Praying for strangers

I am amazed at the blogging world. In a moment you come across a blog, a story, a prayer request and you feel instantly connected to them and they have no idea that you even exist. I have been blessed to pray for so many strangers through facebook, twitter and blogging. I consider it pure joy to pray for others and even more joy that sometimes I get to see the fruits of those prayers because of the internet. Here are a few blogs that I have been following and praying for, some for awhile and some just recently.

Kellys Korner Blog- Kelly's little girl Harper was born two years ago. She was born they thought without complications and then within minutes things turned for the worse. Harper is now healthy and expecting to be a big sister very soon.

Our Journey to Love- Adrienne has three adopted children and after many losses finally became pregnant with Bennett. He was born very early and has had quite a struggle but is now days away from heading home to be with his family. The strength of this family and their faith in God is definitely worth checking out.

Little Did I Know- I just started following this blog this past week and the story of the how the blogging world spread word so that this boy named Davids from Latvia could be adopted here in the US is amazing.

I know social media has it's drawbacks and can be all consuming, even become an idol. I however feel like it can also be such a blessing. I am grateful that I see God's handiwork all around me, including in the interesting world of the internet.

So Sad

This past week we enjoyed a wonderful spring break in Sanibel with my husbands extended family. I am going to include some pictures in an upcoming post but my heart is heavy with how our vacation ended. We unfortunately witnessed the aftermath of a near drowning at the pool at our condo. I can not describe the images that my husband and I saw/felt that Wed evening. According to the surveillance cameras at the condo the little boy was holding onto a beach ball and slipped off the ball and into the water where he sank under. We have no idea how long he was under but he was discovered by a brave boy. There are so many questions regarding how this could happen but they really don't matter now. This six year old boy is now brain dead and to be taken off life support soon. I feel so deeply for this family. I wish I knew their names so I could let them know how much we have been praying for them during these difficult days.

It hits so close to home as I have a 5 and 7 year old. Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers, pray that they feel God's presence during this time. I also continue to pray for a miracle, one that we know God(not medicine) can only provide. I pray that if they are believers that they will draw closer to God and closer to each other, may these circumstance not be a wedge between them. I pray that they have the comfort and support of loved ones and friends who will share God's love with them. If they do not know Christ I pray that he will be revealed to them thru this. I pray that people do not judge them, we all make mistakes and they will be dealing with enough pain/loss without the added burden of condemnation by others.

We did have a wonderful vacation and I want to post about that but as I learned last evening of this little boys fate I felt the need to send out this prayer request first. Hug your kids tonight even tighter then before, they are a treasure to behold each day.

Infomercials

Well I am bored and in pain so what else to do at 4 am but watch the infomercials. So as I sit here and flip through 70 channels and still find nothing suitable to watch I thought I would enlighten those who actually sleep through the informercials on what you are missing. My most tempting purchase so far is the Instyler, a flat iron that is round and spins. It leaves your hair silky and straight in just minutes no matter how curly your hair. This infomercial is currently on three different channels so I am sure not to miss all the fab details it has to offer.

Another fun infomercial is P90X. Who wouldn't want to spend 90 minutes a day for 90 days working their butt off and not eating anything fun in order to get abs of steel. The whole concept behind it is muscle confusion, but imagine the confusion when after the 90 days you go back to reality and the lbs come back. I love the personal stories but this is way too big a commitment for me right now.

Also fun to watch is the makeup commericial for Sheer cover with Leeza Gibbons. She has some good celebrity advertisement and I am suprised that I haven't seen it on tonight because it is usually on multiple channels as well. Oh well, Luminess Air is on and it is fun to watch women air brush their face. I wonder how it covers so well on your face but somehow doesn't get in your eyes or on your clothes. I am waiting to see how many people get elbow tendonitis from applying it though, all that repetive circular motion can't be good.

Last is the cricut machine. I am not crafty but watching this commercial about the die cut machine makes me think this machine can change that. Who wouldn't want to etch their own glass vase, make their own quilt, vinyl letters or gift boxes. My problem is that the fun for me would lie in watching the machine cut things out and then would end when I would have to do something to complete the project.

So there you go, just a snippet of what you are missing. I have been tempted many times to purchase some of these products because when you are tired, in pain and have seen something a million times it does look good. The only thing I recall actually purchasing was the Murad skin care line. I tried it for 30 days and it was okay but very expensive so I ended up cancelling it.

Now while I am frustrated with being up again and having stomach pain again I find comfort in knowing that is does go away. I feel tonight for all those struggling with daily pain, sadness or discomfort. I know there are so many who struggle with chronic illness and even life threatening diseases. I feel tonight for a college student at our church who works with my kids and who lies in the hospital with unexplainable pain and liver issues. Lord please comfort her and bring her healing. Give the doctors wisdom to cure her and give her family the support and answers they so desire. Thank you for loving me and my family and may we honor you this week in all that we say and do.

I'm still here

Just got back from a wonderful trip to Sanibel Island with the inlaws, aunt and cousins. It was a blast and will post pictures soon. Have some funny stories as well. Just wanted to encourage people to pray for Stellan and visit his mommy's blog for the full scoop, just click on the button to the left. His mom has a great blog and Stellan has been through alot in less than a year. Pray for his heart rate to stabilize and for his mommy to get some much needed comfort, advice and rest.

Need another miracle

Please pray for Kelly and her newborn daughter Harper. I only just recently heard of Kelly through the blogging world but have been following her story at her blog. She gave birth tonight to Harper and things are not going well. Please pray for complete healing for Harper. Please click on the praying for Harper button to learn more about her story. Thanks

GOD Rocks!!!

I have posted before on how God has been faithful in answering many prayer requests that I or my kids have presented to him this year. This latest prayer request had an answer that left my church homegroup stunned and in further awe of our great creator. A lovely woman in my small group had told us several weeks ago that her neice's son who is 14 attempted to commit suicide. He was devasted that his girlfriend told him that she no longer loved him and thought that death would be easier than overcoming that rejection. He was in full arrest for over 20 minutes, able to be revived but with a poor prognosis, he would be a vegetable for the rest of his life.
After a few weeks of little progress the boy's father said he heard from God that he would heal his son and he would be healthy again. Our friend struggled with how to take this information, does she believe as well that it will happen or does she try to soften the blow of disappointment and tell him that it might not be in God's plan to heal him. So we prayed that night that our friend might hear from God herself his plan for this boy so she might know the best way to support the father. About a 1/2 hour after our home group ended we got an email from our friend stating that someone had emailed the family who was in a coma for 2 years and had come out of it and is now in full recovery, this gave us HOPE. Then three days letter we got the email that the young boy was now out of the coma and starting to respond to sound, light etc. He is now making small progress with tiny hand movements but how amazing is our God. I pray for this young man's physical and emotional healing as well as that of his family.
How easy it is for us to hear a story about someone's "hearing from God" and think, did they really hear from God, or are they just clinging to hope that God is saying what they really want to hear. I learned a valuable lesson through all this, don't let my doubt at times stiffle the faith of someone else. God allows us to doubt but he wants us to first take it to him in prayer. I am so grateful that our homegroup took the time to pray that night for God's clear response in this matter, that he answered so quickly and so powerfully. May God be given all the glory and praise.

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them" Matthew 18:20

"Dear Friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and recieve from him any thing we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him" 1 John 3:21-22