I pray, you pray, we pray!

Happy Wednesday, Blogland!  Yes, I know I only have 28 minutes of Wednesday left (Central time), but hey!  I hope everyone's been having a great week so far, I must confess, I have been really chillaxing this week- enjoying the time off while I can and just kinda going with the flow...  This will be a very short post, I just really wanna share some thoughts with you about prayer.

So I've shared with you that I've been keeping a faith journal that has a prayer section (soon to be upgraded to a stand-alone prayer journal).  In it, I've been writing out specific prayer requests for family, friends, my church, etc. (and some of yours as you have sent them to me).  The other thing I've been doing is making sure to keep a list of answered prayers (that will make sense if you've seen the movie "War Room").  This morning I said a fervent prayer over a particular situation in my life (I was feeling a little anxious, I will not lie) and within a few hours I had positive confirmation of something I had not been aware of that was the answer to my prayer.  Answered prayer.  Tonight I had occasion to go back through that prayer section again because I got some very good news from a friend of mine that was the answer to a prayer I've been praying with and for her for a long time now and I wanted to note the date that the prayer was answered.  I took a moment to look through the pages and just see how many prayers that have been answered on behalf of myself and others - and I just had to smile.  I also noted prayers that haven't been answered (yet), but because I have a concrete record of answered prayers, I will just keep praying on those things and when the time comes, mark them off as well!  So not so long after I got the good answered prayer news, I got another notification that some prayers had not been answered in the way expected and there was some disappointment, both on my part as well as the person I was praying for.  And it got me to thinking about an article I read the other day, that I wanted to share with you here:  "God has not abandoned you:  why we must pray through despair."  You can read it here.  I read it the other day from a Facebook link and it really stuck with me and I knew I wanted to share it with you here.  The reason that it stuck with me is because I am a person who experiences the ups and downs of this faith walk, sometimes multiple times a day!  There are times when I feel God is very, very far away and other times when I feel that He is right here with me and we're conversing.  Reading this article calmed me down, frankly, and let me see that I'm not alone in the roller coaster relationship I sometimes have with God.  Please take a look at the article if you feel like God is far away and not hearing your prayers...

I posted a few months ago about my answered prayer rock I received on New Member Sunday at church (which is still on my dresser).  Remember?  In case you've forgotten, here it is again:

It, along with the answered prayers recorded in my journal are a tangible reminder that God does hear and that He is still answering prayer. I leave you today with this scripture that sums it all up:

Matthew 21:21-22New American Standard Bible (NASB)

21 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

   
Have a prayer request?  Holla @ Darvi and I will put you on my list!  Or, if you have answered prayers to share, let me know that too!   As always, be blessed!!!
xoxo