At the end of November, I posted on Facebook a meme that mentioned a prayer challenge. It said to pick someone and to pray for them over the next 30 days, but there was one catch. It said to pick them, and not tell them anything...just pray. I figured, why not? As a Christian, I fully FULLY believe in the power of prayer and do my best (hey, I'm human and slack sometimes...don't judge) to pray daily. With that said, I really liked this idea of a month long focused prayer on someone that I chose and keeping it to myself; however, with my blog I want to strive to be raw, open, and honest because that's just life. So many times through social media we see these seemingly perfect lives, but in all reality they are just mere moments...snippets in time...that we are seeing and we aren't getting the full picture. I'll be the first to admit here that, yes, I am just as guilty of sharing these moments, but my life is no different than anybody else. My life has some wonderful moments, but goodness so many rough and messy moments too. Prayer and having faith in God's plans for me is a big part of keeping this hot mess together. So, you can bet I was totally on board for this prayer challenge.
I thought to myself for a bit on who I wanted to focus this prayer on and ended up deciding on a handful of people actually, majority of which I may and most likely not even know yet. I'll explain that here shortly. The first person I chose was because a dear friend of mine who saw my post specifically reached out to me to pray for her. P, if you are reading this, I have been lifting you up in prayer just like I said I would. I love you, my friend. Thank you for being such a positive and motivating light in my life. You've got this ; ).
The next small group I decided on surrounds whoever God has chosen to be my children's forever partner someday; hence, why I said I most likely do not know these people. With that said, my prayer in this regards truly surrounds more their mamas. Yes I know they have dads, but as a mom myself who understands the pressures and challenges of being a mom in this modern world, I can relate. Over the last month, I have prayed for these women and asked God to provide protection over them and their families. I have prayed that these women model grace, forgiveness, silliness, affection, smiles and laughter (so much of this) and patience (all attributes that I aspire to) to themselves and to their families. I pray that they know they are so loved by our Creator...a kind of love that is not fully comprehensible to our finite minds. I pray they speak to their babies about Jesus and the importance of having that relationship with Him; however, my biggest prayer for them has been that they know God.
I don't mean this in the sense that they know of God...so many of us know of Him without knowing Him. There's a big difference there. That difference surrounds the whole concept of personal relationships. Anybody can know of someone, but not really know them. That requires getting to know someone on a personal level. It means asking questions, spending time with that person, revealing things you may not reveal to others, etc. For instance, I know of Daniel Norris (my famous athlete crush), but I don't know him. That would require getting to know him on a personal level and having some sort of relationship with him, which I'm not opposed to honestly ; ). Okay, I know that will never happen, but you get my point.
The last person I chose to focus this prayer challenge on is whoever God has chosen to be my future possible forever partner. As a divorced single Christian woman, who values marriage, I think it's only natural for me to desire this again. Yes, I know I am setting myself up for criticism by saying I "value marriage" when I'm sitting here a divorced woman; however, as a human being, not merely as a Christian, I ask for no judgment. Unless you know what happened, or lived it, or understand the dark times of it, you have no room to judge. I got out of an unhealthy situation and for that I'm grateful. With that said, I like to think that God has plans for me in regards to finding a forever partner...all in His time and plan for me of course. I may even possibly know this man already, but maybe I don't. I have prayed for this man over the last month and how I hope he is full of grace, forgiveness, laughter, open communication, a young heart, passion, prayer, acceptance of me and (for lack of better words) "my baggage", understanding, respect for me as a woman (goodness especially this one), kindness, protection for me physically and emotionally, belief in me, etc...and well a love for sports and being active would be a bonus...just keeping it real ; ). I hope to give a man these things in return as well. Most of all though, I also pray that this man has a relationship with God and that he understands that my relationship with God will be above my relationship with him.
As I close out this post, I will leave you with a few thoughts. For all of these people, I also am not ignorant and think that everyone has that relationship with God. I know that everyone is somewhere different in their lives and in their own personal beliefs, whatever that may be. I have prayed that if they do not know God personally and have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior that someway, somehow a seed about this very topic can be planted in their hearts and it can be watered from all directions and that ultimately they do choose Jesus. John 14:6 tells us, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." As I mentioned earlier, truly knowing God is about a relationship with Him. We were created to know Him and submit fully to Him, but gosh darn we're human and it can be hard to submit and surrender yourself fully to someone. We often think we know what's best for our lives and want to be fully in charge of it, but letting Him be fully in charge of our lives is what is truly best. In order to have that relationship with God, we have to first go through Jesus...He provides the "way." Jesus died for our sins. He was the only possible sacrifice that as a result allows us the opportunity, if you choose it, to have that relationship with God.
In regards to me praying about my future possible forever partner, I can admit that this man may be merely a figment of my imagination. As much as I want that to be a part of God's plan for me, He may not have this written in His book as part of my life that I have remaining here on Earth. Maybe God wants me to be still in understanding that my relationship with Him is more than I will ever need. I do wholeheartedly believe that God is all I need, but I'm human and do have certain desires for my future; however, no matter what I trust His plan for me.
So today I ask you to take the challenge as well. Pick someone and pray for them over the next month...tell them, don't tell...doesn't matter...but pray and pray some more. Can you imagine if you did this and encouraged someone else to do this? I truly believe in the power of prayer and know that God hears us. You don't need to pray fancy words either...God just wants us to talk to him.
~Christina~