What we have in common with Walt Disney
November 17, 2024
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This week Beth Moore publicized on Instagram that one of her staff members, Lici, was rushed to the hospital and had a blood clot removed from her brain.
Lici is still not awake. It has been some days.
Since I have attended Living Proof Live events featuring Beth Moore’s bible teaching and enjoyed worship led by Travis Cottrell, I have seen Lici on stage as part of the worship team.
My heart hurts for all who know her.
As I was pulling out of the neighborhood on Wednesday of this week and waiting for traffic to let me in, I thought of Lici, and I prayed, “Lord, wake her up!”
Then my thoughts went this direction.
I would not even know about Lici without Beth’s Instagram post. Beth has 513,000 followers, many of who are now praying for Lici. I am so thankful! But what about the people in the world who aren’t 
connected to a famous person that can reach hundreds of thousands with a click of a button?
What about the people in my life the rest of the world doesn’t know about?
Seems unfair, like social media is tampering with equity. The people in my life don’t have a social network that includes a famous person on social media.
This means my prayers for people in my life are all the more precious.
After all, who else will pray for them, if not me? Unless they are praying for themselves (and many aren’t), I may be the only one on some days who speaks their name to the God of heaven and earth.
This week, as I have taken names of people to the throne of God in prayer, my sense of responsibility to pray weighed more heavily, the opportunity to pray seemed more special, and the value of my prayers increased.
Just me today? That might actually be the case.
God heard these names from my lips this week. You won’t know them. Their needs to do not appear on social media. These are my people. These are my prayer responsibilities.
If I don’t pray, who else will?
Greg, Carol, Dawn, Riley, Michael, Hannah, Nick, Clay, Jannah, Kay, Elizabeth, Jamie, Kellen, Callie, Paul, Karen, Lisa, Austin, John, Jack, Maddie, Tracy, Ron, Carson, Mo, Shane, Kelly, Vanessa, Brian, Jewl, Terra, Amber, Margee, Tish, Joiya, Nicole, Carson, Pam, Rodney, Nick, Martha, Sheela, YuanYuan, Bridget, Fiona, Logan, Helen, Margarida, Steve, Mo, Caitlin, Nopaluck, O’Shon, Bill, William, Cyndy
And the list goes on and on.
Who are your family members? Your clients? Your neighbors? Your students? Your church community? Your friends? Who are the friends of your kids? Make sure they are on your prayer list. You might be the only one praying.
Just you.
As you pray for your people this week, may you see the importance of your prayer work more clearly. Pray this for someone right now!
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (Colossians 1:9-12)
And, of course, let’s pray for Lici. Lord, wake her up!
Picture Explanation: These are photos I have received this week from various sources of my people. Some are throwbacks. Some are current. All are my prayer responsibility.
© 2021 by Oaks Ministries. All rights reserved.
I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes growth.
1 Corinthians 3:6
12 Responses
Dearest Laurie,
Thank you for your faithful prayers. I find great comfort in that but even more Jesus prays for me. Imagine God the Son praying for me!
Yes, He lives to intercede for us, and I am so thankful! He asks us to do the same, and I am so honored to be one of your people.
Love you.
Laurie
Laurie: Just before I read this I called and left a vmail for an old friend I haven’t talked to in 40+ years. Then I read your post and I just prayed the prayer for him. God works in some crazy ways. Best, Tim
Wow! I just thought of you very specifically yesterday!
I love how God nudges our hearts in all kinds of directions. And somehow what looks haphazard and random is perfect.
Great to hear from you.
Thank you for praying for me. No greater gift.
My pleasure and honor.
Just in the last hour I saw an answer to one of your and my prayers in a situation which seemed impossible! I take great courage and comfort in that God holds all of our prayers in a bowl and prays even when I stop, even groaning, because words can’t express all that’s on his heart. Thank you for all those you lift to the throne daily. I use the Voice of the Martyrs calendar in my bathroom to pray for people in countries all over the world, and often think of how you too are praying for those in other lands. Such a gift to be able to approach the throne with confidence, leaving the results to HIM! Lifting you up too, sister.
To a fellow prayer warrior…you, so much more than me. It is a privilege to link our lives to His Kingdom and power. Why do we allow ourselves to be lured away from this sacred task? I smiled about praying for other lands. Yes, let us keep our prayers both personal and global.
Dearest Friend. Thank you for your faithful prayers over the 36 years that I have struggled with chronic pain. There truly are times where suddenly my knee or another ache will feel better, and I’ll remember that I had asked friends, including you to pray for me! Thank you for prayers that help me to keep looking to the Lord and to keep pushing through it and to do better at self-care.
Lord, please give Ethel relief tonight as she sleeps. Lord, please wake up Lici. Lord, please give Laurie sweet sleep. May her body be restored tonight as she rests.
Lord, I pray for healing for my neighbors who are struggling with COVID. Please restore them, and may you get the glory for that! Please heal Earl and Pat and comfort them in their hour of need.
I love you, Friend!
To my friend who writes her prayers to her friends. You are so good at that! You leave record of your heart for people everywhere you go. What a gift. By God’s grace, I will not stop praying for your chronic pain. One day your pain will be no more but all that you have done by faith through your pain will have eternal results.
Thanks for praying for us, Laurie.
Another challenging post and excellent reminder. We all need constant reminders just to do what we should do because we get so caught up in other things. That’s why it is so good to have a prayer department at the church, not so they will do all the praying, but so they can continually and creatively remind us TO pray and WHAT to pray for and keep us all praying….and others to remind us of the value of reading our Bibles, and sharing our faith, and growing with God…. and being kind and faithful and generous and ……
This may sound like a list of things “to do” to be a Christian. That’s not the intention. But we get so distracted by all the other “stuff” we either think we have to do or perhaps actually DO have to do, that we forget about our heavenly citizenship and even the joy that comes from doing what is right and good. That’s another reason why your blog and things like it are good for all of us as Christians, to constantly remind us there is more to life than making money or attending a meeting or catching the next train or trying to be impressive.
Thanks for writing. May God continue to give you creativity and clarity in your writing and help us to keep focus on the things that really matter.
Steve
Thank you for your kind words about my writing. I periodically consider stopping the blog when I see reports dismissing their value or read about the decline of blogs and increase in podcasts. For now, I care about “my people” and the discipline keeps me on track too.
I hear your thought that praying can sound like a “to do” list but I think Satan does all he can to make us not pray, so prayer is an exercise of intention for me, at least to get started. I often fight distraction and responsibility in order to begin. I don’t want to live a powerless life. You remember the story from years ago how a passenger went on a cruise and didn’t have money for food, so he ate crackers and drank water the entire trip, only to find out the food had already been paid for and he missed out on the full experience.
I want the full experience. All God’s power. All God’s blessings. And prayer from a pure heart is the avenue through which the fullness comes.
Let’s invite God into everything. No water and crackers for us.