Pray for Marriages (An Attitude of Gratitude)

 Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Many of you are getting ready to travel or just stay home for Thanksgiving. You may be hosting or being hosted, but either way it is a time of preparing and welcoming, or arriving with gratitude. Holidays can be a time of both joy and stress. Which one predominates, depends on your preparation.

Ground yourself in prayer. Ask for help if you need it. Offer to help without being asked. Develop an attitude of gratitude. Every minute God gives us in this world is a gift, and everyone he brings into our lives is for a purpose, so spread kindness and joy! Focus on what you love about everyone, especially your spouse. Consider voicing that gratitude!

Always seek what is good [both] for each other and for all. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:15-18

Most of all, don’t forget to gather around the table, bow your heads, fold your hands in prayer, and give the Giver your thanks, for His gifts are plentiful and abundant! (Even our crosses are a gift to be revealed!)

You adorn the year with your bounty; your paths drip with fruitful rain. The meadows of the wilderness also drip; the hills are robed with joy. The pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys blanketed with grain they cheer and sing for joy. Psalms 65:12-14

Thank you dear Lord, for such blessings, and the blessing of these prayer warriors; those that pray often and even those who have only prayed once. Bestow on them abundant graces, especially in their marriages and within their family.  Meet them in their needs, temper them in their wants, surprise them with your compassionate and extravagant  love. Hear the groanings and gratitude in their hearts, and lead them to greater joy. Accept our collective prayers of thanksgiving and may they bring you delight and be a soothing balm for your Most Sacred Heart. Amen.

Peace, Joy, and Love, 

Janet

 

Increase in gratitude. It’s contagious! Pass it on!

Pray for Families (Sacrificial Love)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Each of you has at least one family member you worry about. Regardless of the why, it is easy to feel helpless. Yes, we can do something. Prayer is an action that not only helps them, but calms us! Personal sacrifice, such as fasting for a time period, from anything you love (food, video games, etc.), and abstinence, abstaining from something you really enjoy, when given up in offering for another, is a beautiful and acceptable gift to God.

Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1-2

Such living sacrifice is transformative to whomever you ask God to bless. However, just as our progress isn’t visible with every grace given, temper your expectations by sacrificing more for a family member (or two).!

Lord, when we imitate your sacrificial love, we know you find it most pleasing. So take each  gift of our self-denial, accept the gifts of our gratitude for each joy, and receive them for the good of our family. You hear our prayers both spoken and unspoken. We trust in the generosity  of your grace. Amen.

With prayer and fasting, [they] commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith. Acts 14:23

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Pray and fasting are the perfect pairing. Pass it on! 

Pray for Marriages (Mindful of the Lord)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

When we love someone, we will endure injustices, slights, inattentiveness, and all the other human flaws. We may be upset, but we give the other person some grace, especially if those behaviors were not meant with malice. Yet, when perhaps there is some malicious intent, we speak up regarding our displeasure, but then it is for our love of God, that we bear the momentary pain and seek to forgive. 

For whenever anyone bears the pain of unjust suffering because of consciousness of God, that is a grace. 1 Peter 2:19

Without a dependence on God, how much of our response might be rage, flaming arrows, and words and behaviors that we can’t take back? Let us first work on our own imperfections so that we might increase in virtue and speak with kindness. Strive to build a greater reliance on the Lord, that you may learn temperance, fortitude, and perseverance. 

A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse one breaks the spirit. Proverbs 15:4

Do not return evil for evil, or insult for insult; but, on the contrary, a blessing, because to this you were called, that you might inherit a blessing. 

1 Peter 3:9

Lord, teach us your ways! Since there is ample opportunity within marriages to offend you in both sins of commission and omission, help us to first gain custody of our tongues! In our daily prayers, infuse us with your love, that it may overflow to our spouse in word and deed. May we be quick to forgive and forget offenses, as we too hope for the same. Keep us from focusing on our spouses flaws, but rather understanding and reforming our own. Guide us in the path to perfection, for only in You can we even gain sight of it! Jesus, we trust in You!

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

Keep praying for marriages new and old! None are immune from the snares of the Evil One!

Peace, Joy, and Love, 

Janet

Build the army of prayer warriors and pass it on! 

Pray for Families (Building the Fortress)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

There is something wonderful about the innocence of childhood.  For the most part, we feel loved, protected, and provided for, and thus see goodness all around us. As we grow in maturity, our eyes are slowly opened to reality, a mix of sweet and sour as we encounter different personalities, different cultural norms, and different environments. When we mature spiritually, we begin to sense a different realm, one of good and evil. We encounter their influence on ourselves and those around us. This can be confusing, overwhelming, and concerning to say the least.

For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Ephesians 6:12

It’s painful to see family members go astray, led by the darkness of this world. Yet, we too are not immune from this same influence, as Satan delights in destroying marriage and the family. The Lord, however, has provided us weapons for battle, so let’s utilize them. 

Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. 

Stay in a state of grace, and reconcile with our Lord frequently. For the devil hates the holy.

So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate,

Read Scripture daily to hear the voice of God.

and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace.

Bear good news; Proclaim Christ is King!

In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one.

Frequent the sacraments to augment your faith, hope, and love.

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 12:13-17

Have faith that the victory is His, and share the Good News of salvation. For if we stay grounded in Christ, we have nothing to fear. 

Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war; My safeguard and my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge. Psalm 144:1-2

Pray, for the Evil One finds loathsome the names of Jesus and Mary!

The LORD is far from the wicked, but hears the prayer of the just. Proverbs 15:29

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Help others be battle ready!  Pass it on! 

Pray for Marriages (Managing Priorities)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

My hope is that your prayer routines are so fixed, that my many recent lapses of missing these prayer reminders, go unnoticed.

Each day is a series of managing priorities. The hope is that our decisions to order our day are grounded in prayer. We must be on the lookout for the Evil One who loves to derail us. But what should be prioritized is not always clear. Do we pursue a worthy spiritual venture alone, or spend that time with a spouse? Volunteer with the church, or help a child with their homework?  Build relationships with those who don’t know Christ in hopes of one day facilitating a conversion, or instead spend that time in prayer? The Lord has a plan for you. Ask the Holy Spirit for discernment here.

Love righteousness, you who judge the earth; think of the LORD in goodness, and seek him in integrity of heart. For the spirit of the LORD fills the world, is all-embracing, and knows whatever is said. Wisdom 1:1, 7

What are your negotiables and what are your non-negotiables in your marriage? If the Lord is not your foundation, how easy would it be to constantly go astray? Spend some quiet time with the Lord. How can you better honor your marriage? Your family? In what ways can you accomplish that without dishonoring God, but rather glorifying HIm? (Hint: Missing Mass to watch football with your husband doesn’t fly.  Neither do kids select sports team schedules relieve you of your Sunday obligations). 

Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the last times some will turn away from the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and demonic instructions. 

1 Timothy 4:1

For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. Romans 7:19

Lord, help us find the silence in a noisy world that seeks to drown out your voice. Shepherd us when we go astray and guide us to the Truth. Help us live our vocation of marriage as you designed it, and grant each spouse the grace of daily conversion. Help us to forgive, especially when we cling to unforgiveness like a life vest. Give us the grace to surrender our wills to yours so that we may become a shining example to the family that you have gifted us. May your blessings be abundant! Amen.

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Keep praying and pass it on!

Pray for Marriages (A Special Calling)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Being in the workforce has its challenges. One must deal with a plethora of trying personalities, learn to collaborate, yet strive to separate and highlight your accomplishments for advancement. No matter how difficult the day is, you always know you can leave that environment once your shift ends or the work is done.  

Marriage, however, is uniquely different. Those who the Lord designates for marriage are called to a special vocation through which they are serving the Lord. While you may also serve the Lord through your profession, in marriage you serve the Lord by honoring your spouse. It’s not a 9:00-5:00 shift,  but a 24/7 lifetime. It is not a space where you brag about your accomplishments, but rather one where you humble yourself, and unify as a team in collaborative harmony. This is in spite of any disagreements, snarky remarks, or self-serving behaviors.

My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials. Be sincere of heart and steadfast, and do not be impetuous in time of adversity. Cling to him, do not leave him, that you may prosper in your last days. Accept whatever happens to you; in periods of humiliation be patient. Sirach 2:1-4

Anyone who has been married for any length of time knows that self-denial on behalf of another can be both challenging and rewarding. Serving another is difficult when you are not in the mood, tired, and you too are in need of nurturing. You can easily expand the list, but could you endure and persist without collective prayer on your behalf?  

Woe to timid hearts and drooping hands, to the sinner who walks a double path! Woe to the faint of heart! For they do not trust, and therefore have no shelter! Woe to you that have lost hope! What will you do at the Lord’s visitation? Sirach 2:12-14

Raise your hands in prayer, kneel in humility, and simply pray for marriages. You will be blessed with a daily refreshment of grace, that will embolden you in faith, and hope, and shelter you in love!! 🙏🏻

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Each prayer matters. Pass it on! 

Pray for Families (Divine Guidance)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Life is a series of decisions. Some bring joy, some bring regret. With spiritual maturity, we eventually learn that if we wait on God, listen to His voice, and follow His will, we will have peace with our decisions. 

Of course that sounds so easy, but it definitely has a learning curve. We may hear the Lord’s voice within our hearts, in scripture, or through others, or even in other ways. However, sometimes we  hear the wrong voice and are misdirected. 

Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1

So when personal or family decisions go haywire, don’t self-flagellate, but humble yourself and return to prayer.  In time, your discernment will improve and God’s voice will become more recognizable. 

Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world. 1 John 4:3

Lord, help us to hear your voice. Shepherd us as we attempt to guide and lead our loved ones towards holiness, toward You. As we read your Word, help us to be attentive to your voice. May our own voice decrease, and may Yours increase. When we are seeking affirmation, awaken us to the many ways you speak to us. Bless us and our families, and may we find peace knowing you always accompany us on this journey. Jesus, we trust in You!

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Be still, listen, and ask Him who to share this with. Then, pass it on!