A Prayer for my Daughter

I feel like I write a lot about my son, but not much about my daughter. So, I'd like to say a few things about Leah today. I've mentioned before that she had a rough start in life because of being born prematurely. She spent her first three months plus four days in the hospital, then came home for a couple of weeks, got sick and was back in the hospital for another couple of weeks. It was a scary time not knowing what kind of effects the premature birth, oxygen and other medical procedures would have on her later in life. It was a time of spiritual growth for us and a time of learning how to completely trust God with the outcome.

Today, Leah is in her second year of college, at a university about 50 miles from our home. School has never been easy for her and now college is extremely difficult. With all her heart she wants to finish college and get her degree. She is giving it her best effort, though she did finally have to drop one of her classes last week. I cannot tell you how proud I am of her for going to college and giving it her all. We never told her she had to go -- this is something she has decided to do. We are fully supporting her in every way we can, even though we never thought she would go to college. My prayer is that she will find God's will in her life. One thing that is so great about having a daughter is that they stay in touch. We talk to each other every single day and she tells me everything that is going on in her life, even sometimes to the point of being too much information!

The book of Ephesians has some really great prayers in it. One that I have been praying for Leah since January 17, 2006 is from Ephesians 1:17-19. Every time these verses use the words "you" and "your" I insert her name. Here is my prayer for Leah...

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Yes, it does!

I had some great responses to my last post about whether or not prayer changes things. I am in complete agreement with some of the people who left comments -- thanks to each one, even to those who have opinions that differ from my own.

I believe without a doubt that prayer can change things. I also believe that God has a plan and a will for our lives and He already knows what is going to happen in every person's life. I think my friend Strawberry was exactly right when she said, "there isn't a person on this earth that can comprehend God's overall purpose. We see one very small piece of the puzzle, but God sees the entire picture."

There are so many examples in the Bible to support the power of prayer that I could probably make this post so long, you would never finish reading it (see James 5:13-16). Here is a shortened version of a very long story from my personal life. When my husband and I were a young married couple, he had already been diagnosed with a muscle disease and it began to cause him some serious problems. He lost his strength, he lost weight, his physical features changed and he was having fevers every day. He went downhill so much that by our first child's first Christmas, my mother feared that he wouldn't live to see another Christmas. He wasn't even able to bend down and put on his socks and shoes -- for many months I was having to put his socks and shoes on him. He went through a lot and it wasn't looking like there was much hope for him. Some men from our church came to him and prayed for him and followed the scripture in James that I mentioned above. It didn't happen immediately, but during the next few months he started improving and he got better and better, and eventually was even able to stop taking the medication he'd been on for years. That was nearly 25 years ago and to this day he has not had to go back on medication and he has been able to carry on a normal life and work a normal job and be a wonderful husband and father. The medicines had no power to heal this disease because there was no cure -- they mainly just treated the symptoms. I give all credit for these changes to God Almighty, Creator of the universe. We had no power over this terrible disease -- all we could do was what the doctors told us........and pray. I am 100% convinced that God heard our prayers and the prayers of some righteous men and He changed a very serious condition.

...The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16

Prayer Changes Things -- or Does it?

Everyone has heard the little saying, "prayer changes things." Some people might even think it is a verse in the Bible, but no, I don't think you will find that exact verse anywhere in the Holy Bible. It is a nice little phrase that man has come up with that may be true. Being a peacemaker by nature, I don't like conflict or controversy in my life, but I am going to step out of my comfort zone for a minute and ask for some responses to this phrase. I'm sure that I'll get many different opinions, but I would really like to know what you think. Does prayer really change things? Or, does God already have everything in our lives mapped out to where there is nothing we can do to change what is already going to happen? I certainly don't claim to be a theologian, nor do I think I have all the answers. The one thing I do know for certain is that prayer changes me! Please leave your comments and let me know if you think that by praying, God will change the outcome of a situation, circumstance, etc. Feel free to use examples from your personal life or scriptural references.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14