girlfriendspray.org
- By CulSire
- • February 18, 2014
Girlfriends Pray is one of the fastest growing ministries for women of faith:
Their ministry is designed to encourage, inspire, motivate and empower women through prayer. In less than 3 months, they grew from 39 women to several hundred praying together on a weekday morning teleconference call, and now have over 60,000 followers from more than 18 countries.
Their mission is to get more women closer to God through prayer, and the vision is 1 million women united around the world. They accomplish this through their daily prayer calls and other virtual and live initiatives to include:
- Girlfriends Pray Breakfast Book Club, a weekly virtual topical book discussion;
- Girlfriends in the Word, quarterly Bible study;
- Girlfriends Pray Empower Study, a live discussion group;
- Girlfriends Pray Global, live prayer calls with women outside of the United States via Skype;
- Amigas Pray, a weekly prayer call for our Latina girlfriends in Christ;
- Girlfriends Pray Live, our on-site live events and activities;
- Girlfriends Pray Tweet Chat, a tweet discussion about topics concerning the women of God; and
- Girlfriends Pray Real Talk, addresses the mental health and well-being of women.
Dee Marshall, Founder of Girlfriends Pray, set up a prayer call for the sole purpose of “standing in the gap” for women who were struggling to get through. The conference call started on December 18th with 33 women and was to end on January 1, 2010. In that two week window, the call count rose, women began to depend on the call as their life line, they brought their prayer request and shared with family, friends, colleagues, co-workers so that by December 31st they maxed their telephone line and women cried out “this cannot end”. The result was a movement that grew like wildfire and now stands firm as Girlfriends Pray Ministries… a force of over 60,000 women around the world.
If you’re in need of strong prayer of would like a network of girlfriends to cover you, reach out to Girlfriends Pray www.girlfriendspray.org
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Almighty God,
Please help me find a relationship with a great girl. I am a 13 year old male who has had only 2 girlfriends my whole life. Those combined would only equal about a month and a half. I have this great girl in mind and her name is Lindsey.
I really like her but I don’t know if she like me. I am going to Catholic High school next year which is a all boys school and I’m afraid I won’t be able to find a girlfriend before that. I am not socially active except for at school. I have asked this girl out once but she said no only because I was really desperate which I am.
My friends were talking about it today and they said I should ask her out again. I am scared to because she might say no again. Please give her the sense that I like her and me and her start talking more and maybe I can work up the courage to ask her again. Please help me. I love you. Amen
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In the fifth grade, I somehow managed to inadvertently charm the hearts of 10 starry-eyed girls, which meant that, before I even turned 10, I had in both my metaphorical and literal lap 10 potential candidates to be my first ever girlfriend.
Helga was Russian, like her name suggested, and every time I saw her she’d wave at me, even if it was the second, or third, or seventh time our eyes had met in the past twenty minutes.
Tricia lived right behind me, and sometimes when I went through the back to take out the trash she’d see me from her room and bang on the window. Sometimes I wouldn’t look up.
Carol sat next to me in class and guffawed every time I told a joke. I told a lot of jokes, but most of them were probably elementary at best (ba-dum-bum).
I don’t remember the rest of the girls. I suspect there weren’t actually 10, maybe four or five at the most. If there were 10, then some of them didn’t reveal their identities. I still call it the “Year of the 10,” but as a joke, really. I also tell people that this, unfortunately, was the highest point of my woman-wooing career. Also as a joke.
Twelve years later, it still gets laughs.
_____
Laughing is the only thing you can do sometimes. I find myself laughing when I pray. Not because the concept of praying is laughable, although to some people it may seem like nothing more than making a ball with your hands and talking to yourself (a pretty funny image actually, if it is true). For me, it’s more or less because the things I ask for are ridiculous.
I have prayed for a scooter. I have prayed for my dog to bite me less. I have prayed to grow up, or at least look grown-up, to maybe get some acne or something. I have regretted that prayer.
I have prayed to get into Stanford. I have prayed for a good roommate. When I got drunk, I prayed for forgiveness. I was drunk while praying.
I have prayed for a job. I have prayed to not get fired from that job. After getting fired from that job, I prayed for McDonald’s breakfast to still be open or so help me God.
I have prayed to meet someone mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved. I have prayed for someone that could actually understand the crap I write. I have prayed for my soul’s recognition of its counterpoint because yes, Wedding Crashers actually had a profound effect on me. Pray, pray, pray, it was all I did for a while; for pillow talk and an excuse to be vulnerable and the freedom to stare into someone’s eyes without speaking; for a friend that is a girl, for a girl that is a friend, and for safe passage across the cruel, lexical bridge between the two.
_____
My friends have girlfriends. As if that is some kind of persuasive argument.
Steven and Jamie are my friends. Here is a wedding toast I wrote for them:
Ahem.
Ding-ding-ding.
Hey y’all, I’m Simon. The best man.
Just wanted to say a few words.
I met Steve on the very first day of my freshman year at college. I needed a screwdriver to fix my bedpost, so I walked the three steps to his room and asked him if he had one. He did. Steve’s been fixing everything in my life since. From my laptop problems to my girl problems to even my teeth problems (he wanted to be a dentist, you see), I would not be standing here right now so upright and handsome if it wasn’t for him.
But I never got to return the favor. See, there was only one thing Steve ever needed, and it was that special someone in his life. Someone who could make him work. And play. And go to sleep with a smile on his face and wake up with a bigger one. And he found that girl, Jamie, who is sitting right there next to him now, sitting there with the biggest smile on her face, just a couple months into the school year.
Steve and Jamie, when I look at you guys, I see two people, hearts beating as one, breathing as one, living as one. Loving as one. There’s nothing to fix here. I know it will work just fine for the rest of your lives. Congratulations Steven and Jamie on your beautiful wedding.
I wrote that toast my freshman year. Now I’m living in a suburb of Connecticut and working a full-time job at a collectibles company. On weekends I take the Metro North to the city to see Steve and Jamie. Scrunched up on their living room couch, I fall asleep to the sound of their giggling. I have witnessed them date for four and a half years, and as far as I know, they have never gotten in a fight — or married. Yet.
There are many things that are uncertain in life, but this isn’t one of them: I will be giving this toast at their wedding.
_____
They sometimes pray at weddings.
During a traditional Christian wedding ceremony, there is an opening and closing prayer; the first is an invocation, the second, a blessing. The kiss comes immediately after the blessing.
Muslim weddings follow ceremonies with lavish dinners, where the newlyweds read prayers, a Qur’an placed between them. They can look at each other, but only through mirrors.
In a Buddhist wedding ceremony, the bride and groom handle the preparations. At a certain point the bride will bow down and pray to her ancestors as a way of saying goodbye to her family.
A Jewish wedding day is also a private day of atonement. The bride and groom include Yom Kippur confessions in their mincha, or afternoon prayers.
Modern Hindu wedding ceremonies require the couple to walk around a fire as the priest prays for their happiness and health. Traditional Hindu weddings can last up to five days.
I have only been to one wedding. My thin and small-framed, native Chinese, God-loving aunt got hitched to a tall white man who believed only in the value of nutrients and daily exercise. During the reception, Aunt Katy led my confused grandfather to the dance floor, as deemed by tradition. He stood stiff, never smiling the whole time. This, too, was deemed by tradition.
There was no prayer at that wedding, though.
_____
“Dally, let’s get married and get three puppies and two—”
“Noo Dawn — four puppies. And three kids. And I really, really, REALLY want to name one of them Dante.”
“Okay that’s fine. But can we also get an alpaca?”
I remember watching Dallas and Dawn on the El during a chilly winter evening ride to downtown Chicago. The wind would seep through the train every time it stopped. I remember watching Dallas take his glove off his right hand while Dawn did the same with the mitten on her left hand, just so they could hold hands, so they could feel the creases on each other’s palms and the thin bones on their fingers.
_____
Many Sunday mornings I have heard my pastor say, “There is nothing like the warmth of God’s love.” Or: “Love, because God loved us first.” Or: “Pray, because to pray is to love.”
It has also become apparent to me that one should sing in order to worship God. (Or: to love God). It turns out I have never been a good singer.
I remember reading the words on the projector and thinking about a girl instead.
Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging
Your love is a mountain, firm beneath my feet
Your love is a mystery, how You gently lift me
When I am surrounded, Your love carries me
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Your love makes me sing
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Your love makes me sing
Tim Keller, author, speaker, and founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City once told me that the very concept of love is best explained by God, for God is love. Sitting among a crowd of 500, I interpreted it as a question of perspective. Which one is ultimately better? What a believer sees, or what a non-believer sees?
I suppose it is nicer to associate love with a higher power, rather than with a chemical reaction.
(This is not to say all non-believers use science to explain abstract concepts like love. It’s just that in this case, love — without science, without religion — must be harder, maybe even impossible, to explain. And maybe no explanation is necessary. Love is love. But then I find myself thinking about what Keller said: “Who is really taking the leap of faith here?”)
_____
“What are you thinking?” she asks me.
Love, love, love. Love for my dining hall pasta.
It is Tuesday afternoon, which means for dinner they will be serving made-to-order pasta. I am a big fan of that pasta, probably because the year before I lived in a dining hall with far inferior food, to the point that every day, I was forced to endure the same bland, over-cooked combination of noodles and marinara sauce. I am looking forward to 6:00 pm because this is when I will go downstairs and tell the cook that I would like some delicious ribbon pasta with chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, basil, garlic, and Alfredo sauce.
We hide beneath my dark blue checkerboard covers, just the two of us, and her eyes, coffee-colored in the lambent light, keep pulling me closer. So I stop looking.
“Nothing,” I tell her.
Nothing, I think, staring into darkness, Nothing must sound better than the most delectable pasta in the world.
_____
I hardly ever pray with people. I wonder what my prayers would sound like to them. Or to God.
I pray for many things, most of them trivial, material, even selfish — things you ask Santa Claus for, not God (unless the two are actually the same). Would they judge me for it?
I pray and often end up telling a story that nobody wants to hear, rambling till it becomes ranting, and then I mutter a quick “Amen” and am done with it. Would they fall asleep?
I pray and plead (more or less just plead), try and try and try to convince God that not once was I ever in love, not once, that sometimes things just happened and it was nice and also not nice, and if it was nice, it always turned out to be not nice when it ended.
And I ask him if these things were just a form of preparation, because I have never been in love and I needed to be prepared for love, but now that I’ve had nearly 23 years of preparation, maybe it was time to test it out, to see if all the difficult preparation has been worth it.
Would they laugh and call me a hopeless romantic?
Would God answer?
_____
There isn’t really a formula. No step-by-step directions. Just knees sinking to the floor, hands clasped together, and eyes buried behind wavering lids. Throw a word or two into the wilderness and you might get a reply. But God, like that girl you charmed while walking up four flights of stairs when the elevator broke, doesn’t always call back.
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by Dan K. Jenkins
A whole book of prayers for getting back together – Click Here!
What is prayer?
Although your relationship with your ex may be broken, your relationship with God never is. His understanding of you is unlimited. Prayer is that place where you and God meet privately, and share His love for you, and your worship of Him.
Everyone is allowed to pray. Good or evil, rich or poor, wise or foolish — God wants to hear what you have to say.
No matter how bad you are feeling — no matter how deeply you are wallowing in feelings of loss, or failure, or worthlessness — you don’t need to feel ashamed when you approach the Lord. You can say to God, “I know you understand.”
Even if you have neglected your relationship with God, from His perspective you have not been “gone” or “lost”. God has not lost track of you, but has always watched over you. He welcomes the intimacy of prayer from you, and wants to guide you in times of pain, as much as in times of joy.
A whole book of prayers for getting back together – Click Here!
Thy will be done!
Prayer is not just about asking God for miracles, or asking Him to do what you want. In fact, it shouldn’t always be about “asking” at all.
Needing to know how to get back an ex might be what brings you to your knees, but your goal should be to establish or strengthen your connection with God, and discover what God wants for you.
You want to know how to get back an ex, and you want God’s help to learn that, but God is not operating a drive-thru restaurant. You can’t just place your order. You must open your heart to God’s path for you, and allow Him to lead you to your destination in His way, and in His time.
What should I pray for?
- Grace
Pray for God’s divine influence in every aspect of your life. Ask Him to be with you as you pass through this current crisis.
- Patience
Pray for patience, because getting back an ex girlfriend or boyfriend will take a while. You have much work ahead of you, to heal and plan and learn and grow.
- Self-knowledge
Pray for understanding of your own responsibilities within a relationship. Ask God to guide you as you review your broken relationship and search for signs of what went wrong.
Rely on God’s support while considering whether your ex is truly meant to be your partner for life, and whether you must make changes within yourself in order to fulfill your half of the partnership and meet your ex’s needs.
- Forgiveness
Ask God for the strength to forgive your ex for leaving you. And if you have wronged your ex, pray for your ex’s forgiveness of you as well.
If you are blaming yourself for the breakup, receive and accept God’s forgiveness, and pray that God will help you forgive yourself, as easily as He forgives you.
- Security
Your desperation, in wanting to know how to get back an ex, is caused by your insecurity. You feel that alone, you cannot be a whole person. Ask God to help you combat your neediness. Pray for His love to fill you and make you complete, so that you can bring an emotionally healthy, whole person to your relationship with your ex.
Pray, “Father, I know that You love me,” as often as it takes to make you believe it in your heart and mind. With His love will come security.
- Empathy
Pray for help seeing your relationship from your ex’s perspective. Seek God’s guidance in understanding your ex’s needs for unconditional love, encouragement, companionship, and intimacy.
Let God be with you as you take an honest look at how well you and your ex met these needs for each other.
- Words
Ask God to help you find the best, most effective words to communicate with your ex, when the time is right.
For only $29.95 you can get our 54 page 2-week prayer plan for getting back together. Learn how at WithGodBehindYou.com.
What about prayer websites?
God hears you just fine. You don’t need to post your prayers on a forum, or ask other people to pray on your behalf.
Louder praying is not more effective, and neither are added voices. Remember, you cannot trick God into doing what you want. You don’t need to convince Him how much you’re hurting. He WILL help you, simply because you ask it.
Want God’s answer to how to get back an ex? Fall on your spiritual knees, and have a talk with Him.
A whole book of prayers for getting back together – Click Here!
helpgettingbacktogether.com
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