Today is the National Day of Prayer, a fact that has been on my mind for weeks since I help coordinate prayer activities at our church. I started the day with a longer than usual prayer time myself because of some incidents that happened with my daughter yesterday. Another special needs mom I know posted some prayer requests and praises on Facebook. All of this got my mind going on how I could incorporate some things about prayer on The Simple Life.
Paul tells us in I Thessalonians 5:17 that we should "pray continually;" (NIV) and in Phillipians 4:6 he encourages us to "...not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (NIV) Bottom line: pray all the time about everything. The first verse is easy to memorize, but hard to put into practice. The second is something I've been spending several years learning because my natural tendency is to worry. Even if I have prayed about something I will often take it back from God's hands and worry about it some more, not accepting His peace, and assuming that I can figure it out on my own.
For me this relates to special needs parenting because I believe we have a unique opportunity to see the power of prayer in our lives and in our children's lives. I have seen God answer prayers in amazing ways for our family and our daughter. One example: In April 2008 we were told by several people to see a developmental pediatrician "right away" but the two that were most recommended had waiting lists until September 2008 or January 2009! I prayed, and God opened an appointment before the end of May, four months before our human efforts. Coincidence? The evaluations and reports were done just in time for a meeting with the school district to determine eligibility for Summer programs. There have been other prayers that He has answered with "No" and in retrospect it has been for good. Praying "continually" simply takes on new meaning when it relates to getting through every minute of every day with a child that needs extra support in the most basic of daily events.
To make this a practical reality here on The Simple Life, I decided to try adding a tag board where we can add prayer requests. I promise to pray for every request that is left here...you don't have to put your name or your child's name (God knows!). If you read regularly and can commit to pray please do so! I hope this will be a way to support each other. If this particular format doesn't work or if I start to see it abused in any way I'll have to reconsider how to do this. Meanwhile, let's pray!
