I just got off the phone with an old friend. She’s dealing with something that is common for a lot of women—loneliness. Add to that an unhappy marriage, and living in a big house that’s dwindling one by one as the kids leave home. That’s a tough place to be.

We talked about having friends to pray with, about the support that kind of camaraderie brings. Feeds our inner core, I’d say.

And we discussed how important it is for us to grow individually, as women, whether or not others—in this case, a husband—grow with us. To not have the freedom to grow, to wither under an oppressive hand, makes us die inside. That’s abuse, and that’s just plain wrong!

I love my friend, and I want to see her joy return, her life resume.

I don’t have all the answers about how to plow through a difficult marriage, or how to raise step kids in a strained partnership, or how to find kindred spirit friends to support us through it all, but I do know one thing: Prayer is God’s idea. I believe he will lead us to friends to pray with if we earnestly seek him and actively pursue prayer relationships. 

And when we persevere in prayer with faithful and encouraging friends, we grow in hope and faith. And the more we pray, the more we experience God’s action in our lives, and we grow stronger inside. Those dynamics create incredibly powerful and influential women!

Before we ended our phone call across the miles, my friend and I prayed together, and hope was sparked. For connecting…caring…and creating. My friend, my Prayer Sister, I love you.

Today I’m having kind of a hard time praying. My prayer warrior persona is feeling a little wimpy. Not because I don’t believe prayer is important, and not because I don’t believe God can answer. It’s just because I’m in a tough season of life, and okay, I’ll just say it—I’m battle weary. There have been days I’ve prayed like a banshee. Today isn’t one of those times.

And a thought occurred to me. God is powerful and mysterious and above our human ability, so I doubt he’s bound by our human perception of linear time. Does God hear our prayers all at once? Does he hear them instantly and once they pass his ears he is no longer aware of them? Or… could he hear them more than once, maybe when they are most needed?

So, the other day I asked God this crazy question:

“God, can you please listen to my prayers that I prayed a couple years ago? You know, when I was doing really well? When my prayers were diligent and full of faith and renewed energy? Because, God, quite honestly… I don’t have the strength to pray that way right now, so… how about just re-listening to my prayers from September 8, 2009, okay? As I recall, those were pretty good prayers. Thanks for understanding.”

It gave me peace, and I thanked God for his forbearance in life’s shifting seasons, overwhelming as they can be.

Now, this idea of God  listening to my old reruns, those  already voiced prayers from a more zealous season, may not be theologically sound, and my more thorough Bible-study friends may challenge me to do an in-depth study to be sure I’m not wacked out on this. But you know what?  I’m too maxed out right now to do the dadgum study. So, instead, I’m going to place my trust in the daily mercy of a loving God, and ask him to be patient with me. And to listen to my prayers I’ve already prayed while I rest in him and regain the strength to pray new ones.

“Seems everyone has their hand out these days,” one of my friends said recently. We were talking at the time about whether or not to start fundraising for Prayer Sisters.
“Hm…” I pondered. She was right, and to be honest with you, my stomach lurched at the idea of asking for money to promote Prayer Sisters, even though it’s a fabulous ministry. Why did I feel that way? Time for some serious soul searching.
One evening while I was struggling with what to do about all the demands at PSI, my then 21-year-old daughter Kaelin said, “It sure seems like a lot of hullabaloo for a simple idea. You all are treating this like a business when it’s not one. It’s just a really good idea.” She’s a wise old woman, that young gal. She suggested we simplify our way of doing things. Instead of making women sign up and order materials from our online store, she suggested we make everything downloadable and free.  “You like to give everything away anyway, Ma.” Yeah, well that’s true. I’d much rather give the books to people instead of asking them to buy them. Years ago one of my Board members said, “Kathy, you can’t keep giving everything away!” We wouldn’t survive. Or would we???
More soul searching. Lots of praying. A few tears… Gradually came peaceful relief. Kaelin was right. We needed to go the “No hullabaloo” route and simplify.
I am SO excited about the changes we’re making at Prayer Sisters. Now ANY woman who wants to be a Prayer Sister can simply go to our website, download and print out whatever materials she wants, call a few friends together, and go for it. Simple. No hassle. And no money and not a lot of time required. How great is that?
We’re still here to answer questions and provide guidance if you need us. I’ll keep blogging (I hope you’ll keep reading!). And we’ll be sharing tips and updates on Facebook, but honestly, it’s a simple idea. Gather a few friends who want to pray, commit to a time, and do it. You can use our materials or not, whatever you want. Just pray! That’s what we’re all about.
So, the other day Kaelin and I were walking out of Walmart and a lady was sitting there asking for money for some notable charity, and my daughter and I just looked at each other and smiled. Yep, everyone has their hand out these days, but it doesn’t cost a cent to pray.

Marli Spieker and Project Hannah in Africa

I grew up in a small Montana town, the youngest of seven siblings… and the only girl. Yes, I’m a little spoiled and, I’m not proud to say, at times rather self-centered. It’s caused me to oftentimes assess life through a narrow view. “Is everybody in my little circle fine? Family, friends? Okay, life is good.”

But God is opening my eyes. And my heart. Recently I signed up to help Project Hannah, a ministry that reaches out to hurting women around the world. They do most of their work through prayer.

Each month Project Hannah distributes a calendar to 109 countries in 58 languages with a specific focus, either a geographical region or a serious issue that threatens women. Every day of the year, all around the planet, people pray the same prayer request—we pray for victims of sex trafficking, women in Russia and Ukraine, Asia and West Africa, and for women whose lives have been ravaged by war. That’s powerful!

Honestly, I feel a tingle of excitement as I pick up my calendar in the morning, just thinking about the numerous people praying that same prayer all around the world. 

And an awareness is waking up within me—the realization that my seemingly small prayers from a windy hilltop in Colorado are joining forces with thousands others, and that from my comfortable home I can affect a change in the lives of suffering women around the world.

This is a movement that is way beyond my little circle, and I’m honored to be a part of it.

Prayer Sisters, together we CAN change the world. One prayer at a time… Will you please join me?

When our daughter Kaelin scheduled her flights to China for a study abroad program with CU, we all told her it was worth the extra money to fly straight through from Denver to San Francisco rather than adding an extra leg to Los Angeles, but she is a poor college student and chose the cheapest fare. Sure enough, bad weather delayed her flight in Los Angeles, causing her to miss the flight to Shanghai.

Fortunately she wasn’t the only one; four other China-bound students from her tour were in the same predicament, stuck in San Francisco, hoping to make the next day’s flight to Shanghai. We tried to Priceline a hotel room for them but due to the volume of stranded travelers the closest hotel available was 27 miles away from the airport, a hefty taxi fare for college kids with limited funds. So they stayed in the airport all night.

Then Kaelin’s Celiac’s Disease acted up and she got sick. Miserable night, poor thing.

Early this morning on the phone she was in tears, telling me she was considering flying back home, canceling the trip and dropping the summer course (which, incidentally, is the equivalent of six credit hours). I knew that for her to make that drastic of a choice she was really not doing well. And I got mad.

Not at Kaelin, mind you, but at the enemy! You see, yesterday morning as I drove her to the airport, I prayed for her. That God would protect her, that she wouldn’t get sick, that she’d have His peace. You get the picture. So when she got sick I was really upset and couldn’t fully understand why God hadn’t answered my prayer, and I considered the possibility that Satan was hindering God’s answer somehow.

That’s when I enlisted my Prayer Sisters to pray. And pray they did! My cell phone chimed repeatedly with responses assuring their prayers for my sick, stranded, discouraged daughter.

I told Kaelin in a text, “Prayer Sisters are praying for you!”

“Thank you!!” she replied.

Less than three hours later Kaelin was feeling better, sending smiley faces with her texts, and boarding the plan on her way to China. I love it when my Prayer Sisters pray. 

My world traveling daughter Kaelin

My family!

     I’m in a unique season of life. It’s my bonus season, to tell you the truth. I’m old enough to be an empty-nester, but instead of listening to my own voice echo through an empty home, I get to enjoy the daily barrage of a full house of six—my husband, our three young adults, our teenager, and me. Well, and the dog. That’s seven.
     So… I’ve been a mom for a long time, and my mantra has always been “Family First.” Ask anyone who knows me well. I’ve missed meetings and canceled dates with friends and changed my plans time and again for my kids. Okay, I admit it. I’m the proverbial helicopter parent. But hey, I’m thrilled that my twenty-somethings and my high schooler like to hang with me, so I welcome every opportunity I can to spend time with them.
     But there’s one thing I won’t sacrifice for my kids, and that is dedicating the time to pray for them. Diligently. Passionately. With my Prayer Sisters and alone, I pray. Because there’s only so much I can do as a mother, only so much influence I can have. Honestly, the best thing I can do for my family is pray… they need my prayers more than they need my constant attention. God can do for them all the things that I can’t.

     The way I see it, the best Mother’s Day gift is the one moms give to their children every day when they pray.
“If you… know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:11

Life on the run. Feel familiar?

 

 

 

 

Stick-to-it Prayers

We like to think of “leaving our burdens with Jesus” when we pray. Come to prayer, drop off a heavy load, leave with same-day service of renewed hope. Maybe this has something to do with our get-it-quick culture, like drive-thru banking and Starbucks on the run. A zippy “Jesus, I give my concerns to you. Thanks for taking them off my hands!” then a skip back into the hectic pace of life.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t ever unload short, quick prayers. I do that all the time! But I’ve learned some things are harder to let go of than others. They cling like Vaseline.

When my nephew, Eric Hauck (worship pastor at Hope Community Church in Andover, KS) was a cute, chubby 18-month-old toddler, he climbed onto the bathroom vanity and smeared an entire jar of Vaseline all over his head. It took his mother twelve shampoos to finally de-slime his baby fine hair.

   Not long ago, I found myself trying to release my anxiety to the Lord, and it felt just like Eric’s Vaseline—sticky, stubborn—encasing my fingers, my heart. I couldn’t easily drop it off, shake it off, lay it down, release it, however you want to look at it. It was messy, slimy, and clinging to me with gooey fierceness.

And you know what I realized? To release something that is so stuck to my heart (like fear for my kids’ futures, or anxiety about my abilities to guide them well), I have to be persistent. I can’t zip through and drop off these kinds of concerns like I do a Netflix at the Post Office. They require more focus—I need to journal, read and ponder, seek counsel, spend more time alone with God, pray with my Prayer Sisters. Repeatedly.

Okay. So honestly? It’s harder than it looks. And perhaps the biggest challenge is slowing my frenetic pace so I can find the necessary time to focus. But I’m working on it. So, if you don’t hear from me any time soon, you’ll know what I’m up to!

Prayer Sisters connecting!

How do you condense all the wonderful things about being a Prayer Sister into 90 seconds?! That’s the challenge my team and I faced recently. And it was no easy task!

In October we had the tremendous opportunity to share Prayer Sisters with 10,000 women around the world through a global Webstream (Impact ’10 Stir with Stonecroft Ministries), and we only had 90 seconds to do it in. Precisely.

And I have to tell you… I was amazed at what our little team of volunteers put together! Thanks to my best friend who is a journalist with her own radio equipment and editing prowess, and thanks to our dedicated Social Media Director who juggled full-time mommying with learning how to navigate through PowerPoint, and my writing buddies and my patient family who helped me whittle down and rework the script over and over and over until it fit just right.

When the live broadcast in Kansas City started to stream worldwide and our time slot arrived, 1:31 p.m., our video began and I nearly cried—from relief that we’d pulled it off, and from excitement at sharing with the world this idea that I’m so passionate about. It was an incredible 90 seconds.

And ta da! Here it is! Prayer Sisters in 90 seconds. I am so excited for you to see it. Please pass it on! We want every woman to hear about Prayer Sisters. I mean… can you IMAGINE what a difference it could make in our lives and in our world if women around the globe gather to pray regularly? What a thought. It can happen!  

What I Need Most

There is one thing that my Prayer Sisters and I request prayer for over and over. One week it’s for me. The next it’s for someone else.

“Pray for me to spend more time alone with God.”

Recently I was lamenting how drained I felt. I give so much time and energy investing in so many things, none of which can I delete from my life. My sister-in-law Rita listened patiently and then responded ever so kindly, “You need to spend more time with the Lord.”

Bingo. So, so true. If I try to pray for others, and invest my time in ministry without being filled with the power of God, I will fail. Quite plainly, if I don’t take care of myself spiritually, I can’t effectively pray for my loved ones. Enough said.

So, I try. I keep my Bible and a few choice devotionals in a basket near my favorite chair in the living room, encouraging me to snatch some moments alone with God. I let my dog drag me along the walking trail as I pray. In this hectic paced life, I try to steal away time for solitude.

Still, some days I get going so fast I don’t take the time to connect with God like I should. And other days I allow discouragement and frustration to fill my heart rather than the promises and nurturing Spirit of the Lord. I don’t always do it right.

But I keep on trying. Because I believe in the power of prayer. So do my Prayer Sisters. That’s why we pray this special request often for each other—to spend much-needed, soul-strengthening, life-sustaining time with God.

Calvin, my eager walking buddy!