Orphan Day Of Prayer {Sunday Snapshot}

Have you ever prayed for something so hard that you just KNEW in your heart that God would answer your prayer.......and then He didn't?  At least you didn't think He did.  I have.  There is a child on the waiting list I had a very, very strong feeling KNEW was our daughter.  I was drawn to this child.  I sent my wonderful friend Annie an email one day and said "I don't know if this is compassion or if she is ours." I did know that I HAD to pray for this child.  I have never prayed so much in my life.  I prayed for God's will for her. I prayed for God to speak to my husband's heart about her. I prayed that SOMEONE would love this little girl as much as I do and bring her home. Every where I turned there were signs that I was following God's lead to this child.  I even got a fortune cookie and her name was on the fortune!  I prayed.  I prayed in the shower. I prayed while I cooked for my family. I prayed while I did laundry. I prayed while I drove to and from our children's school. I can honestly say that I have never prayed so much and I have never seen so many signs that I was doing the right thing. The more I prayed the more I saw links to this sweet little girl.  But you see.....they were not links to bring her into our family.  They were links drawing me closer to God.  The more I prayed the closer I felt to God. My husband told me he didn't feel like she would be a good fit for our family. After we started talking about it I knew he was right that our family would probably not be the best choice for this child.  It would have been so easy for me to stop praying for her....but I couldn't.  God was calling me to pray for her and to help find her family.  Know what?  I am pretty sure she is going to have a family soon.  Know what?  That makes this mama's heart VERY happy.....an answer to prayers....not my original specific prayers but an answer that God's will is being followed for her and in turn drawing me closer to God.  It would have been so easy for us to fill out the paperwork and bring her home but our home is not the home she needs.

Having realized all of this I thought it would be wonderful to have an Orphan Day Of Prayer.  My friend Annie has been doing a lot of praying too.  She has her own story about what brought us to this Orphan Day Of Prayer.  In the past few months we have made each other laugh and cry a LOT.  We both have surrendered our hearts to God's will in our lives as we pray for the many orphans, their needs, the needs of the families who would love to bring them home and those who are home and facing the realities of grief and adjustment.

If you would like to join Annie and me this week please post your prayer request here on my blog or on Annie's blog (or both) this week. Your prayer request can be anything that is weighing on your heart about orphans. Please also join us in praying for everyone who posts on our blogs.  Both of us have a button on our blog that we would love you to share with others in asking them to also pray for the orphans. We originally were going to have a day of prayer but we have decided to do this all week.  So starting today please feel free to post your prayer requests. Even if they are unspoken requests....God knows your heart and He will hear  your prayers.