The Prayer Warrior Life: Mother to Mother

Proverbs 11:14 Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

I think it's no accident that I gather more mother-to-mother prayer requests than any other type. Motherhood is a blessing and a battle and guess who wants us to fail? We must uphold each other. Who understands our burdens better?

I have so many mothers I'm praying for that I have to organize them as one group during prayer time, lest I forget someone. I consider this a good thing! God himself guides our prayer time. Prayer changes us, more than prayer changes circumstances. He knows that praying for other mothers makes us better mothers.

Can God work in a mother's life without our prayers? Yes. God doesn't need our prayers but he loves the fellowship with us. And our mother friends feel our prayers! They may not know they were just prayed for, but they do receive a filling from the Holy Spirit.

I have a bold belief to share here: The more mothers you commit to praying for, the more prayer support you'll receive in your own life. I believe this. Think of it...more Spirit fillings! Don't we all crave those? Desperately need them, even?

As you organize your mother-to-mother prayers think of your own failings and assume that other mothers struggle similarly. This will give you a basic outline as you pray, and as mothers contact you with specific requests, add those to your notes.

Pray that she'll be able to:

- nurture and disciple her children sufficiently

- read her Bible and pray

- provide gentle but firm discipline

- make time for nutritious meals

- balance loving her husband with loving her children

- take care of her own health

- avoid idleness and use her time wisely

- avoid self-pity regarding repetitive chores and child training

- that she'll count her blessings and give thanks for each day, seeing it as a gift

Source for Scripture
Source for photo

To read more of my prayer journey, check out Into a Life of Prayer: A Journey Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

To read even more, check out The Prayer Warrior Life part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4; part 5, part 6, Part 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

A sweet friend, Amy, wrote guests posts for us, telling of her prayer journey: Vol. 1, and Vol. 2, and Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5

Then Are Ye My Disciples Indeed

January is Open Your Bible Month here on the blog. How are you doing? I'm hanging out in Isaiah and loving it!

John 8:31-32 (KJV)

 ³¹Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
 ³²And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

source here

It's January 4th and hopefully you've opened your Bible at least 3 times. Know the truth and let it set you free. Be a disciple! 

photo credit

Peaceful, Joyful, White

Lots of white stuff fell in the last twenty-four hours. Beautiful. Peaceful. The earth's axis is working again! My husband is miserable and yes, I'm sorry for him. He left PA at age thirty-eight, bound for California. He'd had enough of the white stuff. He married me when he was almost 41 years old, and I guess I betrayed him when I suggested we move to Ohio, where I had some family.

It seemed to make sense; one of my aunts here is a strong Christian, and we were trying to raise a baby and preschooler while I worked part-time from home with a lovely, sweet, but unreliable college student as a two-times weekly, four-hour babysitter (while I went to campus twice a week). I was newly pregnant, too, which was the catalyst for change (I miscarried at 10 weeks).

He never objected and agreed it made sense, but he did mention the weather several times. I suggested we try other cheap states, where I might be able to stay home with the children. Cheap states don't come with CA weather...ever notice that? Property is fairly cheap in tornado alley.

So we moved as soon as school let out, grieving all the while over another baby loss. We lived off the substantial housing profit we'd made, until husband found a job--something not quite so difficult back then. Yes, it was risky, but if God didn't want it, why did the house sell at all?

I'd visited here in May and found this house within a few days (back when loans were easy to get, with just good credit and enough down). We moved in eight days after our arrival, staying with my aunt in the meantime.

The staying-with-my-aunt part was quite the mistake. Understatement.

Peter, 3.5 at the time, didn't adjust well. He was a nightmare and Paul, the baby, was out of sorts as well. Escrow should have closed before our arrival, and my husband and me were dealing with stresses beyond just the children. It took my aunt a very long time to get her first impressions out of her head. It was rough here for awhile. I've often wished we'd gotten a cheap hotel those first eight days.

I think it's fair to say husband's never quite forgiven me, or the Lord, for this move. The house sold in two weeks (before the miscarriage) so it seemed to be what the Lord wanted way back then, but who knows?

I never knew how big an issue the weather was, until we'd moved. 

Anyway, today? The rest of us feel complete joy to see the peaceful puffs of white...at last! Take your joy where you can. Pray for the miserable, but don't let them rob you of joy. If you're married to a glass half-empty person, you know what I mean. The Lord often pairs the glass half-empty types with the glass half-full types. Balance is what He likes.

There's one thing I keep in mind when the weather gets him down: If it's not the weather, it's something else. No, this isn't a personality flaw I'm talking about. My husband is very personable, to my shy and quiet. He's also a wonderful, dedicated husband and father, with great faith. He's affectionate and loving.


It's simply a different way to look at the world. He didn't choose the lens through which he views, anymore than I did. When I want to roll my eyes, that always comes back to me. He didn't choose the downside. It's genes, like so many things we contend with in our daily lives.

When I hear negative people put down as a group, I grieve. It isn't a personality flaw; it's not something they can pray out of, or even count blessings out of. It's just their bent--like my bent is nervousness. I can't make a nervous disposition go away, as hard as I try.

Take your joy and don't feel guilty, no matter who you live with. There's no other way to live.

I made him his favorite cookie. He's very happy with these delectable morsels, but alas, they didn't take away his pining for the west as the snow piled up.
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My oldest wanted to make me a blanket. So many ideas here in these four young minds. It's not usable, but I love it anyway.

Oh, how I love these munchkins!

A sleepy girl enjoying Daddy's words and warmth.

I checked out a boatload of snow-themed picture books. Time to go enjoy!

A Little Whisper

2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Romans 15:4
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 

Dear Friend,

Have you opened your Bible today? Open it and let God's breath breathe life, love, and peace into your heart and life. Just open it. Let Him do the rest. January is Open Your Bible month here on the blog. Put an x on your calendar for every day you open your Bible in January. (I have my own kids doing it too). Aim for 30 times but never let it be an all or nothing endeavor. If you don't open it for five days, open it the sixth day as if it were the first day. God is always open to new beginnings. He'll take you right where you're at! No questions asked, no condemnation.

As I wrote previously, my word of the year is balance. That means I write short posts or no posts, as I seek to find balance in my daily life, caring for Beth's arthritis needs and everything else.

What is your word?

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Are You Spiritually Mature? A Test For You

2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.

Are you spiritually mature, or still a baby Christian? Even if you've been attending church your whole life, you could still be a baby Christian. 

How can you ascertain whether or not you're spiritually mature? For brevity sake, we will only cover two ways.

1.  Do you believe the Bible is absolute truth and useful for teaching, but you rarely open it, except for Sunday service? A spiritually mature person acts out their faith. If you rarely open your Bible, you're spiritually immature.

2.  If someone asks you what spiritual lesson you're learning right now, can you give an answer? A spiritually mature person is always growing and learning. If you can't tell someone what you're learning, you're spiritually immature.

Make 2012 the year you become spiritually mature. No one ever arrives, but we must be on the journey. Always. Stop making excuses. I know you have the time because I know God. He would never overburden you.

Put a small x on your calendar for every day you open your Bible in January. I don't care how much you end up reading at this point. Just open that Bible 30 times in the month of January. God will do the rest.

Ready, set, go!

Happy New Year, friend! I love you and I want you to grow in Christ this year. Pray for your husband each time you open your Bible, that he will grow too and be able to lead you spiritually.