The Power Is In Your Hands -Mia

              Hi friends!

              I’m so glad to finally be back! Sorry for the wait; finals week was a nightmare! While I’m on the subject, I’d like to thank Kat for something she did for me on Friday. Around noon, I had basically hit an all-time low during my study time. And then she texted me out of the blue, asking if she could pray for me about anything, and that totally made my day!

              Sisters, you know how it can be. Sometimes you just feel like you’re alone and forced to  take care of things yourself. Now, there’s so much teaching about “God is always with you!” that we’ve learned to know better. Sometimes that feeling of being alone is still there, but most of us aren’t shy about taking a moment and sending up a quick prayer anytime we’re feeling down. Prayer is always an open avenue, and it honestly does make you feel better to take a moment to pray- just try it!

               So for a lot of us, prayer isn’t a problem. Maybe we don’t pray about every single problem we have, but if you asked us, we would say we have a fairly healthy prayer life.

              But let’s think this through. We may have a great one-on-one prayer life with God (by one-on-one, I mean we pray to him about our own issues), but what about our fellow Christians? In James 5:16, we are told to “pray for one another, that you may be healed… (ESV)” and in Galatians 6:2, it says “bear one another’s burdens… (ESV)” But, and let’s be honest here, how often do we do this?

              I’ll be honest- when I think about it, it seems kind of awkward to just text someone and ask for prayers with something, especially if, in my mind, it’s a “small thing.” And it shouldn’t be that way. I know that my Christian family would gladly pray for anything I ask them to do, and I shouldn’t feel awkward about asking for prayers. Because seriously- if the issue is important enough to be on your mind, it’s important enough to tell God about. He doesn’t view anything as “no big deal;” He’s happy whenever you come to him with problems, no matter how “small.”

              (As a side note, there’s one thing everyone needs to know that we don’t seem to stress enough: YOU ARE NOT WASTING GOD’S TIME. He loves you because you are His child, and He is glad to hear from you.)

              No matter what the issue, big or “small,” you CAN pray about it. You can pray about anything. And you know what the best thing is? “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (James 5:16, ESV).” I really love that verse, and I really love the way it’s worded in this particular version. Our prayers have power. They can accomplish things- things that seem nearly impossible. And that’s the thing- if one person’s prayer is powerful, how well would the combined prayers of so many other fellow Christians work? And not only are the prayers effective, the encouragement that comes from sharing your problems with your Christian sisters is absolutely AMAZING.

              We shouldn’t be afraid to ask for prayers, but beating each other to the punch and asking each other for prayer requests is even better! Not only do we grow closer “bearing each other’s burdens,” we will also remind each other that there are people out there who still care. Let’s face it, sometimes we feel alone, and we forget that we have sisters who are there for us.

              Let’s not allow people to forget that. This week, let’s remind people that they are never alone.

              When all else fails (and before), pray!

                    Mia