Announcing …

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good — His love endures forever!

I can personally testify that God’s love has endured for the past 70 years. 😊 Not once has He been unfaithful … even when I was unfaithful. Not once has He left my side … even when I left His. He has never expressed ill will toward me … even when I have accused Him of ill will toward me. He is as good as He is God. He is for us; He is not against us. So, give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever!

I’ll briefly bullet a few happenings from the past month because I am excited to get to the announcement!

• Three days of silent retreat at an abbey about 1½ hours’ drive away. Three days during which nothing was asked of me or expected from me! Three days to write, uninterrupted. Three days to sit with Jesus and reflect, thank Him, worship Him, rest in Him. It was life-giving.
• Meetings: GWO board of directors, ministry planning, spiritual direction, time with missionaries and ministry leaders, discipleship, prayer … a full life.
• Set apart days debriefing YWAM base leaders. A safe place to tell their story unfiltered. A time of cleansing, hope, freedom, reassurance — holy time with Jesus, the Lover of our Souls.

Announcement!

My NEW BOOK, Prayers of Life for My Family, is in print! I’m so happy with it and would love to share it with you! Because I want you to understand my premise for writing, I’m sharing the introduction with you here …

This book took me by surprise! As I began praying through Stormie Omartian’s The Power of Praying for Your Adult Children (which I highly recommend) for the sixth time, I detected the Lord’s quiet voice within. “Write your own book of prayers.” I set aside Stormie’s book and began this volume of prayers based on the Word of God, for the people of God.

Perhaps the truest catalyst for this writing is my mom. The powerful reality is that she prayed for me every day of my sixty years. Even two days before she died at 94, I crept into her hospital room early one morning. She opened one eye and said, “I was just praying for you.” The vast void of her prayers was felt immediately after her death. A few days later, I recognized that the weight of familial responsibility to pray had fallen on me. I would become the praying mom, the interceding grandma. I confess to having fallen short of my mom’s faithfulness, but my prayers for my family have dramatically increased in frequency, fervency, and insight. I share those prayers with you here.

We refer to the Bible as ‘God’s Word’. Since God speaks to us through His Word, it makes sense that we are to approach His Word to listen to Him speak. Learning about Him will certainly be a byproduct, but the point is listening to Him talk about Himself, His story, His people, His life! Since prayer in its simplest form is a conversation with God, we follow our listening to God with a response to what He just said in His Word. As our conversation unfolds, I pause to listen again — this time to His Voice within, where His Spirit lives: thoughts that come to mind, a “sense” I might have, a picture I imagine, clearer understanding. Our dialogue then continues, either verbally or with more reading of His words. Conversations with God can vary, even taking the form of a discussion, a chat, a conference, a debate, or a Q&A time.

Be encouraged that you do not have to figure out how to pray on your own! In Romans 8, Paul teaches us that both the Holy Spirit and Jesus are interceding for us, revealing what to pray and how. What a relief! We often shape our prayers for family around our own emotions and opinions about them: what I think they should do or what I think should happen. When we pause to ask Jesus and Holy Spirit, “What are You praying for ________ today?” and then listen for His response, He will lead us in our prayers! He will give us wisdom and direction, and even purify our emotions or alter our opinions!

That has been my approach to the writing of these prayers. I first listened to God’s words (the verses on the left page), using them as a starting point. Then, I talked with Him about my family as they related to the verses (the prayers on the facing page). My hope is that you, in turn, will use these verses and prayers as an impetus to express your heartfelt love, desires, and requests for your own family.

Invite the Trinity into your reading of this guide. Father God wants to give you His heart for each of your loved ones. Jesus, our great Intercessor, is already having conversations with His Father and His Spirit about every one of you! Ask Jesus what’s on His heart; listen, agree, and give voice to what you sense. Holy Spirit will put words to your heart’s cry; He will interpret these verses for you and guide your prayers to align with Father’s will.

May these prayers become a springboard for two-way conversations with God about those whom you hold most dear. I encourage you to pray them aloud — to hear your own voice correspond to the voice of God. Take time to make them your own; savor them and pray them from your heart. May He grant you the compassion that He has for your family. May He saturate your prayers with love. May your family be transformed, to the glory of God!

If you’d like to purchase copies of Prayers of Life for My Family, you can order them on the books page. As we approach the season in which many of us spend more time with family, these prayers will sustain you, help prepare your hearts, and encourage you to know that your prayers truly make a difference.

May you sense the Lord’s presence surrounding you each moment of each day.

Mary Jean 😊

---

Ways to partner: Give online at getthewordout.cc/give · Venmo: @Mary Jean Powers / Get the Word Out · By check: Get the Word Out, 4210 Vulcan Creek Dr. Unit 208, Loveland, CO 80538.