Prayer Calendar

Here is a great idea for you to share at your next Ladies Meeting:

Create a Prayer Calendar for the month and keep it going as long as you can. This is a great way to bless one another as women.

Here are some tips:

* For each day of the month have a woman request a certain date for prayer. (If they do not have a specific need for a certain date, any date will suffice) For ex. If someone has a doctors apt. on a certain date- put their name on the date of that month. Etc…

* Only put one request per day. Providing only one woman per day will allow the women who receive the calendar to focus on that one need several times throughout the day.

* Make sure you make each lady feel comfortable. Do not go in to too much detail. Women can even request “unspoken”. God knows our hearts.

* If you find you have no more requests and 2 or more days left to fill on the calendar; in those dates put “Pray for our Country today” or “Pray for marriages today”.

I started my first one this month and e-mailed the request with a “given by date” of three days later. It became full before a full 24 hour period was up. We all need prayer and we all have more going on in our lives than we let anyone know.

We need to stand together, pray for one another, and stop the enemy in his track.

If you need a template please provide your e-mail in the comments section below and I will get one out to you asap.

Trusting through Patience

Psalm 40:1 “I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry.(NIV)

I don’t know about you, but patience is not that easy for me. We all have seasons where we are required to wait on the Lord. Wait for an anticipated pregnancy, wait for a job, wait for a raise, wait for healing, wait for a way out.

During our season of waiting, we cry out to the Lord and feel as though He is not hearing us because it seems His response is taking longer than WE planned for it to take. However, God is always faithful. He will provide and hear our cry. He will answer our prayer one way or another. And when that time comes, it will be at “just the right time.”

To wait patiently requires trust. Trusting God’s word and His promise that He will provide an answer. Trusting that which is asked for in prayer, believing; it will be given. (Matthew 21:22)

And when God does answer prayer, in whatever way He sees fit, it will bring with it more blessing than we could have ever imagined. So while waiting; trust His word and have patience, knowing in the end His outcome will supersede our plans.

My own retreat

My husband is unemployed and has searched for work since January. I am self employed making little income. I have PSVT, a heart condition, which requires monthly medication. I have severe IBS which also requires monthly medication. We have no health insurance. I sat down to budget this morning and sighed a breath of relief when I realized that if I shifted due dates on bills that we would be okay!!!! I checked the mail afterwards and received a wakeup call. We need $900 extra dollars within the next month (forgot that our vehicles were both due for tag renewals on his birthday & his life insurance policy is about to expire). Well, so much for budgeting.

Things are tight everywhere right now. There are so many families that are suffering financially just as much if not way worse than we are. There are people I know who do not have any financial problems, but their health is severely failing. Also, I know people whose marriages are in need of great repair.

I found myself becoming very sad when hit with all of this. I needed to think and wrap my head around this. I wanted to figure out how we can make this work for ourselves. So, I went outside and saw the beauty of the sun, the clouds in the sky, and felt how nice the weather is today. It has been really hot and humid lately but God has blessed us with a perfect day to be outside and enjoy nature. I started to feel my spirit lifting as I decided I could not handle it alone and chose to hand it all over to God and allow Him to take care of our needs. However, I have to admit that I still feel a sense of the blah’s.

Upon turning to God’s word for direction I came across Luke 5:16 which says: “but He withdrew himself to the wilderness, and prayed.” I was so thankful when I came across this verse. This verse is speaking of Jesus. Prior to this passage Luke 5 is telling us of all the great miracles and healing that Jesus was performing. He allowed Simon to catch a multitude of fish after he had been fishing all night unsuccessful. Jesus had healed a man with leprosy causing a great multitude of people to rush towards him for preaching and their very own healing. These events so overwhelmed Christ that He had to go off by himself and pray. After He did, He was revived and able to serve the Lord once again. Even Christ needed a break from all that He was responsible for.

I really feel God calling me to go off alone and pray and offer it all to Him. I will obey. For I know He is the only one who can make all the wrongs in my life, right. His promise to be here and never forsake me is the one constant and unchanging thing in my life. I choose today to let it go and give it all to Him. I know He will not desert me.

If you are feeling overwhelmed in your life right now, it does not matter the circumstance, retreat to your own solitude and hand it over to the One who can and will handle it.