“So often we can get lost in busyness and neglect the basic essence of praying for our brothers and sisters in this world…prayer is not a magic suggestion box to God in which he hears, snaps His fingers and our prayers materialize — instead it is the communion of intimacy with God.

“We share our hopes and hearts for those who need His presence. In our prayers we ask for God’s will and trust in Him to act according to His impeccable timing — accepting how prayer changes us much more than the visual results of the prayers themselves. Praying without ceasing is staying attuned to the Spirit for the moments when He whispers to you to share your heart with Him for others.” ~ David Hulon Hood

Folks, at HEC we believe in prayer! Each week we spend time during worship hearing the concerns of those in our congregation, and of course, all of us are “standing in the need of prayer” for many different reasons. Many have specific needs of which we aren’t even aware, but we particularly want to continue remembering those without housing, those with food insecurity, and those struggling with addiction, mental illness, or physical health problems.

Today we ask your special prayer support for four of our friends who are facing an unusually challenging week: Michael and Tiffany (Tiffany is entering rehab today); Janet (Michael’s mother), who just got a diagnosis of probable lung cancer and will see her doctor again on the 31st; and James (Bryan), who is undergoing testing to learn why he is in such pain and has suddenly lost the use of his legs (he was in a wheelchair yesterday). It seems that Brian’s sermon on Psalm 23 was especially timely!