Organizing Prayers

I am sure that at the first glance of this title, you are wondering how is it possible to organize prayers. Let me explain a little more.

I used to keep a prayer list. While I have replaced this with something else, I still think it is a good idea and wanted to share it with you. My Prayer List included all the people I wanted to cover in prayer on a regular basis. I kept this list in a sheet protector and then, using a dry erase marker, wrote additional personal prayer items as I was led to pray for them.

The reason this method no longer works for me is because I don't have a way to keep track of how God has answered those prayers and I have to rely on my memory. Remembering God's answered prayers is so important because it can become a part of our testimony to show God's mercy and provision with others. Nothing is more influential than your personal story of your personal relationship with God! It can literally lead people to faith - including unbelieving spouses.

Let me share a personal example with you. I became a believer before my husband and spent a lot of time studying the Proverbs 31 woman and I tried really hard to remember the admonishment of 1 Peter 3:1, which states, "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;"

I spent a lot of time praying for anything and everything - including trundle beds. At that time, we were living in a 3 bedroom, 1 bath apartment with about 1,200 square feet and had already had our fifth child about a year earlier. We already had two boys in one room and two girls in the other with my husband and I sharing the third with the youngest one still in a crib. Bunk beds were not an option because the ceilings were too low and we had safety concerns with a one-year old toddler and a very active three-year old son. I began to pray for trundle beds. I would pray and look at the options in various furniture stores. We simply could not afford it. I would pray some more and check out resale sites like Ebay and Craigslist. Nothing available or too expensive. Looking back I almost think it is silly how long I prayed for those beds. A very long time. So long, it was actually a permanent item on my prayer list. I hope you are laughing as you are reading this because I am laughing now as I remember it!

Anyway, at some point, my husband called me at work and asked me if I knew what trundle beds were. Of course I did, I had been praying for them for a very long time, but he never knew about it! I simply told him that, yes, I did know what trundle beds were and that I had been praying that we could find some we could afford. I was curious about why he was asking. I didn't have to wait long. Apparently his uncle had given him a call asking if we wanted two sets of trundle beds as his boss was getting rid of them! Two sets - for free - complete with support boards, mattresses, and the frames. One set was a light colored sleigh bed style and the other was a dark, captain's bed style. God answered my prayers with a set of beds for the girls and for the boys! How awesome is that!

But what makes this testimony even better is that while we were setting up the new beds, I told my husband about how I had been praying for this type of bed. In time, he began to ask me to pray for specific things - and when God answered those prayers too, he began to want to know more until he became a believer himself.

Because I wanted to come up with a way to create a prayer list and be able to write down God's answers, I began searching and praying for another way. I bounced some ideas with some good friends. You know, what do you think of this or that? Women that I know are prayer warriors. Then while shopping one day, I came across a beautifully bound journal. God blessed me with inspiration. I now write down my prayers about a specific persona, place, or need - each one on its own page. As time passes, I add on to the prayers. I actually write out my prayers, almost as a personal letter to Jesus. It becomes a continuous process. I purposefully write on only one side of the page so that I have room to add more prayers or the answers, as they happen. I plan on getting a new book each year and keeping these as part of my testimony to my friends and family, including future generations, about how God has blessed my life of prayer.

I pray that you find these posts about prayer beneficial and that you may inspired to find a way to make prayer work for you.

Blessings be upon you.