Pray for...

Girlfriends.  I was trying to decide what special thing I wanted to pray extra for this week and I was thinking about the blog and you guys who have sent me such encouraging notes about this.  Friends don't come easy to me.  I am not super social or outgoing.  It takes a lot for me to open up to someone, I have to feel some trust there.  I am definitely not one of those people who know no strangers and sees friends everywhere they go. 
But I do have amazing friends.  Some are friends I have known since I was a little girl, some are from high school, college, graduate school, work, friends from my neighborhood, friends from church.  (Okay, now that I have written all of that out, maybe I do have a lot of friends- but that isn't really my point here)
My point is that I am so grateful for all of my friends.  Each one is special and each one helps me in different ways.  I love my husband.  He actually is my best friend.  If I had no one else but him, I would be okay with that.  But men are different from women (fortunately!) and we see things differently.  He leads with his head, me with my heart and hormones.  Sometimes I need that levelheadedness that he gives me.  Sometimes I just really need someone to sympathize with me even if I am being completely irrational and offer me chocolate.  That's what girlfriends do.  They put up with you trying on a million dresses to wear to a wedding, they offer you shoes or jewelry or a purse to borrow for the occasion, they buy you a treat when you are down or offer to watch your kids when you are overwhelmed, they cry with you when you are sad and rejoice at the happy times.  Friends just get how you think and sometimes that's all you need.  Not someone to fix it, just to understand. 
So this week, dear friends, I am thanking God for each of you and saying an extra prayer for you.  Thank you for being a part of my life.
And remember to pray for the girls in your life.

Blessings

Sometimes it is easy to focus on the bad stuff that is going on and not remember all the positives in our lives.
Last week was a rough week for me, I was grumpy, things didn't go smoothly, I had cranky kids, etc...However, in that, was some things that were good.
1) Watching my son play soccer.  This is his 3rd year playing and it has been somewhat difficult watching the past 2 years.  He had fun but he wasn't focused, didn't try super hard most of the time, goofed off during games...you name it.  But this year something has clicked for him and it is so fun watching him.  He has scored a goal in almost every game and that builds his confidence which makes him try harder.  I love it.
2) My daughters soccer team has to be the sweetest group of 5 year old girls b/c even though my daughter doesn't always act likable and refuses to play in the games, they are kind to her and try to include her, and made her team captain.  So sweet.
3) My husband is working on a dog house for our pup.  I am so grateful that he has a gift of building things.  He struggles with it b/c it isn't perfect but to me it looks great and I am pretty sure the dog won't care.  What a blessing it is not to have to go out and buy premade stuff and a much more expensive rate.  He is awesome!

Prayer Requests 10/5

Thank you guys for giving me your prayer requests.  It was an honor to pray for you all last week. I am asking for prayer for my 5 year old princess.  She is really struggling right now emotionally.  Not sure if she is growing, not getting enough sleep, concerned over something or what but she is having a hard time so would appreciate prayer for her. 
Please let me know what I can pray for you this week.

Marriage and a special prayer request

Sanctus Real - “Lead Me”

I look around and see my wonderful life

Almost perfect from the outside

In picture frames I see my beautiful wife

Always smiling

But on the inside, I can hear her saying...

“Lead me with strong hands

Stand up when I can't

Don't leave me hungry for love

Chasing dreams, what about us?

Show me you're willing to fight

That I'm still the love of your life

I know we call this our home

But I still feel alone”

I see their faces, look in their innocent eyes

They're just children from the outside

I'm working hard, I tell myself they'll be fine

They're in independent

But on the inside, I can hear them saying...

“Lead me with strong hands

Stand up when I can't

Don't leave me hungry for love

Chasing dreams, but what about us?

Show me you're willing to fight

That I'm still the love of your life

I know we call this our home

But I still feel alone”

So Father, give me the strength

To be everything I'm called to be

Oh, Father, show me the way

To lead them

Won't You lead me?

To lead them with strong hands

To stand up when they can't

Don't want to leave them hungry for love,

Chasing things that I could give up

I'll show them I'm willing to fight

And give them the best of my life

So we can call this our home

Lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone

Father, lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone

I love this song.  The first time I heard it, it reached out to me and voiced my heart's cry.  If you haven't had a chance to hear the story behind the song, you should look it up.  It is amazing.  Made more amazing by the fact that right now, the lead singer and his wife are dealing with a newborn son who has already had a heart surgery and has almost died.  What an amazing thing God has done in their lives to bring them closer together before they had to deal with having an ill child. 
Now, I am not saying my husband isn't a good leader...he is. But coming from a divorced family, sometimes it is hard to know what I need in a husband and what God wants for me in a healthy relationship.  Also, while I am for advancement in our abilities as women to have a fair chance in doing what we want (what is God's will for us), I think we have lost something in knowing the roles God created for us. 
Men aren't there to dominate us but they are there to protect us, to take care of us, to be our spiritual leaders for us and for our children.  They are there to be good role models for the boys we are raising and good examples for what our girls should look for when it is time for them to find a husband.
Marriage is hard but if you find that person who completes you, then it is worth the fight.
So a special prayer request today for my friend who's marriage is in crisis.  Pray for her and her husband that they will both seek God, that they will be able to get past hurts and preconceived ideas of what the other person should be, that God would bring healing to them and their marriage.  And for the rest of us married folks, that we would cherish our mates, pray for them daily, and strive to put Christ in the center.

My Thoughts...

Ephesians 6: 10-13 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

     It is truly amazing to me how quickly it happens.  You would think I would know by now after being a Christian for 30 years.  You would think it wouldn't surprise me.  You would think I would be prepared.  What am I talking about? Spiritual attacks. 
     On Monday night when I wrote my post about obedience, when I invited my friends to become prayer partners with me, I should have known.  But I didn't.  I woke up Tuesday and I felt like a weight had been taken off my shoulders.  That weight of knowing that I wasn't being obedient.  I felt great! I got up at 6 and went for a jog/walk.  I ran errands with my daughter, had a playdate after school with another daughters friend, cooked dinner, went to soccer, hubby actually made it to soccer practice and was home for dinner.  Sounds like an awesome day right? It was, it truly was. 
     Until bedtime.  I don't know what it is about bedtime/bathtime that so completely stresses me out.  It is like I get to a point in my day where I just need it to be over.  I need to have time to regroup before bed.  So the kids were not getting ready for bed, then I got in a fight with my hubby that didn't get resolved and carried over into today along with some other stressful things and it was such a complete opposite feeling of what I felt yesterday. 
     And then I remembered: Satan hates it when we obey God!  He doesn't want to see us praying for each other, he doesn't want us to have that sort of power, that complete and utter trust in God, the feeling of grace and peace.  He abhors that! He will do anything to make it harder, to give discouragement, to give us trials.   
     But don't be discouraged.  There is power in knowing that.  We can put on our armour of God.  We can shore ourselves up.  We can keep praying.  It will be hard.  I know that.  I have seen it.  I have felt the words he whispers in my ears to make me question what I am doing.  To put doubts in my head.  To actually question friendships.  He makes it hard for us to be Christians.  But God is stronger, more powerful, more full of mercy and love.   And those feelings can carry us through.  If we stick with it, it will make us stronger for the times that we are attacked.  Because even though I didn't feel like it today, I kept praying.  I prayed on my way to work.  I prayed while at work.  I prayed on my break.  I kept praying.  And now, even though I don't feel like I did tuesday, I don't feel like I did this morning.  God's comfort is so good.  I am so happy to have the hope I have in Jesus.  I am so happy when my kids talk to me about what Jesus can do (even if there is a Star Wars reference- more on that later), I am so happy that when I am feeling lousy and misunderstood that I have a God who understands it all and is always there with me.
     Being attacked by Satan is a gift.  When we are attacked, we can know we are doing right by God.  And with the whole armour of God, we can stand, we can fight, and we will win.  And don't forget about the prize.  Because as my 3 year old puts it "I don't want to be where Satan is, he puts fire on you."

Prayer Requests 9/28

Feel free to put any prayer requests you have in the comments section.  Feel free to put as many as you want and big requests or things that you might feel are small things.  Sometimes it's the small things that we really need prayer for.

My Prayer Blog

Welcome to my prayer blog.  As I shared here and here and here, I have been on a prayer journey for probably almost 2 years.  This is a desire God has placed on my heart over the last few months.  And I have learned a lot just in the short time I have been trying to pray more regularly.  What I have found is having a prayer partner is key, praying without ceasing can change your life, obeying God puts my heart at ease.  So with those three things in mind, I am launching a new part of my blog.  I will figure it out as I go along.  But here is the basic premise: I want to be your prayer partner.  I want to dive into the Word to discover the richness of prayer.  I want to make my walk with God closer than ever by having a running conversation with Him.  I want to learn how to pray first, then try to sort things out instead of trying to sort things out and using prayer as a last resort.
My week will run Tuesday through Monday.  Tuesday is first day of the week that I really get focus on this blog so come back here on Tuesdays to find out what is going on for the week. 
But I am going to start simple (because trying to make it complicated is giving me an excuse to delay): I will have different categories that you can leave a comment on.  Feel free to come back to my Tuesday posts during the week to add more requests. I will check regularly.  If that is all you want to do, that is great.  Know that I am praying for you throughout the week.  If you feel the calling to pray for people who have left requests, then please do.  We can all use extra prayer.  If you want to add notes of encouragement, that is even better.  If you feel this is helpful and that you know someone who could benefit from being prayed over, pass the link on to them. 
Each week I will have a post for:
     Prayer Requests
     Praises - can be prayers answered or just a general praise for something that happened that blessed you that week
     My thoughts - this will be me working my way through scripture or other things, giving what I feel I have learned about prayer.  Don't take this as gold, it is just my opinion on what God is working on my heart
     Special Prayer Topic - I am not sure I will do this every week but I will try to have a topic to focus some prayer on throughout the week that I will also be focusing my prayer on. 
God can do amazing things when we pray.  Not only to the people we are praying for, but our own lives will be transformed. 
I really hope you will take this journey with me.  I am excited to see where God is leading me with this.