Earnest prayer

Sunday morning I received a call that our friend David Pfurr collapsed from a massive heart attack. It was a tremendous shock for me, but even more so for his wife Judith who found him. We have prayed much for David over the years, and on Christmas Eve 2004 he received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. In November 2005 we celebrated their 25th anniversary which was very special for all of us. On Wednesday we celebrated his life during a beautiful service at their church. Join me in praying for Judith as she adjusts to life without David.

Judith has been a tremendous blessing to Carol and me as she has served as Head Nurse in our medical office as well as being a dear friend. During Carol’s battle with cancer, Judith was an absolute miracle when it was time to once again find a vein to obtain blood for analysis. The chemo treatments had broken down Carol’s veins to the extent that it was extremely difficult to obtain needed specimens. But Judith always was able to locate an access point with minimal discomfort, which was not possible for many nurses.

I have been thinking about so many answers to prayer since David’s home going and am reminded about James statement in 5:16 where he states; “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.” (NLT) I am convicted about being more earnest in my prayers, but admittedly that can be hard work.

Yesterday I read in grandson Jeremy’s blog (hemustbecomegreater.blogspot.com) that he has not been feeling well. He is studying in Jerusalem this semester with a group of college students. It seems to be a "bug" that is going around causing a painful cough and chest congestion. He is on antibiotics which I am praying will clear the problem shortly. Do join me in praying for him. I have been enjoying his observations and the photographs that he puts up on his blog. It sounds like a wonderful learning experience. He tells me that his sickness has been a blessing because he has been forced to slow down a bit which is an opportunity to be more productive in his homework and gives him time to learn Greek and Hebrew which was not part of his plan. Wow...there is an example of making lemonade when receiving lemons.

Thanks so much to all of you for your faithful encouragement and earnest prayers!

Love,

Chuck