What to Write ~ Prayer

Several months ago I wrote to my sponsored children and asked them to pray for my friend, Aimee, who had just been diagnosed with cancer. The past month or two, the children have told me in their letters that they are praying for her and asked how she is doing. I wanted to thank them for their prayers and give them an update. 

As I began the letter, I decided that prayer would be a great letter topic. I shared some things about prayer that I am teaching to my own daughters - 5 things to incorporate into our prayers. I told the kids they could use the five fingers on their  hand to remember the five things to incorporate. When I looked through my paper, I had this hand paper that was perfect for the letter.

here's the letter I wrote and sent to my sponsored kids this month....

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Dear Veronica,

I wanted to say thank you for praying for us, and also for praying for my friend, Aimee. A while back I asked you to pray for Aimee and her family because she had developed cancer. I am so happy to report to you that she is doing very well. She has had many weeks of treatments and even a couple surgeries. It appears that the doctors were able to remove the cancer from her body and they are hopeful she is cancer free. It is certainly an answer to all our prayers.

Isn’t prayer a wonderful thing? I’ve been thinking a lot about prayer and learning more about how to pray and why we pray. When I pray I try to remember 5 things….sometimes I think about how many fingers are on my hand and each one stands for a certain thing I can include in my prayers.

1. Praise - praise God for who He is and what He has done.
2. Thanksgiving - thank God for what He has done for you or given you (be specific)
3. Request for someone else - pray for someone else - ask God to heal or help a friend or family member.
4. Confession - have you done anything wrong lately? Ask God to forgive you when you sin.
5. Request for you - Are you having trouble in school? Is it hard for you to get along with a certain friend? Do you need help sleeping better? This is when you can ask God to help you with a certain struggle.

Here’s a sample prayer I might pray today…

Heavenly Father, I praise you for creating such a beautiful world. I love how the sun rises every morning and sets every evening. When I see beautiful flowers growing, I can’t help but think of you and praise you for all of creation. Thank you for the gift of another day. Thank you for the gift of my family – for giving me loved ones to spend my days with. I pray for Veronica and her family today. Please keep them safe and healthy and show them your love in a special way. Please help Veronica in her studies at school. Father, forgive me my lack of patience. Help me to be more patient and understanding with my girls. I pray that you would help me be more and more like you every day.

Why do we pray? Well, because God tells us to in Scripture.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ~ Philippians 4:6 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. ~ Ephesians 6:18 We love you and are praying for you!      Have you written to your sponsored child yet this month? If so, I'd love to hear what you wrote about.