Share your prayer!

This is taken from my church blog:

Greetings one and all!

This is BeccA and you are reading my inaugural post here on the Valley View blog. I certainly hope to be contributing more in the future. Writing has always been a special treat to me. I mean really, it’s basically talking in written form and as you know, I always have *something* to say!

2008 is well under way and we have lots of fun and exciting things going on in our little church at the top of the hill. Next Monday night is our Family Bowling night and I am really looking forward to it. It’s a great opportunity to have some fun times with our church family! We are all relational beings by divine design and a lot can be gained by fellowshipping with those who share a common bond. So bring the kiddos and come on out to Imperial Bowl @ 6:30 on Monday Jan. 14, 2008. I hope to see you there!

I was thinking about what I could contribute to this blog in my signature creative and fun way. From time to time I have different ideas and think this would be a good platform to share them! God has really moved in my life over the past 2-3 years. This has coincided with joining Valley View and that in and of itself, I feel, was guided by His will as well. I’ve grown in ways I didn’t know I could. There has been much healing of hurts as well as an uncountable measure of knowledge gained through sermons, studies, classes and time spent with other members! I am not saying there isn’t still plenty to discover along the long road in my quest to draw closer to God but I do feel like I am on a good path and heading in the right direction. With God’s grace I will continue to grow!

In today’s busy world, it’s growing increasingly harder to keep up with all of the going ons of our friends and family. We have good intentions of remembering them in our prayers but from time to time we find ourselves remembering too late or after the fact. I feel frustrated that I didn’t remember something important happening to someone I care about! After all, if it were me having surgery or something, I’d want them to remember me in prayer! In an effort to rectify this frustration, for me, I’ve learned that I should just do something right when I think about it, even if it’s before said event.

Let’s take that up to another level, which brings me to the idea behind this post. ‘Share your prayer!’ In today’s high tech world, you can certainly find some form of written communication via email, texting or instant messaging. I decided to put my prayer into this form. “What do you mean, God doesn’t have a cell phone!?” What I’m saying is this: at the same time you are praying to God, go the extra step and type, text or journal it out. Then send it to your friend! It’s actually a very personal way to let them see that you are praying for them and what you are actually praying on their behalf. Our prayers are important not only for those we are lifting up but they mean alot to God as well. Even so that the bible tells us in Revelation 8:3-4, the prayers of the saints are burned with incense up to God!

So the next time you have these things on your mind, take a moment to share your prayer with the individuals themselves. I’m sure they will appreciate your words of faith and love and praises that you’ve expressed to God with their need or situation in mind, I know I would! Just stick to the subject at hand and try not to expound on outside issues or your prayers for other people. It’s not a show and tell people!

Until next time…thanks for reading! Feel free to leave comments, maybe you have ideas you’d like to share too!

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(For the Proverbs 31 investigators, as stated above, this post is written by me and also posted over at my church's website in the 'Blog it' section found here. I retain all the rights to the post and this is me giving you permission to use it. I realize it will need to be edited to exclude the bowling and such :) Also, I could expound the topic a bit if need be. The meat of it is only about 350 words or so.)

Here is an example of a recent prayer email to a friend:

I just wanted to come to you right now and lift up my friend 'T'. As you know she's going to have a very important surgery tomorrow morning on her back. Lord, I just pray that you are with the doctors and nurses who will be taking care of her and altering her body in an effort to correct some of the damage from this illness. I know you are gracious and loving and you have all the power to make sure the outcome is successful for her. Her recovery will be long but sometimes we have to go through the pain to get to the reward!

You are perfect and holy and worthy of all praises and we thank you for sharing your love with us even when we don't deserve it! "Who is like you, o Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" Thank you so much for sharing your Son with us and His offering on the cross to make atonement for our transgressions. He is the only way to you and how blessed we are to see the path!

You are the Great Physician and that's why I'm praying for your will to be done for 'T's back situation from here on out! Thank you for bringing special people in our lives who look past the filth of our mistakes to see that you are here in us and worth caring about. I ask all these things in Jesus' name, Amen!