Thursday, April 05, 2007

I’m not a prayer warrior. I’m not one who wakes up in the middle of the night with a burden for someone and knows that I’m to pray for them in that moment. My mother is one of those amazing people - so many times when I was in the hospital I would call her in crisis and she would say that she was praying for me. There’s such comfort knowing that there are people with that gift and who exercise it regularly and faithfully.

It’s not that I take prayer lightly, although I suppose I really do. But it’s not because I don’t believe in the power of prayer - I do. I believe that God is in control and that he hears our cries - He knows all, after all - that’s why I don’t go to Him in prayer often enough. I forget that even though He already knows my heart he wants me to express it to Him.

There are occasions I do get an overwhelming burden for someone and tonight is one of those times. It’s why I’m going to ask that if you pray that you join with me in praying for two friends:

1. A couple I know are in the process of adopting a little girl they met while on a mission trip to Zambia last summer. Our church sponsors and supports the staff of a place called The Farm. The Farm has a medical clinic and an orphanage. T & K met Freda when they visited the orphanage and T instantly fell in love with this precious baby girl. They came back home with a deep desire to add her to their family and started the legal process. One of the stipulations was that they spent 90 days in country. The judge was counting their time last summer, so T left in late January and was supposed to return by Easter with Freda. However, the other day a new judge was assigned to the case and he decided that their time in Zambia last summer does not count. The 90 days started in January. So K left today to be with T and Freda for the duration - as long as it takes until they can bring their baby home. At this point the prayer is that the judge will be honest and fair with them and that their jobs won’t be too adversely affected by their long absences - at this point T has been gone from his job for about 3 months now.

2. I was talking with our worship leader on our way out from band/choir practice for the Easter services. I never got the full details when it all started in January, but he’s been losing his voice. He doesn’t have nodes on his vocal chords and he’s not experiencing pain. It’s just that his voice isn’t as strong as it once was when he sings. There’s no clear physical explanation for the problem. He took several weeks off from singing all together and has backed off a lot when he does sing. He’s worked with a vocal coach to fix some bad habits that he thought might be contributing to the problem. He shared that it’s starting to affect his confidence when he sings. I assured him that he sounds great - honestly, I never would have known there was a problem if I hadn’t been told. He’s worried, obviously, and heartbroken at the possibility of losing his passion. Music is his life and his ministry and I’m sure he can’t imagine a future without it. Please pray for him to have the confidence he needs and healing for whatever is the problem with his voice.