prayers

A FAITHFUL MOTHER.

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

-Her pure and holy spirit now
Doth intercede at the eternal throne.
                                                Miss Landon.

The following anecdote strikingly illustrates the strength of maternal love, the beauty of faith, and the efficacy of prayer. It was related by a blind preacher:

“When I was about eighteen years of age, there was a dancing party in Middleboro, Massachusetts, which I was solicited to attend, and act, as usual, in the capacity of musician. I was fond of such scenes of amusements then, and I readily assented to the request. I had a pious mother; and she earnestly remonstrated against my going. But, at length, when all her expostulations and entreaties failed in changing my purpose, she said: ‘Well, my son, I shall not forbid your going, but remember, that all the time you spend in that gay company, I shall spend in praying for you at home.’ I went to the ball, but I was like the stricken deer, carrying an arrow in his side. I began to play; but my convictions sank deeper and deeper, and I felt miserable indeed. I thought I would have given the world to have been rid of that mother’s prayers. At one time I felt so wretched and so overwhelmed with my feelings, that I ceased playing and dropped my musical instrument from my hand. There was another young person there who refused to dance; and, as I learned, her refusal was owing to feelings similar to my own, and perhaps they arose from a similar cause. My mother’s prayers were not lost. That was the last ball I ever attended, except one, where I was invited to play again, but went and prayed and preached instead, till the place was converted into a Bochim, a place of weeping. The convictions of that wretched night never wholly left me, till they left me at the feet of Christ, and several of my young companions in sin ere long were led to believe and obey the gospel also.”

______

Excerpted from Noble Deeds of American Women
(Patriotic Series for Boys and Girls)
Edited by J. Clement
——
With an Introduction by Mrs. L. H. Sigourney
Illustrated
BOSTON: Lee and Shepard, Publishers
Entered by Act of Congress, in the year of 1851,
by E. H. Derby and Co., in the Clerk’s Office of the Northern District of New York
______

Touchpoint Prayers

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

Everyone needs prayer. The strongest Christian needs prayer. The weakest sinner needs prayer. The billionaire needs prayer. The politician needs prayer. The man behind me in line at the grocery store needs prayer.

Years ago, after one particularly important ambulance trip, I started a habit of praying every time I hear sirens. I pray for everyone involved, for protection, healing, wisdom, direction, peace… I do this because someone needs to be praying over the situation and I may be the only one who is.

Then I began praying over people that have pulled over beside the road, even if they’ve left their cars. I don’t know what is needed at the time, but God does and I ask Him to supply it. Sometimes, after I pass them, I realize I’ve been praying over a police officer and I smile. With their jobs, they really need prayer.

Now I pray like this all the time, for strangers all over the place. They don’t have to be doing anything particularly right or wrong. I just try to stay sensitive and aware. They are unconsciously coming into contact with me and that gives me a chance to pray God’s blessings over them.

They’ll never know anyone prayed for them, unless God tells them. But what if they are desperately in need of prayer in that moment? They deserve to have someone pray, and at that point in time that someone is me.

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

The Passover Lamb

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

It’s Passover, or will be at sundown.

Yes, we in Christian culture know it as Good Friday, and it is a VERY Good Friday. A few years back, however, I grew hungry for more knowledge of the Jewish Jesus. I had a desire to understand where Jesus and His disciples were coming from, so I began researching more about what it meant to be a Jew. As I learned, Good Friday became even more awesome than before.

Passover isn’t just a celebration of God delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt. It is so much more, and what happens during this feast lies not only at the roots of Jewish culture but that of Christianity as well. The Jews flocked to Jerusalem with their required sacrifices, those spotless lambs they had been keeping carefully for this, The Lord’s Feast. This was no mere offering up of the life of a perfect lamb to them; it was spiritual life and death. Only if they brought an acceptable sacrifice would their sins be covered for the following year – and only for the year.

Think on that a moment. They put forth a massive amount of effort to fulfill their responsibility in this. Whether they counted it labor or honor, it was WORK to preserve a spotless lamb and bring it to the Temple, to wait their turn to actually make their offering in the midst of a chaotic symphony of bleating and talking and prayers and…and the shedding of so much blood. They did all of this trusting God to cover their sins for a single year, planning to return the following year to do the same.

There is much more to Passover, but this is the point to which I wished to bring us. On THAT Passover, THE Perfect Lamb offered Himself up instead. From that moment on, these annual sacrifices became unnecessary because His blood didn’t simply cover our sins for a single year; rather, it washed them away forever.

Oh, how He loved us!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C