It’s Prayer Vigil Friday! 11/04/2011

Therefore encourage one another and edify one another, just as you are doing. ~1 Thessalonians 5:11

Welcome to Prayer Vigil Friday!

I’ve spent some time reading through blog posts, status updates, tweets and messages trying to catch up with everyone’s lives over the past two months.

A virtual baby shower. Physical and mental breaks from trying to conceive. Scared feelings the night before an egg retrieval. Counting down days and then hours and then minutes to hear a baby’s first heartbeat. Desperation nearing the end of a two week wait. Cautious excitement over beta numbers. A meeting with a birth mom. Frustration giving way to obsession.

One of the most amazing qualities this wonderful community of women shares is the ability to not only use our own pain and experiences to reach out to each other, but to look past our own fears and doubts to lift up and support others. It’s through this strength that we are able to find peace. It’s through these relationships that we are able to express sheer joy for the blessings of some, and deepest hurt for the pain of others.

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. ~ Galatians 6:2

Dear Lord, Help us to process everything we face in life through the filter of Your love. Thank you for the support and encouragement you provide through the boundless blessings of friendship and love that have created bonds across seas. It’s often so difficult to understand the circumstances that we face, and why it is that so many of us face such difficulties in something that should be so natural. We often become consumed with trying to figure things out rather than looking for Your perspective and trusting You. Help us remember to always reach out, to never be afraid to voice our fears, to always know that someone will be there to listen and to pray. And help us to remember the incredible healing that comes with being that support for others even when our own burdens seem so heavy.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:12-13

For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ ~ Jeremiah 29:11

Please pray for the women who are coming out of their two week wait with devastation. Pray for all of those whose hearts fell to the bathroom floor when their pregnancy test resulted in a negative, or when they received that phone call from their doctor giving them the bad news. It’s so hard on one’s heart to go through month after month of your heart stopping the moment you hold your breath to pick up that pregnancy test on the counter, to your world ending at the sight of the negative result. But it’s the dream of kissing baby toes and washing sippy cups that pick us up off the floor and give us hope for the next month.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. ~ Psalm 34:18

But I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more. ~Psalm 71: 14

Please pray for all women who are pregnant after overcoming infertility. The fears do not go away with a positive pregnancy test. If anything, the paranoia only grows as every day they wake up with a prayer of thanks and a desperate plea. Pray that their bodies remain strong, and that God will place His hands on their shoulders and their bellies to keep them safe, and calm their fears.

Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my body too shall rest and confidently dwell in safety. ~Psalm 16: 9

May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing with hope. ~Romans 15: 13

Put some time aside today, even if it’s a few minutes or 20 minutes. Close the door, close your eyes, dim the lights, light a candle, whatever you need to do to focus and spend some prayerful time with God. Pray for women you know, pray for women you don’t know. Then take some time and pray for yourself. Spend some time reflecting over the past week, over any frustrations you’ve had, whatever you’ve been putting off talking over with God. Get angry if you need to. Cry if you need to. Smile and give thanks if you need to!

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.~ 2 Thessalonians 3:16

This scripture truly is what Prayer Vigil Friday is all about:

“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” ~Matthew 18:19-20

Let’s join in one big prayer all day today!