Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s Prayers for the Week post. Today I’m sharing with you a picture of beautiful Ryan, who, despite all of the tribulations he has been going through in his short life, still knows what it is like to Rejoice. I titled this post Ryan’s Joy in honor of him. Here he is smiling at some of his family. My friends, that one picture alone is a sermon, but you know me — I’m going to add a little to it. I think this Bible Verse sums it up perfectly, as I think this is what Ryan is doing in this picture:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Those words come to us from the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians. When I saw that picture, what I saw was Ryan smiling at his family, but also smiling knowing that God is watching over him. The children are so knowing, even at just over 4 months — Ryan knows he has God on his side!
My friends, looking at Ryan in that picture convicts me of all the times when I could be more Joyous than I am. My prayer is that I will learn to love God more than ever, and be Joyous in all circumstances, good or bad.
Now, please read and pray for our prayer requests and praises, and thanks!
Prayer Requests and Praises…
- My friend Kelly is having surgery — I don’t know the details of when, where, and how serious — but what I do know is that the surgery and recovery timetable is significant enough that it will force her to have to change her plans for her next Disney trip in June. Please pray for Kelly, for her successful surgery, for a great recovery, and for her light at the end of the tunnel being the day she steps through that tunnel into Town Square in the Magic Kingdom. God knows all the details, and will take it from there. Thanks everyone!
- My friend Shannan asked for some prayer requests. Here is what she wrote:I’m having hip surgery this week and will be on crutches for 4 weeks and in therapy for 10. My childhood friends Jerry M. He just got diagnosed with an aggressive cancer (3rd time since childhood leukemia). He will be having a major surgery in April to remove his lymph nodes. He moved to Memphis after graduation to work at St. Jude as he wouldn’t be here today without them. He still works there. This doesn’t sound good but I know all things are possible through prayer.Please pray with me for them:
“Heavenly Father, we know that with You all things are possible, and tonight, we share with you the health concerns of your children Shannan and Jerry. Please cloak them with your healing touch, and guide their doctors as they do what is needed to heal them of their illnesses. Please grant them Your Peace, Comfort, and Strength — both for them and for their families and friends as well. We ask these things in the name of Your beautiful Son Jesus with Thanksgiving. Amen.”
- A prayer request as seen on my Twitter feed:Pray for those who are struggling against the demons of addiction, temptation, and depression. The devil takes these forms daily!
- My friend Kourtney left me an update on her nephew Ryan that I’m sharing with you. Prayers are continued to be needed for that little guy, here is what she wrote me:Ryan got to go home for a couple of days at the end of January. Unfortunately, he went into respiratory distress and had to be airlifted back to Children’s Hospital. He still has his trach and NG tube so they’re not sure what the problem is. They decided to keep him until his next surgery (originally scheduled for March 6th) just in case there were any more problems.
On Friday they decided that maybe he’s outgrown his shunt and that could be what’s wrong. He’ll be going in to the cath lab today with the assumption that he will have his 3rd open heart surgery tomorrow. The plan is a 3-4 week recovery time after this surgery and then home (hopefully without any machines)! However, we’ve learned that Ryan has his own plan and all we can do is hold our breath and wait.
This poor little guy has been in the hospital since the day he was born at the end of September. All we want is for him to be home with his parents and brother.
thank you again for your support and prayers and please be thinking of him tomorrow as he undergoes his 3rd open heart surgery!
Please pray with me:
Heavenly Father, the wonder and beauty of Ryan’s delightful smile shows us that You are keeping him close to You. Despite his struggles, still he is able to find joy in his life. Father, we know that You have Ryan and his family’s best interests in mind, and that Your Will will be done for Ryan. Please continue to shower him with Your love, keep healing him as we know You are, and keep close to his family as they struggle to keep strong in the face of everything that is going on. Please have your Peace descend upon Ryan, his family, and all of his many followers, and guide the skillful hands of Ryan’s surgical team during this latest trial for him. Ryan is a miracle baby, and every trial that he faces is one more miracle that You, Father, grant for him. We love you, and ask these things in the name of Your Son Jesus, the wonderful Healer, with Thanksgiving, today and every day. Amen!
- My friend Tabitha has a prayer request. Here is what she wrote on Facebook:OK, I have a client that I have been helping that has cancer and now she needs prayers more than ever! She had a cruise scheduled for next month but I just got an e-mail from a friend of hers that she is in the hospital having trouble breathing with water on her brain. Please pray for her and her 17 year old daughter and her parents. I so wanted to make this a special trip for her!
Please pray for her client, for her health, her family, her Peace, her comfort, her strength, and that for her family as well. Thank you everyone for praying!
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Tabitha has an update on her client. Unfortunately, it is not looking good. Here is what she wrote:
Update on my client. I talked to her dad and he said she is in bad shape and he doesn’t think she will make it out of the hospital.
My comment to Tabitha was this:
I’m sorry Tabitha — I’m praying for her salvation as well as for God’s Healing touch to come to her and her family. It is an absolutely terrible thing to go through. Please tell her Dad that there are people all over the world praying for his little girl and all of them. Thanks my friend, if you need anything at all please hit me up.
Please pray for her salvation as well as for her healing, and please pray prayers of Peace, Comfort, and Strength for her and all of her family. We know that it is in God’s Hands and that He will do for her and her family what is best for them, but please keep the prayers coming. Thanks everyone. - My friend Chelsea would like prayers lifted up for her cousin. She requested these a while back, but we’re going to refresh the request now too. Here is what she wrote me:Also a few months ago I asked for prayer for my cousin who tore her ACL two weeks before her wedding… Not sure if you remember but just wanted to thank you again for praying… Her ACL is slowly healing… But her fiancé called the wedding off 10 days before the wedding…. She was crushed but is slowly healing.
Please pray for Chelsea’s cousin — for her physical as well as her emotional healing. While we don’t know why this happened to her, we can certainly understand how hard it is for her. Please lift her up with prayers of love, Peace, comfort, and strength for all of her ailments, and help her to know that God is with her, always. Remind her of Jeremiah 29:11, in which the Lord tells us:
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.
Thank you everyone for your prayers!
- Continued prayers for my friend Chelsea’s cousin — she’s experiencing complications from her ACL surgery, so please send up healing prayers for her. Thanks everyone!
- Prayers for my friend Heidi, who is about to go under some arm surgery today. Here is what she wrote:I have to be at the surgery center at 11:15 this morning. I think I better go wake Ashley to run an intervention for me. I keep wanting to get up and make my morning coffee (but I’m not allowed to eat or drink). Please pray that this “Manipulation Under Anesthesia” is finally the first step in getting this arm healed!
Thanks everyone!
- Please pray for my niece Stephanie, who is going through some serious health concerns and needs to have surgery. God knows all the details, so please pray for healing for Stephanie.
- Praise goes to God for my Dad’s successful procedure on Wednesday! Thank you God for seeing Dad through that safely!
My friends, I hope that you are as blessed when reading these posts as I am when I write them. Please please please add your prayers and praises to our list so that our post can grow exponentially! God is great, and He is hearing all of these prayers lifted up by us! Now, to close, let’s recite the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father, who Art in Heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom Come, thy Will be done,
On earth, as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our Daily Bread,
and forgive us our Trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the Kingdom, and Power, and Glory,
Forever and Ever, Amen.
My friend Stephanie asks for prayers for her husband’s Grandfather. Here is what she wrote:
Please keep my husband’s grandfather in your prayers. He has been in the hospital all week…failing kidneys among several other things. It wasn’t unexpected, but still hard! He actually told us at Christmas that it would be his last and that he is ready to be called Home. We all have comfort knowing that he is at peace and that his beloved wife, Gran Gran, will be waiting for him when the time comes.
Please pray for his Peace, Comfort, Healing, and Strength, and also that for all of his family. He is ready to come home, so please pray for him. It is, of course, God’s Will, and if God thinks there is more for him to do here on earth, please put him in the path of those he needs to help so that he may share and bring others to know our Lord. Thank you!
My friend Laura has some heavy prayer requests. Her friend Shirley, who she considers an Aunt because of how close they are, is having an emergency mammogram 2/26. Please pray for a good result from this test. Also, Laura’s Father-in-Law George has cancer in multiple locations, including his lungs, liver, and back, and is unable to walk. Please pray with me:
Heavenly Father, we ask that You lift up Shirley and George. They are going through some really serious issues, and we ask that You please give your Healing touch to them, and skillfully guide the hands of the medical team that is looking after them. Lord, we know that You know their hearts, and we pray that they know You and Your Son Jesus, that they turn to you with their worries and concern, and that they talk to You daily. Lord, please grant Your Peace, Comfort, and Strength to Shirley and George and all of their families so that they may face these tribulations in their lives the best way they can. Lord, if it is Your Will, please heal them of their medical issues so that they might be a Miraculous Blessing to all of how wonderful You are. We ask these things in the name of Your Son Jesus with Thanksgiving. Amen!
Please pray for a friend of mine. They are trying to adopt a child, and have run into a complication because of a situation that happened with a different adoption of someone else. Unfortunately, a little boy who was adopted came to harm. It’s sad that, no matter how much background you put into a case, there are no guarantees. Unfortunately, because of this separate case, it has caused doubt to be raised on so many other adoption cases, and that has caused stress on many families and children. Please pray with me:
“Heavenly Father, we grieve for the little boy who was harmed by his adopted father. We can not understand why things like this happen, and I’m not sure that we are expected to know. What we do know, though, is that a lot of other families who are trying to adopt a child are now at risk of not being able to do so, and because of that, we turn to You, Lord. We pray for the salvation of that little boy who we know is now with You. We also pray for all of the other families that are under stress because of this isolated incident, and we pray that You would see them all through these times. Please have Your Peace, Comfort, and Strength descend upon them and the children that they are looking to adopt. Please remind these families that we are all Children of God, and to remember to put You first. Please remind them to have Faith in Your ways, and that, in the end, it will all be okay. We ask these things in the name of Your Son Jesus, who paid the ultimate price for our sins. Amen.”
Even as we were praying this prayer regarding my friend and their pending adoption, they received word that the final approval process was done and that they would be able to adopt the newest member of their family. Please praise God for this miracle, and lift up the entire family in prayer so that they would appreciate every day all of the incredible blessings that God has bestowed upon them. Thank you everyone!
My friends, I ask for prayers for the nephew of my friend Beth. We have been praying for Dustin and his healing over the past several months, and today I learned that it likely won’t be long before Dustin is called home to Heaven. My prayers this day are for Dustin’s family, who are heartbroken, obviously, and for God to shower them with His love and to hold them tight in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. Dustin is not quite four, and his older brother, who will be seven on Saturday, is devastated. Please shower them all with your love, kindness, prayers, and whatever else they might need to get through. Heavenly Father, we ask for you to grant Your Peace, Comfort, and Strength upon Beth’s family, as they deal with this difficult journey. Remind them in Your Loving way that You are there for them, and carry them throughout this with the love and compassion that You have for them. We ask these things in the name of Your Son Jesus, who died for us, with Thanksgiving. Amen!
I have an anonymous prayer request for all couples that are trying to have a baby. In particular, I have one friend that has tried, and had a miscarriage early in one pregnancy. Please lift up her and her husband in prayer as they strive to start their family. Please pray with me:
“Heavenly Father, Your Son is such a part of our lives, and we give thanks to You for Jesus. There are many people in this world that are having difficulty in bringing a child into the world, and today, we turn to You for help in their situations. Please be with them, and if it is Your Will, please nurture them and, at the right time, grant them the gift that they long for — a child of their own. Lord, we know that it isn’t in our timetable, it is in Your timetable that this will occur, so please, also grant them Your Peace and Patience so that they will not worry over it, but just submit to Your Will concerning this in their lives. Be with them, Lord, and if You see fit to grant them a child, remind them to raise their child to be a testimony to Your own Son, Jesus. It is in His glorious name that we pray with Thanksgiving. Amen.”
One of my closest Disney friends is Amanda. Amanda is a lady of many different layers, but her primary layer (outside of the Mom, Wife, etc. layer) is that she is a teacher. Please pray for two of her students that are in the midst of cancer treatments right now. I don’t know what is causing all of this cancer, but I’m sick of it! God, I’m sorry, but please take care of all of this.
Amanda’s students’ names are Patrick and Madalyn. Please lift them up to the Lord as we pray together:
“Heavenly Father, we are staring at cancer once again, this time in the bodies of two teenage students, Patrick and Madalyn. Cancer has proven time and time again that it will strike anyone, of any age, at any time, and Lord, this week has been hard enough that I’m truly leaning on You more than I normally do. I’m weary, Lord, weary of all of these babies facing such tribulations. I know that You have our best interests at heart, and I know that You are looking after all of us, so Lord, please look after Patrick and Madalyn, Stephanie, Dustin, Baby Ryan, and everyone else that is ailing. Lord, please provide healing for all of these children, so that they might know You better. I ask this in the name of Your Son Jesus, who told us in John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” — Lord, help us through this trouble, these trials, these tribulations, and Lord, see us to Paradise in our appointed time with the grace of You shining from us. It is in Jesus’ name that I pray. Amen”