PRAYER - More about - Thanks - Award

WOW!!!!!

I don't know about the rest of you......but I have been so blessed by the wonderful, in-depth discussion and thought that we, as The Body of Christ, are having about prayer and the aspects that relate to it. None of us have the entire picture, or answers, but put us together and the Holy Spirit moves and fills in a lot of understanding. One of my favorite scriptures is:

"Iron sharpeneth iron;

so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend."

Proverbs 27:17 KJV

&

"You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another."

The Message

and that is what I experience here from all of you. God has used each of you to sharpen me!!!

There are a couple of additional thoughts I have. We need to be very careful in requesting prayer that it does not turn into a form of gossip passing. For instance: "Mary needs your prayer because her husband is having an affair." If Mary feels close enough to you to share that kind of hurt and burden, then that is her option but it should not be passed on to another mutual friend, or acquaintance. Instead you could say, "Please remember Mary in your prayer as she is going through a difficult time". Even standing up in Church and saying something like, "Please pray that my husband will start coming to church with me." turns into a disparaging word against your husband.

I'm probably going to touch a tender spot here, but another thing I am personally against in praying for the sick is using the phrase "If it be your will please heal Mary." God is the healer........it is always God's will that we be healed. Satan is the one that comes to kill, steal and destroy not our God and Christ paid for our healing, as well as our sins, on the cross at Calvary.

We are ALL called to pray and to carry one anothers burdens. A prayer can be as simple as saying, "Jesus!" Some people have a special gifting in the area of prayer, just as some people have a gifting for teaching, or hospitality, etc. Some people are called out as intersessor's for their particular church, or their city, or their nation, or a particular mission area but we are ALL called to pray.

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Now a special thank you to Heather. Heather has a monthly give away here for a Home Interiors Candle each month. My name was drawn several months ago. Heather contacted me later to see if my candle had arrived and it had not. Apparently it had been lost or destroyed in the mail. I totally forgot about it. Monday I had a package arrive in the mail. I did not even recognize the name on the return address and I thought, "What is this?". Well, Heather had not forgotten and sent me not only 1 but 2 candles!!!! Thank you very much Heather. I will enjoy them.

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Last, but certainly not least, I have just been passed this Blogging With A Purpose award from a new blog friend, Tiffany of Southern Sass.

This award was created by Eric Novak at Blogging with a Purpose. Here’s how it works:Awarded parties must nominate five people who have not received the award.The blogs that receive the award must serve some purpose.In their post about the award they need to link back to this entry.Awarded parties must post the award banner on their site. The banner must remain linked to the above linked site.

These are Tiffany's remarks in passing this Award to me:

I am happy to finally have the opportunity to share something with Susan @ Penless Writer. She is truly an inspiration and a portrait of a Titus 2 woman. She is honest and forthcoming about her love for Jesus and her desire to know Him more. I admire her commitment to her marriage and her family and how she fervently prays for them without ceasing.

I am very honored to receive this award. I truly want the purpose of my blog to be to lift up the name of Jesus and tell of His wonderous works and ways and how wonderful He has been to me.

The five I pass this award on to are:

Aimee of Adopted As His Own. Just go to Aimee's blog and look at the beautiful picture of their family as her header and you will see why I have selected her. She is not only mother to EIGHT beautiful children but even creates beautiful patterns for childrens clothing on her SewSensible site. Aimee your entire life has a purpose and I am honored to know you.

Jennifer of Double Nickle Farm. Jennifer and her husband and children have just recently purchased a place in Southern New Mexico and the purpose of this blog is taking us step-by-step in the process of their learning to live a much more self-sufficient and self-sustaining life style. Something we can all gain from and learn from. Jennifer is truly a "can do" person.

Heather of Especially Heather. Heather does not even "know" me. I have only left her a few comments over the months I have been reading her blog. But read her blog I do!!!!! Heather's blog is about her journey with Brain Cancer. This young wife, mother and woman has such faith and courage and honesty that I marvel every time I read her. Many times I am reading through tears as I cannot begin to imagine going through what she is with such grace and charm. Your blog certainly qualifies as A Blog With A Purpose.

Rita of Jungle Hut. Rita is another of my must reads. She is a missionary wife and mother, although they are currently in the U.S. preparing and raising support for their next assignment. Rita's purpose in this blog is to keep us updated and informed about the doings of dictator Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. I am thankful for her doing so because we sure don't get this information on the nightly news.

Last, but believe you me not least, is Ginger of Just A Thought. Ginger is truly one of my dearest blog friends. BUT, not just mine she is a dear friend of many of us because she is such a kind, gentle, carrying, sweet friend and she loves Jesus with all her heart. Every post of Ginger's points us to Jesus........even in the difficult times and issues. I know you don't particularly like getting these Ginger but I just could not NOT name you.

As I have said in times past.........I take both the receiving of these Blog Awards and the passing them along VERY seriously. What we say, and how we say it, here in this public domain of Blogland is very important. There are MANY of you who bless me and you all know who you are because I comment on your posts. It is very hard to limit this to only 5 and pick only 5 but as always I do follow the rules.