By Kayla Gilmore
I just got a new marketing and communications intern at work and I’m really excited about him being on the team. Our church interns aren’t paid but we find host families for them to stay with. My boss and I searched for a few months, asked some people and had no luck finding him a place to stay. Finally, we were down to two weeks before his arrival and I was starting to really worry because his internship was contingent on us finding him a place to stay. So I asked some people to pray and I started praying even more fervently than I had before. About 5 days after I put what I like to call “prayer fire” on the matter, we found a place for him to stay!
This situation reminded me that I need to do a few things. First, I need to worry less and pray more. I need to pray more specifically and I need to ask for prayer when I need help too. I know many of you are praying for us on a daily basis and I want you all to know that we feel them and so appreciate them.
So I’m giving my worry back to God for about the millionth time (somehow I keep taking it back). And I’m asking you to pray for the following for us with fervent prayer.
1. Joel’s health – some days are better than others but most days are rough. His medicine helps, but don’t always take the pain away. His joints are swollen, he has extreme fatigue and it’s hard to fight off infections. When a day is particularly hard, it’s difficult for him emotionally because feeling sick 24/7 wears on him. I tell people if you think of how you feel when you have the flu, that’s pretty much how he feels all the time. Please pray for healing, physically and emotionally.
2. As of March 3, our “case” is on the social security disability desk. They have 12 months from that date to schedule a hearing. It’s been 2 ½ years since Joel was able to work and we’ve had major debt accrue because of it, so we need the disability to come in ASAP. Please pray it is approved very soon.
3. Our medical bills and prescriptions are continual and sometimes overwhelming. Please pray for financial resources to cover these.
4. Finally, I just ask you pray for our family. Our boys are awesome but it can be difficult on us all when we have to adjust our plans on how Joel is feeling and watch him suffer so much.
Again, thank you for your prayer fire! We can’t even begin to tell you how thankful we are for it! And we are here to share your burdens as well so please don’t hesitate to ask us for prayer for you too. If you’re going through a difficult situation, it is hard and we never compare ours to that. We are here to lean each other!
joelgilmore 