Pray For me Monday

Please join Home Grown Families and I for another week of Pray for me Monday.


Deuteronomy 16:17
Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.
For some reason it seems like it has been a long time since I thought about pray for me Monday. But it has only been a week.
This week I want to talk about something close to my heart. I want to talk about giving. It is the time of year where we all have a list a mile long of things we would love to see under the Christmas tree. For me it is things that I cannot have like a whole day in front of the sewing machine and a wheat grinder.

Giving comes naturally to me. I would love to be able to do nothing but shop and give it to others all day every day.
This year I want to focus on not just the giving of things but truelly giving. I want to give you my time in prayer. I want to give of my time to have friends over more often. I want to focus more on who is coming over instead of is the floors being mopped.
My prayer for this week is that we take time to enjoy this Christmas season and find a way to give of ourselves. To remember those around us who sometimes get forgotten. The mail lady, the lady at the local dollar general who rarely smiles. That single mom in church who you know is struggling with how to raise her children alone. That you give time for that spouse whose husband is deployed.
Proverbs 3:27
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.
Pamela

A smack in the face

Have you ever been smacked in the face? This morning during my quiet time I was reading about pride and over and over I felt like I was being smacked in the face and being told to wake up.
I have an amazing son. A son I enjoy being around and guess what he is a teenager. If there was one character about him I would change it would be that he very often talks negatively. You may not even notice it if you were around him but it seems like it is constantly in my face. Constantly reminding someone of their faults or how they could do better. Or if a sister would say I want to be a singer when I grow up he reminds them of how many singers turn out worldly or how her voice is not good enough. He has also started back talking. I know that part of it is just being his age and feeling like he wants to be more involved and so I do try to take into account. Michael loves to watch super nanny, he has for many years. The other night he went to bed and it was left on in the living room. So my hero and I stayed up watching it for 2 more hours. The show we watched gave us a great idea. This family set a chart up and said they would give each child a certain amount of money weekly if they did not curse. So our thought was we would do the same. Michael does not curse. But every time he back talked or said something negative then he would mark off a quarter. Since we do not pay our children for daily chores this would be a great way to help him earn money. It is really about re training him to think before he speaks.
So back to this morning. I was having my quiet time, reading about pride and humbling ourselves. My first smack was, I need to not only encourage him to re train his brain but that every time he marks off a quarter to take a moment and pray for help to stop before speaking and to think about how his words are affecting others.
Today I read about humbling yourself and asking for help and repenting of the things you are struggling with day after day. It made me think about how I will ask for help with one situation and receive it and then I get prideful about handling it on my own. So I forget to ask for help.
Then the big smack happened. I was so caught up in having my eyes opened about my son that I was not listening. I realized that this morning’s quiet time was not about my son. It was about me and how I speak to everyone. Am I looking for the good in every situation? Am I encouraging my children when they tell me about their goals and dreams? Am I speaking with a sweet spirit? Or am I harsh and to the point? Am I in too big of a hurry to hear what they need to talk about or what they want to talk about?
Father, today I ask you to tap me on the shoulder and point out how I am not being humble when it comes to my thoughts. Thank you so much for opening my eyes. Thank you for being there for me and giving me your word to teach me and encourage me.
Pamela

Prayer

Pray for me Monday is coming back and I am thrilled. For several weeks I have gone back to Home Grown Families looking forward to pray for me Monday. I love that there is a place to join together to pray for one another.
This is what I wrote for her blog: I was recently contacted by Tiffany about starting pray for me Monday again. I was thrilled. It was the one time of the week I felt like I was more open with my blog readers.
Prayer is powerful. I feel we too often forget to go to our knees in our time of need. Please know I do not feel you have to literally hit your knees. But if you have not before then try it. I think it brings you to a different place. I am less distracted when I am on my knees. If my children walk in and see me on my knees there is no guessing what I am doing.
Acts 6:4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word
I am very cautious to not tell someone that I will pray for them unless I mean it. So if I say I will pray then I will pray. Too many times in my life I have only been able to breathe because I know that others are on their knees for me when I cannot be. While most people have a hard time praying during the good times and find it easier when things are bad, I am the opposite. When my daughter was sick, when I thought my son would never be the same, when my husband was deployed and I made the mistake of watching the news I could not bring myself to pray. I did not know how, I did not know what to say. But I knew that there was a group of people praying for me.
So what does this have to do with Pray for me Monday? We want PFMM (Pray for me Monday) to be away of really praying for one another. A way for us to keep up with your prayer request. Our goal is to have a contact form but for now I ask you to link up and leave a comment. I would love it if you not only link up your prayer request but you keep us updated on them so that we will know how to pray. 1 Thes. 5:17 pray without ceasing
let’s start with what is prayer. Wikipedia says Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to God or spirit through deliberate practice.
That is exactly it. Prayer does not come naturally to everyone. I remember setting in a counseling session one day and struggling with praying. The counselor finally stopped and set a chair on top of the table and said “okay imagine God is setting in that chair and talk to him”. It changed my way of thinking. I no longer thought of it as a chore or as something formal. But as something peaceful, something I looked forward to. You know when you talk to that friend you have not talked to in weeks. It is that feeling.
I encourage you to head over to Home Grown Families and let’s encourage one another.
Pamela