Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches!
Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.

Lamentations 2:19 ESV


Friday, June 22, 2012

"A Thanksgiving Scroll of Remembrance"



“He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me," Psalm 50:23a NASB.


What a joy it is to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving and to see God's light in another mom's eyes as she rejoices before Him! Every Moms in Prayer meeting is an opportunity to give honor to our Lord as we express our appreciation and joy for His answers to our prayers. Even in the waiting we express gratitude knowing that our God actively hears the prayers of His daughters.

This is a sampling of the sacrifice of thanksgiving offered by our Washington Moms in Prayer members who desire to "speak" the wondrous works of their God and give Him honor. So, scroll and read … and scroll and read. You won't want to miss the last one!

A Group Leader: A mom came with a very heavy heart for her 18-year old prodigal daughter. We prayed for protection, loving Christian friends to surround her, and that Christian friends would invite her to a Bible study. The following week, a group member ran into a friend just prior to our Moms in Prayer meeting and casually invited her to join us and she did! During thanksgiving time the mom of the prodigal child was thankful her daughter had visited her. Then the drop-in friend prayed thanking the Lord that her Christian son and girlfriend were able to invite this very girl to their Bible study and she willingly came! There was not a dry eye in the room as we gave credit to our miracle working God!

Caroline Lajoie, Area Coordinator for Federal Way & Fife: While I was praying with a private Christian school group of two faithful moms, the principal of the school popped in. An educator for many years, she said she could tangibly feel the prayers of these moms and knows that God's blessing has been on this school in a special way the past 2 years since this group has been praying. I praise God for this encouragement—the prayers of 2 or 3 faithful moms meeting regularly make a big difference for the whole school!

An Elementary School Group Leader: I am amazed and blessed by what God has been doing in my children--awards at school, attitude changes, confessing sin, object lessons presenting themselves, devotional time, and my youngest, who just turned 5, gave her heart to Jesus on Easter. She has gone from sitting in the back of Sunday school, just wanting to play, to being in the front, bringing her Bible and eager to do her Sunday School homework during the week. I love that God works in our kids' hearts in big ways. There are still answers I am seeking in prayer on their behalf and I know HE will finish the work he has started in them. Praise him always!

A Career Group Leader: My career-aged group has prayed for my daughter and son-in-law who have had their home listed for sale for 2 years and tried for a year to get pregnant. Their house sold in May and their first baby is due in October. Never give up! God's timing is perfect.

 An Issaquah Group Leader: We prayed that my son's teachers would spend extra time to help him. That week, he was invited to participate in Club 7, a homework club for 7th grade students who are not doing well in school. One of his teachers is a proctor.

Sarah Rogers, Area Coordinator for Kent/Tahoma: Our college group celebrated 3 graduates this year! The prom queen and king from our local high school have praying moms!

Skyline High School Group: We prayed for a mom's daughter to get enough sleep. She is taking a full load of IB classes and works slowly and diligently to do her best with no free time and ends up staying up late most nights. We prayed earnestly and the next week it snowed all week! She got plenty of rest.

An Area Coordinator: I have been praying steadily for my 20-yr old son's relationship with a non-Christian girl for 1 ½ years in Moms in Prayer groups and rejoice at God's answer to my prayers. My son was engaged to this girl; but recently, he announced that they have decided to call it off. God broke them apart in such a way that there was no heartbreak. They are still friends.

Beaver Lake Middle School Group: In our intercession small groups, one mom prayed for the Lord to give good friends to her daughter whose closest friends had moved away recently. In another small group, a mom's request was for her daughter to have a good, stable group of Christian girls to hang out with. That following week, this second mom said that she was driving the first mom's daughter to Young Life along with her daughter. Because they were in different intercession groups, neither mom was aware of the other's prayer for her daughter, but God answered both at the same time!

An Issaquah Group: We prayed for a mom's daughter, not a natural athlete, to make it into a select volleyball team. She made the team, and her coach is a Christian! Then we prayed for the daughter to bond with the team. That prayer has been answered, too, as she loves her team.

Edgewood Group Leader: Both my boys are on their own now and both drop in to visit from time to time. I'm so very thankful for all the years of prayer poured into their lives. It gives my heart joy and peace!

An Issaquah Group: A mom new to Moms in Prayer has a daughter who runs track. The girl was concerned about multiple foot issues (heel pain, blisters, etc.) as she prepared for a national competition. We prayed for God to heal her feet and He did heal them very quickly. She placed 2nd in the national competition.

A Thurston County Group Leader: My Moms in Prayer ladies prayed with me about my 10-year old daughter's relationship with a friend who was being unkind to her, and my daughter and I prayed together. The two girls have grown closer and are thoroughly enjoying each other! They notice now when other friends act as they had and are problem-solving to figure out how to stay away from that influence. I'm so thankful to see this turn-around in their relationship.

Beaver Lake Middle School Group: Our group had been praying for 4 weeks or so that sexual predators in the community would be exposed and removed. Three predators were identified by police and removed from our area.

Christine Dunn, Area Coordinator for South Thurston County: After an absence from my group, I was able to attend and prayed for my son's employment. He was out of college and his old job was no longer available. The very next day he told me that he had a job and he's been working all day, every day since then! He knows the owners and a few of the workers are his classmates from high school—a great group of guys. We are praising the Lord and thanking Him for the fast answer.

Linda Yee, North Issaquah Area Coordinator: Our current groups each pray for one school that needs a prayer group. Towards the end of the year, a new group started at an elementary school. Hurray! Two women who have been praying alone for their schools since the beginning of the year will each have another mom to join them in prayer next year. At an end of year brunch for my middle school group and the elementary school groups that feed into that middle school, God put it on the heart of one woman to organize an outreach get together this summer where we will plan and invite women to an informational this fall.

Linda Lung, Area Coordinator for Central Issaquah: Praise God for his goodness. A new principal, Tod Wood, was hired for Clark Elementary. He is a strong Christian.

Kendahl Adjorlolo, Area Coordinator for Shoreline: The Highland Terrace has two praying moms again. They are actively seeking other moms to join!

From a Group Leader employed at an elementary school: Routinely, our Moms in Prayer groups use Exodus 18:21 to pray that openings for new staff will be filled by "God-fearing men/women of Truth who hate unjust gain"—to which we add "and who are skilled and caring in their work." The day before the first day of school last year, I was called in to help in our new Vice Principal's office, who was so pleasant and personable. I hoped he might be a believer. Since he worked at two schools, however, I did not see him often. In March, we received news that this wonderful Vice Principal accepted a Principal position on the other side of the state. Such exciting news for him and his family! I immediately emailed him, explaining that there were moms praying in that city in Moms in Prayer groups. I briefly explained the ministry, writing that I hoped that he would be prayed for. The very next day, he found me at my cafeteria duty. As I congratulated him on his new position, he replied, "Thank you, and that sounded awesome about the prayer group. In fact, my wife has already looked into it, and there is a group for my school, and she is going to join!"  I was so encouraged, and we are still thanking the Lord for these answers to prayers!

An Issaquah Group: We prayed for a mom's daughter who was discouraged by gossip that she was not good enough to pass the tryouts for select soccer. The daughter made it onto the team (with some great coaches and teammates) and the gossiping stopped.

An Edmonds School District High School Group Leader: We had some HUGE answers to prayer!!!! Only God could do all of this! A mom of a senior brought a prayer request for someone to plan baccalaureate, which didn't happen last year and wasn't in the works this year. Only 40 attended when it was last held. We took on the task, praying this year's would be really big. We asked God for a "big name speaker to bring the people in" and that something would happen to bring a revival or at least that kids would hear about Jesus. We chose the theme of "Stepping Out."

Then, we got sad news. Our beloved Christian principal was "stepping out" to another district to mentor & train other principals. This was devastating news for us, but other principals will now be influenced by this godly man. Although he hadn't planned to attend baccalaureate due to a family outing, when we asked if he would share his faith at the school where he had not been able to do so before, he changed his plans, thrilled at the opportunity. We prayed his family would be blessed through this sacrifice. And we prayed that God would provide another Christian principal, boldly asking for someone even "better."

Over 250 attended baccalaureate this year! The custodian, who had to pull out 150 more chairs before it was over, hugged me, excited to be part of something so amazing. Students and organizers alike were crying at the assembly of a flower-filled cross. Even unchurched families who attended said it was wonderful.

Moreover, someone gifted our principal and his family a weekend with 2 condo rooms at Suncadia, an expense of over $1200! It had been a "dream" of theirs to go as a family! They were given so much more for staying to take this opportunity.

Additionally, we had been praying all year that my son would in faith return to the Lord. He reluctantly attended baccalaureate. Later, I asked him what he thought of the event. My jaw hit the floor when he said, "It was really great! I liked everything about it! Especially what (the Principal) had to say."

In the meantime, one of our Moms in Prayer moms told us a Christian that she loved and respected had applied for our school principal. We prayed. The teacher who helped organize baccalaureate was familiar with this man and was so excited to hear he was applying. A group of moms from this man's church said they loved him and his children! And YES, he got the job. We don't know if he's "better," but he is definitely an answer to our prayer to keep God in the top spot of our school!

I felt God had given me the privilege of being in this Moms in Prayer group for such a time as this to see His Miracles, to witness His hand of love and care, and to show us just what He will do when a small group of women makes believing Him a priority!



Our God is good—ALL the time!


"Pray all the time, Ask God for anything in line with the Holy Spirit's wishes. Plead with him, reminding him of your needs, and keep praying earnestly for all Christians everywhere." Ephesians 6:18T LB


 Do you have any to add?

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