Those Five Minutes!

Soon after Betty Norcross and her husband moved to a new pastorate, she discovered she was not needed. All the areas in which she was accustomed to working were well-staffed with dedicated, qualified people.

She loved working in the church, so this was a disturbing discovery. Eventually, kneeling at the altar one Sunday evening, she asked the Lord what He wanted her to do. “Surely there’s something I can do,” she cried. It was the cry of her heart but it sounded more like a complaint. She wept before Him for some time.

Before she arose from her knees she knew what He was asking of her. He spoke clearly to her spirit.

He said, “Pray for your husband,” When she shrugged this off with the response, “I already do that,” He added, “Pray for him every day,” and further impressed her to spend a minimum of five minutes each day praying for her husband.

It seemed like such a small thing. Fire minutes a day? That should be easy. She soon discovered how wrong she was. Five minutes was such an insignificant amount of time it was easy to procrastinate.

“As soon as I finish the breakfast dishes...” or “After I finish talking on the phone, ” or “I will get this casserole in the oven, and then I’ll take the time.”

Time after time, she tumbled into bed with an apology offered to the Lord and a promise to do better tomorrow.

It soon became apparent that if her call to prayer was ever going to be answered consistently, she would have to make an appointment for it on her daily calendar and adjust her schedule to make sure she kept that appointment. She learned it had to be at the very top of her day’s activities even if it meant setting her alarm clock to get out of bed a little earlier every day.

Praying for five minutes was not new to her, but staying with one subject for the entire five minutes was something else. After a few sentences, she had said it all. It took discipline to continue praying for her husband for five minutes as God had directed, especially when there was no obvious need for prayer. He wasn’t sick or experiencing noticeable problems in his ministry. Those five minutes began to loom before her like an eternity.

But God was teaching her to allow the Holy Spirit to pray through her. Over time Betty’s morning time lengthened from five minutes to an hour or more, and now it is the most productive time of the day!

Jesus you understand that it’s not always easy to roll out of bed but the benefits gained in my early morning meetings with You far outweigh the physical sacrifices involved.

“Jesus went out to the mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God” (Luke 6:12).

Betty Norcross sent her story to be published in Women Alive! magazine. We published Women Alive! from 1984 to 2008.