A couple of weeks ago I used a template of the USA map to pray my feelings about our country. The post was called States of Mind and Heart. Below are three different templates/coloring pages of maps of the USA to use for your prayers. In the first empty template you can draw your own lines of demarcation or shapes. In the second version, spaces are provided. You can augment either of these maps with words, doodles, designs, and color. In the third, designs and doodles are ready for coloring. Click below each map to download a .jpg or .pdf version. (If you would rather have a real USA map, there are some free downloadable versions online.)
Here are several suggestions of ways to use the map:
1) Pray your laments, those things about which you feel sad or hopeless. The Bible is filled with laments from the Historical Books, the Prophets, the Psalms, and even the New Testament.
♦In Samuel 18:33, David laments the death of his son, “The king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went, he said, ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!'”(NRSV)
♦Jeremiah laments what he sees as God’s abandonment of Israel, “A lion has come out of his lair; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to lay waste your land. Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitant.” Jeremiah 4:7 (NIV)
2) Write your hopes and dreams for the US in the spaces. Offer these to God as you write and draw and color.
♦Psalm 25:5 “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” (NIV)
3) Pray your specific concerns: safety, education, race relations, healthcare, drugs/addiction, terrorism, jobs, whatever is on your mind….
4) Pray your gratitude list about our country.
5) Write your feelings and emotions as I did in the States of Mind and Heart post on July 11, 2016.
For any of these exercises, write your ideas, thoughts, feelings, frustrations, opinions, and concerns on the map. But as you color and perhaps add more designs, just listen. When I do this, I try to set aside what I want to hear. Or what I think is right. I am suspicious if I hear a tidy summary of my own small ideas and opinions. If after my prayer time I love the people I disagree with just a little more, I know my prayers have been heard and answered.
However you choose to do it, brothers and sisters, please pray for our country. I think the passage from 2Chronicles 7:14 is so appropriate: “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Michael Card sings a version of this song called “Heal Our Land” from his album Joy in the Journey.
Apologies for the absence of Hawaii and Alaska. I was not sure how to incorporate them into the drawing.