I hate open heights! I can’t stand balconies, glass elevators freak me out, and when I am driving across a bridge, you’ll find me hugging the dividing rail along the inside lane.
Some friends tried to help me conquer these fears by inviting our family to join them one Sunday afternoon at Inner Peaks Climbing Center. I cringed at the thought of it, but JJ and our boys really wanted to go. So I caved in and agreed to a family “outing” inside this huge rock-climbing center.
When we entered the doors, my heart stopped beating as I look up at the highest peak – 25 feet! The instructors assured me that a web of ropes, harnesses and carabiners would hold me tight. Before I could say “no thank you,” I was strapped in and signing an injury waiver. I played it safe and stayed on the lower peaks.
Towards the end of the day, our friends John and Laura challenged their eight-year-old son Steven to climb to the highest peak – promising $5 in tokens and a cone of ice cream at arcade next door if he would touch the bar at the top.
Steven was afraid of heights, too, but he loved a dare. The promise of reward, mixed with the challenge and faith of his father evoked courage in Steven.
I watched with admiration as that little guy started the climb with confidence. He made it to 15 feet, then 20. But as he inched past the next face of the wall, he saw just how far he had to go before reaching the bar at the top. In fear, he looked down with tears and said he couldn’t do it. Then he cried out for his daddy’s help.
By this time, John was holding their very tired 3 yr old, and Laura was feeding their very hungry baby girl. I don’t know where my brave husband was, but as I looked around I realized I was the only one standing there who could do something.
Suddenly courage and strength surged through my body. I called out to Steven, “Don’t give up buddy. Wait for me to come to you. You can do it. I’ll help you!”
I said a quick prayer that God would help me and that Steven wouldn’t give up and start repelling his way down before I got to him. In no time, I reached the 20 foot marker. I crossed over the peak and up beside Steven to encourage him, reminding him of how far he’d come. Using my words and my confidence I focused his thoughts towards a higher goal, an inner peak, a reward that would be much greater than ice cream and game tokens – the reward of getting to a placehe had stopped believing he could reach.
My fear was gone. I had stopped thinking about me long enough to focus on helping someone else reach their goal and overcome their fear. Strangely enough, in that moment I overcame mine, and reached a peak of my own.
I became the response of a child’s cry for his father’s help. And that day became a picture of what happens when friends pray for and encourage one another. Like Jesus, we come alongside each other in some of life’s hardest challenges and highest peaks and we say, “Don’t give up, you can do it. Wait for me. I’ll help you.”
In that moment we take our eyes off our fears, our doubts, our struggles and set them on someone else’s needs. There we find faith to believe the power of God’s Word for them, and somehow our confidence in God’s promises and power are true for us in a way they may never have been before. That is the power of a praying friend!
Today, I invite you to join me in a conversation with God and some girlfriends so that we can experience what happens when women pray – for each other. This is your chance to share a request (a need, a hope, a desire) that you want someone to pray for you for this week. In return, you will pray for one person for the next week, too.
And because I love to share with friends books that draw me closer to Jesus, those who participate in our “conversation with God” will be part of a drawing next week for a new book called “Dear Jesus.” It is filled with devotions and scriptures that capture the heart of God’s response to every woman’s longings and intimate struggles.
Here’s how we’ll do this:
Click the word “Comments” below my name on this post (just under the 2nd green box).
Type in your prayer request in the white box.
Include your first name and where you are from.
(If you don’t have a blogger account, you can sign in as anonymous. But please include your first name at the end.) After type your request, click enter. Your comment will post.
Read the prayer request/comment above yours and pray for that friend.
Copy and paste it in an email to yourself as a reminder to pray for your new friend throughout the week.
On Monday, I’ll post about the power of praying God’s Word and share some of my favorite scripture prayers. Wouldn’t it be neat to find a Bible verse to pray for our prayer partner and post it in Monday’s comments? I’ll share how to do that.
There were two people in blessed in my story. But I never would have experienced what God had for me to give or receive that day if Steven hadn’t asked for help. I pray you will experience the power of a praying friend by promising to be one and allowing someone else to be one for you today. Be sure to click “comments” just below this box so that others see your prayer request and you find the request you are to pray for, too.
© 2008 by Renee Swope. All rights reserved.
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Pray for me to have the courage to keep looking to God for my weight loss. I had been going to Curves but in the last two months I have stopped. This will describe my situation easier. I am 61 years old,I am 5’2’, small bone, but my weight is not according to my height. I weight 166, which is due to medicine that I took a year ago and gained weight with it, and haven’t be able to loss it yet. It is very difficult to loss weight when you have gained it through medicine.I take walks when it is cool. My Niece and Nephew-in-law have two dogs a Labrador and a Maltese which I walk also in the morning sometimes. They have 4 son’s one is 18 years old, going to College this year, one 15 years old, one 13 years old, and one 9 years old. I come to live with them after a series of problems. I am on a limited income.
My husband is the senior pastor at our church and had to ask another staff member (who is/was also a good friend) to resign last week due to many ongoing issues. Please pray for our friend and his family who are now out of work. Also, pray for our church, especially the teenagers, who have a lot of questions that can’t be answered thoroughly due to confidentiality. Our friends are very bitter and are now trying to create division in the church even though they are no longer at the church. Please pray for my husband as he deals with the situation. We are both very tired after a whirlwind of emotions.
Julie in Florida
Laura and Joanne….thank you for your prayers and encouragement. They are already lifting my spirits.
I feel so incredibly blessed to be apart of this prayer circle. We have each other and most importantly we have Christ’s LOVE.
I will be praying for all of us.
God bless!
Elizabeth- L.P.,Arizona
[email protected]
Sherri, Thanks for praying for me. I’ll also be holding you up in prayer!
Paula
Judy…I have already lifted you up to the Lord & will continue to do so…Just remember that our Father in heaven is so awesome & mighty & He wants us to have the desires of our hearts!! If it's His will for you to sell your business & be home with your husband…it WILL be!! Thank you Jesus for hearing & answering our prayers!!
angela
Hello. My husband & I are currently separated due to his anger/temper. We've been married for over 10 years & have 4 children between us. Our oldest 2 just graduated from high school…Katy immediately got married to her high school sweetheart & Matthew in now at Basic Training for the Army National Guard. (both wanted to get away, we've been told!) Our youngest, Sarah lives with her Mom – very well adjusted & happy (tells me her Dad will never change & I should leave for good!) and Bekah…has experienced everything our "Babylon" has to offer for the past couple of years! She's been suicidal, sexually active, cutting, smoking, etc…and has recently been diagnosed with Bipolar Disease! She's on probation with youth court & is living temporarily with her grandparents (my choice!). She's been thru SO many hurts throughout her life…many of which included my husband's temper & rages! She now is tired of forgiving & refuses to live with him again…I totally understand…but I love him (he's also Bipolar) and I know his heart! He loves the Lord and I just can't seem to discern what God truly wants for my life! My family & co-workers encourage me to say "enough is enough" and leave him…our church family is praying for reconciliation & knows both of our heart's desires to follow Christ in ministry!! Thank you for your prayers!
Angela from MS
Margaret,
Have you heard of Dave Ramsey (www.daveramsey.com)? I was a single mom for years and his methods did wonders for me. It was a wonderful blessing.
My prayer requests seem so trite compared to the ones I have read. However, no request is too small or trivial. I have a business that I would like to sell so that I can spend more time with my husband on our farm. I am being torn in to many directions and getting very stressed and depressed that I’m not doing justice to either place. On top of that, my only daughter (youngest child) recently got married and moved out of state. She is my best friend and it has been very difficult for me. Thank you for praying for me! Judy
My prayer is for me and my husband to move out of his Mom’s home so we all can have some sort of peace and also I hope I can find a meaningful job.Thank you God for every single breath I take.
Irene
paula…I’ll definitely be praying that God will unite you and your husband in educating your children….they are our precious gifts..homeschooling has been an incredible blessing; even being a single-mom most of the time….
whatever GOd calls you to…LET THERE BE PEACE….and provision….praise the Lord…..sherri
Sherri, I am praying for you now. Lord, I thank you that your timing is perfect. That you had Sherri’s request come in two hours after she posted and it came at 3:30 EST. I thank you that you promise to work all things together for good for those who love you and are called according to your purpose. Father God, I pray that you would shower your wisdom and love down on Sherri, her husband and their children. I pray that you would anoint those who are prayerfully counseling them as pastors, elders and their wives. Lord, even when we get ahead of you or step out of your Divine plans, You are not surprised or panicked. You are the God who is able to do all things – and to do immeasurable more than we can think to even ask. Please show Sherri and her husband your ways, lead them in your truth and teach them as they put their hope in you today for what tomorrow holds. In Jesus Name, Amen.
margaret…I was a single-mom forever, and I’m believing God with you that you will be victorious…..God will surely be your provider….sherri
I’ve never done this before, so please bear with me….and time is of the essence, so I didn’t have time to read procedures….
I need prayer DESPERATELY…..my husband and I are meeting with 2 elders and their wives TODAY at 3:30 p.m…mtn. time…ours is a marriage that should never have happened; but I’m trusting GOD to real HIS perfect plan…and give peace to our elders in leading and guiding us in ALL HIS truth…if GOD still wants us to be married and use us for his glory….please give me the strength and courage to do it….there are 10 children involved….GOD PLEASE HELP US!!! sherri
Hi Lisa from Albany, GA
I will be praying for your marriage and for your husbands business. I pray that God would bless your marriage and that he would draw both of you closer to Himself as he draws you closer to one another. I also pray that God would pour out His blessing upon you husbands business. I pray for guidance and wisdom in decision making and for financial success. I pray for understanding between you and your husband because when you run your own business it puts alot of stress on your marriage. You have to rely on God for every penny that comes in and praise Him when it does. I also pray for You Lisa, that God would continue to give you grace and help you to be your husbands biggest supporter and to know that your going to be right beside him every step of the way.
Jennifer McKinnon – Spfld, Oh
Please pray for my finances. I am a single mom who tithes regularly and am starting to really feel the burden of the recession. I am asking God to help stretch my paychecks to meet my family’s financial needs.
Bless you,
Margaret
Here's a prayer request from my friend:
I want to seek your prayers for an opportunity I’ve been presented with to go to Israel with Tony Hooper.
Tony is a former worship leader at Brownsville in Pensacola, FL. He is currently recording and gearing up to lead worship with Michael W. Smith for the upcoming Promise Keepers tour. He’s toured with many major acts in Christian music over the years and has a an absolutely on fire heart for Jesus.
He and 9 others are going to stay at a ministry house on the Sea of Galilee in Tiberius. Each morning and evening will be spent in intercessory prayer and worship for the nation of Israel and for the upcoming U.S. elections.
As musicians we will have a chance to spend some time with local musicians and worship leaders teaching and training them in their churches. As a team we will probably be leading worship in some Messianic churches.
The cost of the trip is going to be about $3000 depending on what it costs to get me to Atlanta. I don’t have $3000. I don’t have $30. That’s why I need your prayers. God has to bless this or I can’t go. I spent a great deal of time in prayer over this this morning and in tears I asked the Lord for help in making this happen. I’m extremely humbled by this. I’m not sure why this guy who has a great deal of friends and influence in places I could only imagine would invite me, a guy he hardly knows at all, to go on this trip with him. I can only think that the Lord is leading. Inside of 7 days I have to have a plane ticket paid for to secure my place. The Lord knows I will probably be the least talented in the group but I have a passion for Yeshua.
Thanks,
Pastor Bob Headley
Director of Worship & Media Arts
Maranatha Assembly of God
Hi, I just recently answered an ad for an Property Manager position Im believing God for this position.Also me and my family are believing God to have our home to be remodeled over with brand new appliances, flooring, and furniture. And mot of all Im believing God to send me an wholesome mate. Thanks,Denise
Me and my family are in dire need to have our home fully-furnished with brand-new furniture,appliances, and flooring. Also Im in need for an better paying job with exclusive benefits. Most of all Im believing God to send me an wholesome mate.
I’m going to pray for Jo Anne in Indiana and her prayer request for a new job.
My prayer request is for my husband and I to know (and agree) what to do with 2 of our 3 children for their schooling this fall. These 2 are currently enrolled in a Christian school (in Utah). We love the school and feel that they are getting a great Christian education but we would love to not have this financial burden. We tried to get them into two different charter schools and did not get accepted to either. I’m open to home schooling but my husband isn’t at this time.
Thanks for praying!
Paula
I am entering this as a Johnnie -come-lately,never the less, my prayer for EVERYONE is that GOD’s will be done in your prayer requests. I logged on seeking pray and now all I want to do is pray for each and everyone of you. My concerns are (by the world’s standard) astronomical, but we serve an awesome GOD and HE is more than able to meet ALL our needs Phil 4:19. I don’t want to appear “super” spiritual, but I now realize, there are Christians facing some major situations in their lives. so I am standing on HIS Word, which is HE will NEVER leave us nor forsake us, assurely not. HIS promises are true. HE doesn’t lie. So,according to HIS word, all our needs are met thru JESUS CHRIST. GOD’S will for your prayer requests. Stand on HIS WORD and we all receive HIS promises. HE is a good GOD. I have been so blessed logging in. Peace and Blessings to each and everyone of you