Prayer list 2011

Lord, help me to be…

~strong in character

~more efficient

~grateful for the privilege of preparing meals for my family

~consistent

Lord, I pray for the salvation of…

~C.G.

~B.L.

~W.S.

~J.B.

~T.C.

~J.S.

~R.S.

~B.S.

Lord I pray for…

~Little Dana, who is dealing with a second degree burn, and MRSA, please comfort her and heal her.

Who can find a virtuous woman?

When I think of the word virtue, I think of character qualities, such as honesty, trustworthiness, etc. So, to me,  a “virtuous woman” was one who possessed many positive character qualities.

Remember the concordance we looked at yesterday, with the three verses? If you look, you will see that there is a number next to most words. Each time the word “virtuous” is used in these verses, you will see the number 2428. Clicking that number brings us to a page that tells us more about the word.

I really don’t know much about Hebrew or Greek, so sometimes, I am quite surprised when I look at some of these words. The word “virtuous” comes from the Hebrew word “chayil”, and it means strength, might, efficiency. Translated, we could say who can find a “strong, mighty, efficient” woman.

When I look at this definition of a woman, it makes me think of my great grandmother. To look at her, most people probably would have considered her frail, she was thin and small, hunched from osteoporosis, and riddled with arthritis. Yet, her faith was strong. She lived each day, only with one purpose…to do everything for God. The funny thing about Granny was that she was deaf, but apparently she was the only one not quite aware of it. She would talk to God all day long, and since she “whispered”, she figured everyone else could not hear her. As she went about her day, she could frequently be heard saying “Well Lord, we got a job ahead of us, we need to get this done…” or “Well, thank you for helping me with that…”  Granny was the very definition of a person who prayed without ceasing, and she was one of the earliest examples of Christ to me.

And while she definitely was not physically strong, she was very strong in character. I have no memories of her ever trying to repay evil with evil, she always sought ways to bless others, even those who sought to do evil to her. Nothing ever got her down, not that I ever saw. If troubles came her way, she never wallowed in pity, she just figured God had different plans than she did. She took every hit that life threw at her, and kept going forward for God.

She was the epitome of efficiency, nothing was ever wasted, nothing was ever out of place. She didn’t have much, and what she did have was not fancy. But it was always neat, tidy, and well cared for. Even her movements were not wasted. I never saw her running around, panicked, and overwhelmed. She planned her chores and tasks before she did them, and organized her kitchen in such a way that it flowed from task to task.

Even to this day, Granny is the person I always wanted most to be like. Instead, I find myself resembling Paul more…”For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.” (Romans 7:15, NKJV)

So, how do I change? Well, first of all, I am building a new prayer list for the new year, so I think praying to be strong in character will be the first item on my new list. I am going to attempt to pray through this list daily.

A practical application would be to find ways to be more efficient. Organization is not my forte, it is something I have struggled with all my life. I start my day with a grand plan to get the dishes done, and hopefully find the bottom of my laundry pile, but I am easily distracted, and more often than not, by then end of the day, have spent the majority of my time doing other things.

Being more efficient is too broad of a category for me at this time, so I will focus on a smaller challenge. With eight people, laundry seems to overtake my house. I struggle with consistency. Some days I can crank out load after load, others, I don’t even want to see the washer and dryer. So, my challenge for the month of January will be to get my laundry under control. I will attempt to go through each person’s wardrobe, eliminate what is not usable, and organize what is. I will also attempt to keep up with the washer and dryer, and hopefully by the end of January, can see what the bottom of a laundry hamper looks like!

Do you keep a prayer list? I like to start a new one each year, so I can look back over it a year at a time. I can list long term goals, like praying for personal growth issues. I have a section for my “top ten”, ten people I want to pray for every day, but sometimes, it gets longer than ten. I also have a section for prayer requests, like if someone gets sick. Its nice to keep the list, and update it as prayers get answered, and look back at the end of the year and see all the prayer requests God has answered. Whether you write in a book, or keep a typed file on your computer, if you don’t keep a written prayer list, you might want to consider starting one.

Also, is there an area of your life that you need more efficiency in? Maybe it is finances, some household task, menu planning, is there some area that needs work? Post your challenges, we can keep each other accountable, and glean advice and wisdom from each other!