31 days of prayer

Six years ago I joined a group of women who wanted to read and discuss the book "The Power of a Praying Wife." We named ourselves the PoPW gals.

We started with about a dozen women. Today we have six group members and these girls are among some of my most treasured friends.

Many of you might be in a book club, but ours is a little different. Each year we pick a new book (focused on marriage) to read and discuss together. What's different about this book club is that we only read ONE book each year. We read one chapter per meeting Sept-May. We read it, study it, underline things that challenge us, discuss how we were convicted or encouraged and at the end of our meeting we pray. We pray for ourselves, our husbands, our marriages.

Six years later, and six books later, we are still the PoPW gals. Regardless of the books we read, prayer is the foundation of our group.

At the beginning of August I want to offer up two challenges to you:
1 - Who are your PoPW gals? Do you have women that you can pray with, talk with and discuss the joys and struggles of marriage? If not, consider starting a group focused on prayer. Cover it in prayer, then make some phone calls or send out some e-mails. I fully believe that God will bring the women. It's not a place to bash your husband, it's a time to bring each other's needs before the Lord and encourage one another in our marriage journey.

2 - Consider purchasing The Power of a Praying Wife book if you don't already own it. It is not a book on why you should pray for your husband - it is a book that contains 31 prayers for you to actually pray. The first two days are for the wife, the rest focused on the husband. Here is an excerpt from Day 1: "I lay all my expectations at Your cross. I release _______ from the burden of fulfilling me in areas where I should be looking to You. Help me to accept him the way he is and not try to change him. I realize that in some ways he may never change, but at the same time, I release him to change in ways I never thought he could. I leave any changing that needs to be done in Your hands, fully accepting that neither of us is perfect and never will be. Only You Lord are perfect and I look to you to perfect us."

I've had this book for six years and I'm not sure I've ever made it through 31 days praying every prayer. I'm challenging myself and I hope you'll join me! I'd love to know if you are up to the 31 days of prayer challenge - just leave a comment that "you're in" and I'll be praying for YOU!