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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Hi, Renee I am happy to hear that you husband got good news on his test results. Praise God!!. My prayer request is that I continue to trust and seek the Lord, in what’s to come in my life, and believe and have the hope that he will bring me my husband.
Christina
I would like prayer for courage. My family (husband and 3 kids) and I have just relocated to another city and I want to be courageous to look for opportunities to make friends and bless others. Also wisdom as I am putting full time work on the back burner to be a stay at home mom for the first time.
Thanks, Terri
I thank my heavenly Father for his greatness. Renee, may the Lord blees you for being obedient in requesting that others post in this prayer chain. God knows all of the hurts/burdens and attacks that his children have been facing. The enemy is hard at work.
But the God we serve wants us to remember that we are not alone. We serve a faithful God who knows all things, even those we are not sharing. With that said, I would like to request prayer for myself individually. I have not been as faithful and obedient as I should be and God has been showing me in the past couple of weeks that I need to surrender ALL areas of my life to HIM!
Please pray that I will be obedient in placing Him as the center of my life and being disciplined in seeking HIM daily and also in loving others the way HE loves us. Also pray for my marriage as my husband is pretty much ready to walk out because of anger issues and me being a “control freak” (due to issues from the past).
Debra in Livermore know that I am praying for you and can’t wait to see what the Lord will be doing with all of these request.
God Bless you all!!
When I opened my email today, which is Encouragement for Today, I began crying, for I believe in my heart that the Lord is speaking to my heart. First, I pray that everyone who has made a comment on this page has their prayers answered. I did not complete reading all of them, but know that you all are in my prayers. Please pray that my husband and I can get our finances in order. The bible says we are to own no man but to love him. This is our goal. It is difficult as I am on disability, & he lost his job. So please hold us up in prayer, for the prayers of the rightous avails much. God bless
Out of everything, the one I’d like to mention as my prayer request is for my husband’s job. He got laid off a year ago, and was only out of work for a day and a half, HOWEVER, it is not exactly using his talent and ability. This weekend, he’s working out of town at a special event, and there may be an opportunity for a promotion.
Cindy
St. Petersburg, Fl
[email protected]
My prayer request is for unsaved family members who continue to travel down a road that only leads to distruction of having a life in eternity with God. It is most heart renching to watch them on this path.
I found your blog thu Encouragement for Today.
I ask for prayer for my husband to get a job and my daughter, Jennifers financial situation. I also ask for prayer for my son, Matt, who is a Marine, that God would be with him and keep him safe.
I am also afraid of heights. I don’t let it stop me, but just last week I toured a new home. My nephew was building it and we had to walk across a landing that was on the second floor. There were no rails yet. I pressed against the wall as I walked from one side to the other, but my heart was pounding. I love your story, because I understand what it took to do it. I love that.
i need your prayers for GODS will in my life and that he remove the fear that has kept me bound for so long, im 56 and never been married been saved for 20 yrs almost and i live a life completely pure in my mind body and soul but i would like to be married, it is my desire even now so pray for me
Dear Heather,
I will pray for you this week that our loving Father will strengthen you, both physically and emotionally. I pray that the counseling session will bring total healing and that God’s love will envelope you and comfort you.
My prayer request is for my 17 yr. old daughter. She needs healing from a sexual abuse that occurred 2 years ago and she needs salvation most of all. She grew up in church but for the last few years she has decided that she does not believe in God anymore. Please pray for her salvation and healing.
Thank you for your prayers,
Trish from VA
I have moved to a new area and am invited to a housewarming party at a new non-christian friend’s house… please pray for this great opportunity and new contacts..
Marion
Thank You Renee for your blog today.
First off I will pray for Jeannie because we live in the same town!
I also pray for Heather from Wi.
I ask that you would pray for me to help me continue in the perservance with prayer and also to get over my hestitation and build my confidence in writing.
Thank You and Blessings
Debra in Livermore
please help us pray for God’s provision for my husband’s business. bills are piling high, expenses are high, and customers are not paying their bills. we’ve been in a constant struggle of barely making ends meet for a couple of years. please pray that we will be able to open a new store soon, that the landlord will approve the lease negotiation, and we can provide a steady income for our family.
christy
west memphis, ar
My prayer request:
I have a cold that has hung on now for a week. I am physically exhausted and not sleeping well at night. I have a 2 and 4 year old I am trying to keep up with during the day…
And being physically exhausted is hard because I am going into a tough counseling session on Monday afternoon. I am working through some difficult issues of sexual abuse in my past, and am fearful of facing them, and the emotions associated with them.
The physical exhaustion means that right now I have low emotional reserves as well, and I am afraid of being overwhelmed by those emotions as I start to grieve through the things that happened.
Thank you for praying,
Heather from WI
Please pray for my family. We have some hard issues with my 18 year old daughter that is getting harder and harder to deal with. We are having to use tough love and I just don’t know how much longer I can deal with this. We’ve recently moved and my friends have forgotten me or it seems like it. Thanks, Janet for Batesville
To the lovely sister who comments after me, I apologize. This doesn’t make sense to me, so I hope the Spirit of God enlightens you to pray as you ought. 😉
I am SO tempted to ask for prayer about something else (anything else) but the one thing I know I need above all else is to REALLY connect with God in a personal way. I am saved, but I don’t feel that relationship…
That must sound depressing…. But I have an obnoxiously blessed and useful life! He leads, and teaches, and blesses me abundantly, but I experience my Christian life in terms of “wife” and “mom” and “daughter” and “friend” and “women’s ministry leader” but almost never as just “His.”
Without regard to any way I might be useful to others, I would like to imagine that I could bring Him enjoyment by just existing as His.
I would like to feel like He loves me, and not just know it. And, come to think about it, I want to feel like I love Him, and not just know it.
There is a lot that can be known about God, and He has taught me so much; I feel like the safer road would be to just be thankful and content with what I have…
I think it is EXTREMELY risky to ask for what I am asking. Because if, for some reason, He doesn’t want me to feel what I am asking to feel (i.e. experience what I want to experience) then I will be devastated.
That is where the doubt comes in. Is the book done yet, Renee? 😉
(Since I just won the last drawing, if I get picked again, give the book to the lady I’m praying for who commented just before me.)
My name is Renita I sent the request about my two sons.
My prayer request is that the Lord will save my two sons from the streets and lead them to church. Help them to become better fathers to their children.
Pamela I will be praying for you all who are involved. This is such a wonderful idea. It is amazing how God can use blogs to bring people together who don’t know each other. We can pray for each other…across the miles even. Thanks for that avenue Renee.
My prayer request is for my mom. She discovered she had kidney cancer in March. Thankfully, she had a bladder infection that did not go away that required further tests. It was then, that the cancer was found. She had very successful surgery to remove the one kidney and the tumor. The doctor’s were amazed at how well she did. We know who was responsible for that…God! The cancer had spread to some spots on her lungs. She is going through a treatment called interlukin 2. She did well through that, too. We are now 2 weeks away from finding out if that treatment is working. It has been a tough wait and the day of the scan will be really hard. We know that if the scan shows improvement it is all from God and we want to give HIM the glory. My mom and I are very close and the thought of losing her is tough to think about. By the way, my mom became a believe through this experience. Praise! Thank you to whoever may be praying for my mom. Sorry for the long entry…
I've read all of your posts and I am moved by many of them. I hear so much pain and grief in many of your posts. I can identify with several. Fist of all, Renee – my first husband, Tony(long story – I'm on my third marriage and what a blessing from God!)had the same thing only he never had any symptoms until he needed to have his spleen removed. All was ok until 4 yrs after his surgery, he had a blood clot and died.
So Gill, I understand your greif. I've danced with greif over the ten years since Tony died. I became angry and in need of forgiveness from God–which is always there IF we ask!!
My second marriage, which lasted a year, was to an alcoholic. So I can identify with Lisa who is in a family of addictions. For me, I found sweet relief from being in worship at a local Celebrate Recovery group. BUT… I didn't find a way to "cure" my husband, but that I had issues myself. I countinue to work on my grief, my anger, my self-esteem and my perfectionistic issues every Friday night in our worship time and our accountability group. My second husband died after a short bout with cancer. We had become friends again and we were able to reconsile the week before he died.
My current and 3rd husband, Dennis is a gift from God. He is every thing I was searching for. We've been married 1 1/2 years. Last fall, he began his dream of becoming a pastor and began taking classes online. He has a bad back and had to quit his job. He's applied for disability, but still has 30-45 days to wait for the next step. In the meantime, I had a good job, but it was very stressful. I was relieved of that job 3 weeks ago. Amazing how God answers prayers at times! 🙂
I said all that to get to my prayer requests…
*Please pray that I will receive unemployment or that I will find a job this next week. We have little money left. I am confident that God will provide for us, but you know Satan likes to tempt me with the thought of," But what if God's timing is off?"
*Please pray for my husband that he will receive disability soon so that he can feel that he contributes to our income situation.
*please pray for me that I can continue to learn how to be a supportive pastors wife. I know that some people will think that I'm not fit to hold that place because of my past.
*please pray for our Celebrate Recovery ministry as it is a small group and I know there are many people in this area that need help dealing with life's issues.
*Also, please pray for my daughter Jennifer and her daughter, Toni Renee, that they can be together again. (She's named after her grandpa!)
*Please pray for my son, Bryan, who will be moving in mid-August and getting married in mid-September.
*both of my children were raised going to church and were baptised in the Christian faith, but have walked their own path. I pray that God will GENTLY bring them back to Him so that they can finally have some peace in their lives.
It seems I could go on…my husband's family is mostly Jehovah's Witnesses. Pray for their "awakening to the truth."
Dennis has one daughter he has not seen or heard from in over 17 years. I pray daily that she will be open to meeting or talking to him soon.
*Lynda – I will be praying for you & your family, for healing for your husband and for the grace to accept whatever lies ahead for you.
Forgive me for being so long winded. I've been told I should write a book.
My name is Sonia and I'm a grateful follower in Jesus Christ my Lord. Emporia, Ks
I can be reached at [email protected]