and answers them. 

I have the privilege of praying for people all over the world – rich and poor, powerful and weak, presidents and beggars, those I know well and those I know I’ll never meet. The vast majority of them have no idea I’m praying for them, fighting for them, beseeching God on their behalf. They don’t even know I exist. And yet, God does and God is working in their lives because of my prayers.

Prayer is powerful. Never doubt that. While one vote might not make a great deal of difference, one prayer can. 

Ever feel completely helpless? You’re not – not while you can pray. Because when you pray, God listens. And when God listens, things happen. And lives are changed.

I’m just an ordinary person. With the exception of my kids and the characters in my books, I don’t hold a lot of sway (come to think of it, my characters don’t always behave the way I think they will either!)  And yet, God has given me a power far greater than kings, queens or presidents – communication with him, the King of all kings. Have you ever considered the reality of that? You, who alone have little sway in anything that happens in the world, are listened to by the one who created the entire world and can do the impossible. Seriously. Yeah, he might not always answer the way you’d like – but what if he does? What if, because you prayed, someone’s life was saved?

Believe me, exciting as it was, Eurovision’s got nothing on that!