I love to pray. When I am praying, talking to God, I feel so close to Him. I believe God has called me to be an Intercessor, so whenever someone comes to my mind, I lift her/him in prayer. I pray for the country. I pray for my neighbors. I get several emails asking me to pray for people's concerns, and I keep a long list of concerns I pray for daily. Did I say I love to pray?
Well, I also lead a women's bible study. After our weekly study, we lift up one another's concerns and pray for each other. As the leader, I listen and write down each woman's request as she shares. The strangest thing was, I often would NOT share my own concerns. I would diligently write down and we would pray for our concerns together as a group. Then, we committed to pray over these concerns during the week. But, for my own needs, I consistently would bear them alone or pray over them with my prayer partner. I wouldn't share them with the group.
This was about three to four years ago and Aaron was one. When he was born, his tear ducts were closed, so he would get "goopy eyes" frequently. Whenever he had a cold, it would go into his eye and have a runny eye. People would often assume he had "pink eye," but I would assure them that he had a closed tear duct and this was "normal" for his eye. Our doctor said most kids grew out of this by the time they were 15 months old, so we would watch and wait.
Time went on and Aaron's eye did NOT get any better. Our doctor sent us to an eye doctor when he didn't grow out of it by the time he turned one. The eye doctor said we would wait until Aaron was 15 months old, but if the tear duct didn't open, Aaron would have to have surgery. We continued going every few weeks to check, but the duct remained closed. Finally, the doctor said we wait two more weeks and if the duct wasn't open (and it looked like it was NOT going to open on its own now!) we would schedule the surgery.
Not what a mother wants to hear. No matter how "routine" or simple a surgery is, a mother would much rather that her baby would not have to go through it!
Well, the night before the appointment was my bible study. As I was taking prayer requests for everyone else, God spoke to my heart, "Tracy, you prayer for everyone else. Why don't you pray for yourself? Why don't you pray for your own needs? Pray for Aaron."
Boy! I was convicted. I shared this with my group and we prayed for Aaron. I knew they would also be praying for him the next day during the time of the appointment.
When Brian and I took Aaron the next day, we really expected that we would be setting up the surgery appointment. Actually, that was what the doctor thought, too. While waiting, I again said a prayer for God to open Aaron's tear ducts. When the doctor came in, he began telling us about the surgery, preparing us. As he began to check Aaron's eyes, more of a formality, really, he stopped talking. He then told us that Aaron's tear ducts had opened! He was astounded! He couldn't believe it!
I could believe it! God had miraculously healed Aaron AND reminded me that I needed to pray over my needs! It was wonderful that I prayed for others, but that I needed to FIRST pray for my needs and the needs of my family.
God is so good!
Philippians 4:6, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to the Lord."
Please go over to a Mom's Life http://beth-amomslife.blogspot.com/ to read all of the amazing ways God is working in people's lives! God is good and there are miracles all around when we open our eyes to see them.
9 thoughts shared....:
Amen! Prayer is so extremely powerful, it's mind blowing! Thanks for writing!!! :)
We were just talking about this Sunday - talking about "ebeneezers" (a symbol in one's life of when and how God worked). The elder who gave the sermon has several stones in her purse, on which she has written dates and what God did for her on those dates. It was a powerful reminder on how God works in my life daily, sometimes without me even seeing it. Like with my soon-to-be-new bike :) (You can't tell I'm excited, can you?)
God wants to give us the desires of our heart (when our heart is in line with His, that's a challenge) but remember, you have a bunch of friends out here willing and able to pray for you (and doing so quite often.) Prayer is a blessing for the one doing the praying, as well as the one being prayed for, so just ask if it's something specific. Happy to do so.
L-
This is beautiful, mighty is the power of prayer. Bless you and your precious son.
Amen, Chelle!
L,
Thank you so much! I so appreciate those prayers. One thing I need to do more is post prayer REQUESTS on my blog.
Many blessings!
Thank you so much, Denise!
Blessings,
Tracy
This is so true but it's hard sometimes - especially as moms and sisters in christ - we want to make it all better for everyone else and faithful knowing God will help us but we don't ask others for that prayer. I am the same way and I need to work on it too!...Oh, I love your little paper monster - I have one of those too!
I love when God answers specific prayers the most. It is so humbling.
KEEP BELIEVING
This was a great reminder to pray for my family's needs, too! My son had the same problem, but it cleared up around his fourth month.
Oh wow. What a neat miracle. So glad you shared it.
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