T
he Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, once said of Mothers’ Union: ‘The Mothers’ Union campaigns excellently, it nurtures wonderfully, but above all and beneath all, it prays – thank God’. And he’s absolutely right – we do! Everything we undertake in the name of Mothers’ Union; our projects and initiatives, our campaigning for social justice, our care for one another, all are built on a foundation of prayer. And once up and running, are supported by an ongoing reliance on prayer. So far so true! But if we’re honest, many of us would admit to finding it hard to always know what to pray and to know how to pray, whether in our own personal times or with others. When we read in the Bible directions such
as pray continually, or pray and don’t give up we can sometimes see this as an impossibility rather than an inspiration! It’s not that we don’t believe in the power of prayer or the willingness of God to answer, it’s just that the actual mechanics of engaging meaningfully in the process can often prove to be a challenge. Or am I the only one who has surreptitiously looked at my watch during a time of prayer, finding to my dismay that only five minutes have gone and I can’t think of one more thing to say? Of course, we all know people who seem to have a real gift of praying and whose prayers are inspiring and effective – and I’ve met many of you through my work with Mothers’ Union. But God values every faltering attempt as much
as the articulate offerings of the gifted. So the aim behind Praying with Purpose is to make it as easy as possible for everyone to naturally engage in prayer, and to find it encouraging and meaningful. It does this by offering different ways for both groups and individuals at home to create a prayer time which is accessible and enjoyable. Praying with Purpose consists of a number of resources which you can use to select prayer suggestions to put together a “bespoke” prayer time for a particular need. At the heart of these resources are templates for prayer times into which you can incorporate your chosen ideas. These follow a pattern, which starts by building faith, giving thanks for answered prayer, intercession for
Sometimes praying can be really hard, but God appreciates all our efforts, says Catherine Kyte
DON’T BE LOST FOR WORDS 40
www.mothersunion.org