Friday, January 20, 2012

Intercessory Prayer

I feel called to prayer -- the point in my life that I think the calling came was the summer of 1989. We had a unique opportunity for Daniel to work on a recruiting project for the CIA. There was much stateside traveling with the opportunity so we packed up the girls and hit the road. We rented our house out to a young couple for the summer; closing off one bedroom for our belongings. We traveled by car and put nearly 8,000 miles on the car. In each city we visited we would stay at least a week or more. I decided that I would find a new book on prayer in each town. We were staying in a hotel at each location, so when the girls would go down for naps or for the evening I would read. The books I read are old books now and there has been much published since then, but it was the catalyst that spurred me to pray very specifically. God knew I would need this experience the rest of my life.

Well that is the back drop of what I am getting to enjoy now. It brings tears to my eyes as I read the Lima Team newsletter this morning and watched their Christmas gift give away. I love having the specific Peruvian names that the Lima team have met so in prayer the ministry feels real to me. What JOY it is when we hear about the ones who walk into the Light! We can make a difference by asking God on behalf of others. Don't give up on that!!
This is my list of Peruvians I am praying for - looks like I may need a bigger piece of paper!! JOY!



Last night we hosted a "Sweet Hour of Prayer." We had a great group who God called to join us and we plan on doing it again. We took our Hope church directory and cut it up in sections. Each of us took a section and prayed for each member specifically. It was sweet!!
Joining us were Amy and Kyle Passmore, Chelsa Istre, and Robert Butts


I will leave you with a quote from Richard Foster, in Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home. "The truth of the matter is, we all come to prayer with a tangled mass of motives - altruistic and selfish, merciful and hateful, loving and bitter. Frankly, this side of eternity we will never unravel the good from the bad, the pure from the impure. But what I have come to see is that God is big enough to receive us with all our mixture. We do not have to be bright, or pure, or filled with faith, or anything. That is what grace means, and not only are we saved by grace, we live by it as well. And we pray by it."

Ann Voskamp at Holy Experience wrote about prayer in the home recently. Her writings never disappoint.

4 comments:

The Driskells said...

Thank you for that encouragement! I especially liked the quote from Robert Foster. I may have to look up that book.

(You travelled the country with 2 kids! You once juggled professionally! I'm amazed at the breadth of your experience! I've always known you to have Godly wisdom, but now I stand speechless wondering, "What is there that Cathie hasn't done?")

Alison said...

I really enjoyed reading this! I'm inspired by your example, and I am blessed to have had a mom who I physically saw praying in your spot on the couch or in your rocking chair nearly every day of my growing up years. Thank you!

Nicole said...

What a fun experience! Thank you for the reminder to pray specifically- such a great reminder!

RobynT said...

I didn't know this about your early life. It took some time to catch up to you again, and by then, you had settled in College Station. I loved reading about this and "praying specifically" in this blog post.