The greatest infusion of passion to pray for others has come through a simple plastic blue pot (which has been traded in for an adorable winter mug). I recently wrote here about my Prayer Pot; the nutshell is I put a bunch of names in a little pot and everyday (well…most days) I draw a name and pray for that person that day. Sometimes I take a picture of the name and send it to the person for which I’m praying.
It never occurred to me I’d hear anything back ~ I just wanted friends to know they were being prayed for that day. A few texted me back with specific prayer requests, but most surprising (though I don’t know why this would surprise me), some friends let me know that the timing of receiving a text that they were being prayed for was amazing. For every one of those responses, I absolutely had no idea of the situation they were in, or a need for prayer. It is evident that God did; there are just too many stories to call this coincidence.
Today really touched me and I had to share…
I have a friend from 5th Grade (that’s 39 years ago!!), and we’ve been able to maintain a level of interest and care for each other through Facebook. When her son, Garrett, entered basic training, my youngest daughter put his name in her prayer box, because she has been praying for soldiers since she was 10 years old. (You can read about that here.) In December I found myself writing Garrett’s name and dropping it on my pot as well. This morning I pulled his name and prayed for him ~ having no idea of his whereabouts or position. This afternoon I let my friend know I had pulled his name and was praying for him. This is her response: My eyes just filled with tears Sheri! Garrett just left this morning on a ship for several weeks of pre-deployment training! Thank you so much for your faithful prayers! To God be the glory! Hugs to you and your precious family!
There is no way I knew that. I simply had no idea.
The Prayer Pot was “shared” a lot via Facebook the day I posted it and I saw several comments from moms inspired to start their own Prayer Pot with their kids. Each time I write my hope is that whatever I share is worth your time to read, so it was very encouraging to see others wanting to bring this idea to their own families. What if kids began to see how real, active and interested God is as they prayed for others? I know how encouraged I am in my faith by this prayer journey, so when I consider that praying for others could grow a child’s faith…well, that’s pretty exciting!
I hope there are some new Prayer Pots out there and I hope through that there are others seeing how God uses His people to take care of His people through prayer. I also hope we each realize that as we draw closer to each other through these prayers, we also grow closer to God ~ which I believe is part of the purpose of prayer.