Pray For Her

Colossians 1:9

New Life Version (NLV)

⁹ This is why I have never stopped praying for you since I heard about you. I ask God that you may know what He wants you to do. I ask God to fill you with the wisdom and understanding the Holy Spirit gives."

In November of last year, I attended a women's retreat hosted by the women's ministry from my church.  I was in a better place in my life, after dealing with all my heartbreak and pain from my past, but I was still not completely whole. My heart looked like a big ole block of Swiss cheese. I had holes everywhere that God was trying to deal with and I just wasn't letting Him. I admit, I was prideful and didn't think I had any areas left that God needed to clean up. Boy, did he prove me wrong.

During this time in my life, the struggle to hear God was real. I would pray, read my bible and all kinds of things but I could not feel His presence and it would frustrate me. I would cry and cry and just complain that I was tired of looking for Him and talking to the stupid wall. Man, I would tell God some things I would never dare tell my Earthly father, out of the fear that he might slap me. lol

Anyways, I felt like God was so distant. I felt like he had picked up and moved and forgot to send me one of those fancy moving announcement cards with his new address. So I prayed and looked for Him and then just gave up and that cycle repeated itself for such a long time.

Then I heard about this awesome retreat my new church was having and I decided that I was going to go and that this was the weekend God was going to show up. This was it! I wasn't taking no for an answer and I was willing to do all kinds of stalker- ish things to find where God was hiding. During this time, my friend Carol was constantly checking on me, encouraging me, loving on me and praying for me. She would remind me that God wasn't far and He still wanted my heart.

Let me tell you something, appreciate the friends who pray for you! You could have a million "loyal" friends but that ONE praying friend will change your life!

Carol was in communication with me all the way up to the day of the retreat. She wanted to be sure I was coming and she was determined to just get me there.

During this retreat they covered some intense topics. It was literally a soul cleanse. My heart was just wrecked the whole weekend.

The first day of the retreat they handed us these packets to complete. This packet was about 6 pages long and asked the most personal and intimate questions ever.

I completed the package and finished after about 30 minutes. I spent the rest of my time just sitting in silence on the floor. I tried praying but God was still playing hide and seek. I was just too emotionally worn out from that packet to go seeking for Him.

Then my friend Carol walks by, sits with me on the floor and asks me if she could pray for me. I remember she was so nervous because she didn't like praying for people out loud and it was her first time praying over someone in public.

So she started to pray and she prayed for things that only my heart knew about. She prayed with authority, love, and sincerity. She prayed like she was on a mission and she very much was. She finished praying, hugged me and carried on talking to the other girls that were there.

From that moment forward, I felt God just reaching into my heart and speaking into my life more than I had ever felt months prior.

One day, I will share all the amazing things that happened that weekend.

Anyways, that weekend changed my life and heart FOREVER!!!

That weekend also changed mine and Carol's relationship forever. God knew I needed a big sister to love me and just be there to encourage me along the way. She even gave me a tiny card that said "Contact a Carol" and  I always felt that I could do just that with her. I could contact her for anything and everything.

Since that weekend, I cannot even tell you the amount of times Carol has just been such a blessing to my life. There have been days where she sends me a prayer text and it instantly changes the tone of my day. She just loves on me so much that it's really hard to not feel God's love through her. She always so positive, encouraging and uplifting. When something is bothering me or I am struggling, I text her and she prays for me.

I strongly believe that if we all had more "Carol's" in our lives, we would have less stress and more answered prayers.

I believe that Carol's love for me is very much like the love Paul had for the Christians of Colossae. Paul was so thankful for them and so eager to see their relationship with Christ flourish. He took pride in praying for them. He took pride in teaching them. He took pride in suffering for them and with them. He took pride in disciplining them. He just loved the people of Colossae so much. He wanted them to know Jesus. He wanted their lives to be fruitful and bear the many blessings of God.

Now that is one awesome friend! That is a friend EVERYONE should want on their team. That is a friend every girl should want praying for her family and her own life.

Beauties, I encourage you to be a Paul or a Carol to someone in your life. It would be awesome if you could be that kind of friend to everyone, but let's start with baby steps.

We all need that friend who is willing to cry on the floor with us when we feel like we've hit rock bottom. We need that friend who will comfort us when we feel hurt and betrayed by other friends and family around us. We need that friend who will suffer in our pain with us. We need that friend who will pray over our homes, finances, families, relationships and marriages, when times are rough and when times are joyful. We need that friend who is willing to spend their lives just giving to our life because they simply love us.

We need that friend and we also need to be THAT friend.

Here is your assignment:

- Pick a woman you love
- Ask that friend what she would like for you to pray about (trust me, if you ask they will give you tons of stuff to pray about)
-Take 5 minutes a day or MORE to pray for your friend
- Love on them, check up on them and send them a message of love throughout the week
-Sit back and watch their lives change.

I encourage you to do this for a friend. The power of sisterhood is so strong. The power of love is so strong. Let's be the kind of women who love and pray for our friends.

Jessica Torres
Founder of Beauty of Encouragement