Today I am feeling very blessed and felt compelled to share an idea with you. A few weeks ago I entered into a new facet of my friendship with four other women. One of them had the idea for all of us to pray for each other, our children and our husbands. This idea was sent out in an email and all five of us agreed that we liked the idea.We are all quite busy with our families and our jobs, plus volunteer and social organizations that we belong to, so it was agreed that we would circulate a prayer each week to the group via email and also read a chapter each week of two books...The Power of a Praying Parent and The Power of a Praying Wife to help us with our practice of prayer.
The first week was kind of strange as it seemed we didn't really know how to get this new thing started. Our fearless leader sent out an email that included a prayer for everyone, and I must admit at first I didn't feel comfortable with it. Perhaps it was my lack of contribution that made me feel a bit guilty... I went ahead and said the prayer throughout the week, and when I saw my friend I asked her about it. Since we didn't all respond to her email that first week she just decided to include everyone's families so we would have a prayer to follow. As I repeated the prayer that first week I appreciated her action more and more.
The second week we all fell right into place. By Tuesday of that week we had all emailed each other our prayers, which are just about five to six sentences per person, and seemed to be getting a handle on our new system. I must admit it feels really good to pray for people outside of my family and to know that my family is being prayed for. I keep thinking I need to share this with my son so he will know that other people are praying for him, too. I know that would make him feel even more loved and appreciated. I'm not sure how Hubby feels about it. He hasn't really commented on my prayer group. I'm sure he thinks it's a motherly female thing, but I hope deep down he appreciates it.
We have officially entered into our third week and I'm excited to send out my prayer of the week and to receive everyone else's. My questions and anxieties about being involved in a prayer group through email and not actually in person have all faded away. I'm so glad I gave this new venture a shot. It has meshed so well with my hectic schedule, and has also brought me closer to friends and to God. I have this great feeling that I'm contributing more behind the scenes to my family and to other families for their emotional, spiritual and physical protection.
