Remembering to Pray

     I do it all the time and hopefully I'm not the only guilty party. People ask me to pray about something and I agree to, then totally forget about it. I'm sure my intentions were good, but my "intentionality" was lacking. I read a story in Chicken Soup for the Christian Woman's Soul today that reminded me of the need to pray as the Holy Spirit is urging, guiding and directing.
     The story called, "God's Timing" pages 172-175 by Rebecca Price Janney starts with a vacation plan gone awry. She and her husband stayed in a hotel that was awful so they left early and went on to Williamsburg, Virginia. (This first part is a reminder that God uses even the bad things for good, so that's why we're called to be thankful in all things.)
     Once in Williamsburg they go to dinner meet a couple of families at dinner that they thoroughly enjoy and have a wonderful evening, concluding by exchanging contact information. Upon leaving the group, the woman feels a strong urging to pray for this one family in particular whose daughter was an avid reader and the woman was a Christian children's author. They see the family later unexpectedly and the woman has some of her books in the car, signs one and gives it to the girl.
     Three days later at dinner at a different restaurant this family is seated at a table right next to them! They have another wonderful evening and she asks the girl if she had a chance to read her book. The girl had not, and the woman thought, "All in good time." She and her husband discussed how strange it was that they had run into this same family a third time and she prayed for the family again.
     The following Tuesday was September 11th and the husband in this family worked on the 11th floor of the World Trade Center. The woman was listening to the radio when she heard the news and urgently tried to contact the family. She and her husband prayed for the family as they waited to hear news of the husband's safety. The following Saturday the man called them and said he was late to work that morning and was saved.
     What if those prayers from that couple were the protection that man needed in such a terrible time? And what if they had not listened to the Holy Spirit directing them to pray? KT

Modern day wagon train in Montana going to a chuck wagon meal. The covering on the wagons was canvas, but it worked to keep us shaded from the sun.

 I Thessalonians 5:¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
 ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good, ²²reject every kind of evil.