By Mia Pohlman

Lately I've been thinking about God as provider and how he gives me everything I need as gift. As the semester comes to a close, there are ample moments for me to remember and learn it's not just the tangible things I can trust God to provide, but also the intangible, unseeable ones.

When I'm trying to finish -- or start -- writing a paper, he can provide the transformation of my attitude, the desire and will to write it, the thoughts, words and time to put into it.

When I am trying to find a job, he can provide the circumstances, the timing and the people whose hearts are open to me.

He can provide what I don't even know I need. Matthew 6:8: "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him."

One of my favorite ways to pray is just to breathe, to be with God and realize he is with, in and through me, and that I am with, in and through him.

I love this wordless prayer that uses my being to pray, this recognition that I am known deeply and intimately and that I don't have to say anything to make this true.

There also is something wonderful about using words to pray out loud, to hear what I'm thinking, wondering and questioning, to be able to talk things through until I understand myself or a situation better.

There is something powerful in explicitly claiming and stating my desires, what I want and hope for, and knowing I am heard.

Two things my friends Courtney and Emily teach me is that in prayer, I should ask for what I want and need and then have faith God cares about these desires and requests, and will be faithful in answering.

They have faith in their prayers and in God, faith that when they pray, they will see results.

In John 15:16, Jesus tells his disciples, "It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you."

Our God chose us, knows what we need before we ask and we can ask him for it. We can ask God for all these things we need and then trust him to provide.

We see it throughout scripture, throughout all of our human story: the ram for Abraham, the manna for the Israelites, the writing in the dirt for the woman being stoned. The crucifixion for us.

My friend Katie and I were praying together the other day and, after speaking a while, I realized what I was asking for.

God, provide everything.

Amen.