Let Us Pray!

The Women's Ministry KNOWS the value of prayer! Everything we do is absolutely covered in prayer. And, as strange as it may sound, we have been praying about . . . praying. We wholeheartedly believe that nothing in our ministry can be accomplished without prayer. For some time, we have struggled with a way to begin and continue a prayer ministry/prayer team. This effort is being spearheaded by Martha Johnson who has set up a meeting for Sunday, August 2nd, at 4:30 p.m. in Room 150. This will be a planning meeting for the prayer team. Guidelines and procedures are needed, and this will be a time to do this. If you feel like God is tugging at you to become more actively involved in prayer (or the Women's Ministry!), perhaps this is a meeting that you need to attend.

Years ago, when I was in youth choir, we learned a song that is actually one of my favorite prayers. It is by St. Francis of Assisi. As a youth, Francis became a troubadour and longed to become a writer of French poetry, not at all deterred by the fact that he was Italian. God had other plans, and Francis ended up founding the Franciscans while still in his twenties. The prayer goes like this:

"Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

We can learn a lot from St. Francis.

James 5:16 says, "...The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." It is the prayer of the Women's Ministry to be truly powerful and effective for God.