Olbrich Botanical Garden
Madison WI

My prayer list started over thirty years ago, when the United Methodist Clergy in my state were asked to make a list of twenty names of colleagues and pray for them. That became my Sunday morning prayer list. Many names have come and gone through the years. Some have joined the “great cloud of witnesses”** the author of the book of Hebrews speaks of. Others have been added along the way. A few have been on that Sunday morning list, since it was created.

I was thinking one day how the people on my  list have no idea they are being prayed for by me. Then I started to think about the people who prayed me through the crisis times in my life. When my two youngest children were hospitalized in their infancy, I turned to our prayer chain at the church. Later, I asked specific people to pray for me during times of difficulty.

At each church I served, I would mention in a newsletter article, how I coveted the prayers of the community of faith. Months or years later, I would make a hospital call, and find the person I was calling on mention, she or he was praying for me. When a need in a church arose that I could not share with the church, I would go to the Upper Room Living Prayer Center and make a request there.  I will never know the people who took the time to pray for those needs. Today I continue to count on the prayers of others, as my family  is going through difficult times.

I suspect  on that great day of reunion in heaven, when we all gather together . . . We will be surprised by those who  were  praying for us during the various seasons of our lives. I also suspect, we will be humbled by the prayers of people we found no time for. We will be surprised by the concern of some we had no perception cared about us, and find joy in the loving prayers of good friends. 

Today, I give thanks for those who have prayed me through many a crisis and shared their love, through their prayers. 

*A version of this post was previously published on January 30, 2016 as “Sustained by The Prayers of Friends”

**The writer of the Book of Hebrews, after giving examples of people of faith recorded in the scriptures writes, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2