Too Many in Need; Too Little Time

I am continually amazed by how the Lord sends people to us who are in need of prayer. It is very easy to pray for immediate friends, family, and neighbors. It is easy to pray for someone in the news. But we run into people in need in odd and wonderful ways, too.

Tonight, I ran into three different people who I am immediately adding to my prayer list. We began by just being in touch through Freecycle.org

I've written about Freecycle.org before and explained how wonderful it feels to help someone with something we no longer need. Tonight, several folks contacted me about things I had offered after my yard sale on the weekend. I had promised myself that anything left would positively, absolutely, in-no-way would NOT go back into the house. My place is an archaeological dig.

One gal has a beloved husband facing surgery with painstaking physical therapy in store afterwards. Another was a young woman with a sort throat and other issues. Still another has had some unexplained dehydration and other problems, had a battery of tests, and is now "on hold" while waiting for the results.

When my sister was in long-term care in CA for four years, before she passed on, she had me make a 3x5 card for her every so often, with a list of those for whom she wanted to pray. One day she told me she was so worried because the list was always growing. We talked. We realized that she had a lot of time on her hands and the Lord was using her as a prayer channel for so many people she would not have discovered otherwise. These people needed her prayers.

I, too, have found my list constantly growing. I realized one day that it wasn't that so many more are in need. What it is, instead, is that I think the Lord must trust us to find the time to pray for these folks. I am grateful that he blesses me, in amazing ways, with the time to do this.

Father in heaven, thank you so much for sending me word about so many in need. Thank you for trusting me to find the time for prayers for them. And, please, hear those prayers and shower these people with your compassion, mercy, and healing.