But prayer—fervent, strategic prayer—can change things.
Even unchangeable things. Even things as unchangeable as
real-life scenes from your past—what you did, what you didn’t
do, why you did it, why you didn’t. No, prayer doesn’t wipe
them all away, doesn’t pretend they never happened. And, no,
it doesn’t remove every natural, logical consequence from
playing itself out. But just as God says to the ocean waves,
“Thus far you shall come, but no farther” (Job 38:11), He has
given us prayer to raise us up above the sea level of Satan’s
assaults from our past.
My past, for example, includes some unfortunate travels on
US Highway 59 North, a major thoroughfare that runs through
the heart of Houston, Texas. I did my undergraduate work in
that city, and like a lot of college kids, I occasionally went
down the wrong road when I should’ve stayed on the high
road—which for me, all too personally, includes one particular
exit off 59 North that sort of symbolizes some of the most
regrettable choices I’ve made in my life. That road led to
nowhere healthy. Nowhere beneficial. Nowhere I should’ve
been in the first place. Perhaps you can relate. Choose from
your own roads.