Pray for Families (Staying Connected)

Greeting Prayer Warriors,

Summer break is winding down and kids are back to school, off to college, or even perhaps starting their first real job.  Lots of mixed emotions linger in the air.  Or perhaps that’s an era long gone by for you.  Either way, it brings home the importance of connectedness with family and how love binds us together.  It’s as if as a reminder we want to tattoo on our children’s hearts:

As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. John 15:9

While it’s painful when a child no longer needs you, a teenager thinks you have no understanding of the world, your young adult has found new “gods”, or your children marry and move away, your parental love still remains.  

This greatly mirrors our relationship with God. He forms us, then molds, guides, and blesses us, yet we as well often let go of His guiding hand, think he doesn’t understand how the times have changed, and assume He will understand when He no longer is our Number One.

Unshaken, His love for us remains. 

Lord, as the connectedness of our family ebbs and flows over time,may we graft more completely on to you and hear your words to us:

Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. John 15:4

Lord, when our children of all ages need and desire us less, help us to embody your enduring, unwavering love. May our hearts bear the fruits of  mercy, compassion, and hope. When those we love seem to drift further away, may we draw even closer to you, in an act of reparation for all the times we knowingly or unknowingly distanced or cut ourselves off from You. Have mercy on us. 

Thank you Lord for the blessing of a family, both the earthly and heavenly kind! Hear our prayers!

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Prayer is the great connector. Pass it on! 

Pray for Marriages (In Sickness and in Health)

Greetings Prayer Warriors, 

While I am under the weather, I still have a  desire to remind you to pray! 

Women have the hardest time being sick, because they are so busy taking care of everyone else, they don’t stop long enough to recover! It is a grace to slow down, take the time to rest, and ALLOW your husband to take care of you.

Christ showed us that real love is sacrificial for the good of the other. 

So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2

Let us  lift up prayers of praise for all those spouses who live out their vows, “in sickness and in health”. For those who offer comfort in any way they know how, whether they be big kindnesses, or even the little ones, let us be grateful to them and praise God. And, for those who fall short, may the light of grace penetrate their heart and move them to action!

So [also] husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it. Ephesians 5:28-29

We are one in marriage and all are one  in Christ. Let us praise Him!

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Prayer can move mountains. What are you waiting for? Pass it on!

Pray for Families (Propelling Grace)

Greeting Prayer Warriors,

The spiritual life is active, never static. It is a long continuum, even if it begins with baby steps. In the beginning of our journey, we are so ignorant of our sin, we think Gospel readings apply to everyone but us, and thus we coast along, believing we are good and holy. 

I fed you milk, not solid food, because you were unable to take it. Indeed, you are still not able, even now, for you are still of the flesh. While there is jealousy and rivalry among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving in an ordinary human way? 1 Corinthians 3:2-3

Then somehow we encounter Christ. The experience is unique for everyone, but our eyes start to open and our ears start to hear.  We are changed forever and begin to walk more intentionally, examine our hearts more sincerely, and act and speak with more charity. The challenge we then face in this journey, is that  the further we advance the easier it is to fall into judgment of others. We think everyone should be at the stage we are. We must pause and never forget that we too were once novices, and without the grace of God, would never have progressed at all in our spiritual  journey. Humbly speaking, we must acknowledge that there will always be those who are way more advanced than any one of us!!  

At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12

Let’s then consider the compassionate love of the Lord, and how gentle and merciful he has been with us on our journey.  May we be mindful of His ways as we both give and receive. As you pray for your family members, each on their perfectly ordained journey, pray that you too will be increasingly compassionate and gentle with them in imitation of Christ.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows how we are formed, remembers that we are dust.  Psalm 103:13

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

The Lord hears the prayers of the meek. Be humble, yet boldly pass it on!

Pray for Marriages (The Cross of Perfection)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

Each of us is given a vocation in life, a special call from God. For some it’s to remain single, for others, the married life, fewer still, the vows of religious life, and to even fewer, ordination to the priesthood. 

For obvious reasons, we will discuss the vocation of marriage! How many of you even contemplated that your marriage was to be a path to sanctification? It is a roadmap to heaven. Consider that in heaven, there is no need for marriage.

“The children of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Luke 20:34-35

Who considered that marriage would be a series of  trials to form and transform you, and who could have imagined the depth/number of them? In marriage, have you ever asked yourself, “If this is the path to perfection, why do I feel so imperfect, ill-equipped, and unvirtuous?” (Ahh, that’s the beginning of humility!)  

The fear of the LORD is training for wisdom, and humility goes before honors. Proverbs 15:33

At its best, marriage can feel like a slice of heaven, but at its worst can feel like a climb up Golgotha. The top seems insurmountable and undesirable, and if we are honest with ourselves, our love is too imperfect to continue the climb. Many bail out on the journey. Yet in the Christian life, suffering united to Christ’s, has infinite value. Christ never expects that we ascend the mountain alone, but that we invite him to carry OUR cross for and with us!

It is the LORD who goes before you; he will be with you and will never fail you or forsake you. So do not fear or be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31:8

We are blessed that the Lord's only desire is to conform us to Him, giving us all the tools we need to ascend the heights and be united with Him through eternity. Let us never dwell  in sorrow or pity, but instead, sing praise!!

Peace, Love, and Joy, 

Janet

Praise can lift you out of your sorrows. Pass it on! 

Pray for Families (Carrying Crosses)

Greetings Prayer Warriors,

You may or may not have noticed that I have missed several blog posts. Most likely you enjoyed the summer reprieve. Skipping them wasn’t planned, just necessary. Time was needed with extended family and “praying” often takes more than just one’s hands.

Having a relative who has chosen a road less traveled and stays 100% off-the-grid has its problems. No one knows if they are alive, dead, or somewhere in between. It makes it hard to know how to pray for them as well. A few weeks ago, out of nowhere, I received a call from this family member for assistance.  While it was a relief to the extended family to know they were okay, and it wasn’t without its complexities. Many of you may be able to relate if you have a relative that falls into a category of you asking yourself, “I don’t know what to do, what not to do, or whether to do anything at all.” 

Knowing the correct response can only be discerned through conversations with God and the reading of scripture. 

Is there someone in your life you struggle to help?  Perhaps this small sampling of these scripture passages will speak to your heart. Or perhaps the Lord has put another one on your heart. Listen to Him.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? James 2:14-16

Brothers, even if a person is caught in some transgression, you who are spiritual should correct that one in a gentle spirit, looking to yourself, so that you also may not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he is deluding himself.  Galatians 6:1-3

Whoever defrauds father or mother and says, “It is no sin,” is a partner to a brigand. The greedy person stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the LORD will prosper. Proverbs 28:24-25

The body, however, is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body; Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? 1 Corinthians 6:13,15

If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. 1 John 3:17-18

Poverty and shame befall those who let go of discipline, but those who hold on to reproof receive honor. Proverbs 13:18

God shapes and forms each of us as we travel through life’s peaks and valleys, for He knows they will bring us closer to Him. Is he asking you to carry your cross, or help with someone else’s? 

Per crucem ad lucem! Through the cross to the light!  Pray as you journey with the cross. Seek the light!

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Read more scripture, double your prayers, ask for the Lord’s guidance, and pass it on!!

Pray for Marriages (Taking a Time Out)

Greeting Prayer Warriors,

Let’s face it, while marriage has its blessings, sometimes it feels too “sacrificial”.  One may get tired, frustrated, angry, or emotional and the sacrifice may seem too much.  But God always has a greater purpose in our suffering. It is always a means to bring us closer to Him.

No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

Take a prayer time-out. Find a quiet place to converse with the Lord. He loves your voice, and delights in you, even when you don’t delight in yourself or let alone anyone else. Rest in Him, and He will lead you to calm.

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

Pray, pray, pray!  Pass it on! 

Pray for Families (Play Ball!)

Greetings Prayer Warriors, 

Every morning that we awake, it’s like the Umpire in the sky yells, “Play ball!”  We may be ready for the game, but we never know what’s coming at us.  That is the challenge and that is where faith comes in.  We may be physically and materially prepared, but without faith to know we can navigate the unknown ahead, and that whether we walk, hit, or strikeout, we are never alone.

Doubt is easy, unwavering faith is not. When we find ourselves in the depths of despair from the unjust calls of others, when raging waters seek to drown us and destroy all of our best efforts to get around the bases and back to the safety of home, faith in the love, mercy, and justice of God is all that can save us. Let us cry out to God on behalf of  those in our families that desperately need his assistance (even if it is yourself).

Save me, God, for the waters have reached my neck. I have sunk into the mire of the deep, where there is no foothold. I have gone down to the watery depths; the flood overwhelms me. I am weary with crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, from looking for my God. More numerous than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause. Those who would destroy me are mighty, my enemies without reason. Must I now restore what I did not steal? Psalm 69:2-5

Let us pray for a greater gift of faith, and an outpouring of graces for ourselves, our families, and one another, especially those in most need.  Let us praise the name of Jesus, who is our help and our salvation!

Peace, Joy, and Love,

Janet

The Lord hears our cries.  Pray without ceasing and pass it on!