my prayers

I love prayer.  Sounds so cliche, I know, but it really is amazing.  We can pray, in our heads while walking down the street, out loud over others, together with believers, alone, screaming, crying, rejoicing, writing in a journal, there are no limits and there are no rules to prayer.  It's one of the few things I can think of that you can't do wrong.  No one can tell another person they aren't praying right or that their own method is the right or best way.  What a gift from God that we can choose whatever form we want to simply talk to Him.  The God of the universe who created all things large and small, oversees all things and holds everything together, not only allows me to talk to him, but He listens to me and WANTS me to talk to Him.  If ever you don't feel blessed, just think about that.  

Prayer is also one of the most powerful ways that I have seen the Lord work.  There have been times in my life where I have experienced God so deeply and supernaturally through my prayers and the prayers of others- miracles and signs and wonders.  He is amazing and He lives and breathes in our prayers.  Overwhelms me as I think about it right now.  

It's also one of the best ways to be closer to our Father.  How do you know a friend, if you never talk to them or tell them anything, better yet, listen to them??  Someone told me this as a child and it has stuck with me ever since.  Such a good reminder.  I call the Lord my best friend, but do I treat Him like my "best girlfriends"?  No, I shouldn't treat Him like them in many respects, but do I give Him the time to have daily conversation with Him?  Not just quickly throw my problems or thanks at Him.  Now, that's a way to quickly lose a friend.  But luckily He never leaves, even when I treat him in a way that would make any friend drop you on the curb.  

Prayer not only brings us into communion with the Father, but it can link us and bond us to people in a way that no other experience can.  "The family that prays together, stays together."  I think we've all heard this one before.  I am so grateful for my family, immediate and extended, that has a strong history of praying together and for one another diligently.  I have so many relationships with friends that have been changed by prayer in so many ways.  Relationships that at times, they don't exist to the human eye, but because of prayer, I am forever bonded to this person and their heart.  When someone is grafted on your heart in prayer, they don't ever leave.   For example...

these women.  

Kassie Roland, Jessica Hinson, myself and Laurel Eddleman (also not pictured: Nancy Scott, Elizabeth Ray, Autumn Gardner, Rachel Davis and Lindsay Cannedy)  For nearly five years, we spent every Wednesday night, praying and sharing and leading a cell group to...

these girlies.

Each of these girls has a special place in my heart.  Sometimes you don't even have to pray with someone but just by praying for them your relationship and love for them can grow.  That is the truth with these 20-some, (and almost 20 in age) now college divas.  Even though I can't spend time with them like I used to, I continue to pray for them the same scripture I started praying for them back when I first started leading their cell group.

Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven't stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you'll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.  Colossians 1:9-12

Andrea.  

I met beautiful, 13-year-old Andrea Elizabeth in Guadalajara, Mexico in November of 2010.  By God's divine providence, she and I somehow became close enough in a few days that I was given the opportunity to talk about Christ with this sweet girl, who had never heard of Jesus, and help her make her decision to accept Him into her heart.  Every time I see her picture, I get excited because although I may never see her again on this earth, I will see her in Heaven one day.  :)

Sonia Maribel

and Johanna & Ana Maria.

It's amazing how in an orphanage of hundreds of children, three can touch your heart in a special way.  That's what these three girls did when I went to Casa on the Rock in Guatemala two years ago.  I don't know why, but we connected in some way and they have been forever grafted on my heart.  These beautiful girls will be on my prayer list for the rest of my life.

The little girl who held my hand.  

I don't even know her name.  She's the shorter one of these two orphan girls living with many others at a place called Home of Hope in Thailand.  One day, we took the kids to the park to play games (at least you can run around if you can't talk...Thai?  That's a serious language barrier!)  While walking home, I held hands with this little one.  I couldn't talk to her (which was killing me!)  so instead I prayed for her.  And as I prayed for her, I felt the Lord speak to me in a voice that was maybe the loudest and clearest I have ever heard Him in my life.  He told me, I am this child.  Whatever you do for her, you do for me.  Love her even though you don't know her.  I am here!  Wow!  What a moment and what a little girl!  I know God has great plans for her life.  He rescued her and used her to speak to me when I needed to hear his voice.  I always thank God for her and pray for her life.

I hope that you have been blessed with people in your life that have been grafted onto not only your eternal prayer list but onto your heart as well.