I’ll Pray for You…No, Just Kidding

Photo Credit: schlomaster

Have you ever been guilty of telling someone, “I’ll pray for you,” and then never lifting their need up in prayer? I have–many times. Often, I’ll try to pray for them right away so my promise doesn’t become a lie–but it usually ends up being a rushed, “Hey, God, do this for me, okay?” prayer, rather than a whole-hearted supplication. Often, I’ll even have the desire to pray, but I don’t know where to begin. Sometimes, I feel like there are so many things to pray about, that I can’t pray about any, because I’ll feel guilty about not praying about the things I didn’t have time for.

Enter: Echo Prayer. Two weeks ago, a friend of mine (thanks, Steph!) posted a link to Echo Prayer on her facebook wall with no explanation. I’m not usually a link-clicker, but this time I clicked and discovered an amazing new tool!

Echo Prayer is a free service that allows the user to create a prayer list with notes about each prayer topic. Once you’ve entered several things you’d like to pray about, you can schedule times for Echo Prayer to text or e-mail you a reminder to pray for a specific or random request.

One thing I’ve loved this service for is praying for my students. I added a prayer for each of the classes I currently teach, one for students I know and see at school but don’t teach, and one for former students. For each prayer, I entered a list of the students’ names so no one gets left out. I’ve even set it up so I pray for current students more often than I pray for former students I don’t see anymore. I love being reminded to pray for my students without the burden of feeling like I have to pray for them all at once.

I’ve scheduled a random prayer to be texted to me during my 3rd period prep at school because I usually send Dexter a text during that hour and have my phone out anyway. I usually check my e-mail during 6th period, so that’s when I get a prayer e-mailed to me. I don’t always have time to pray when I get the alert, but I feel less guilty about not praying because I’ve prayed for more things in general.

I don’t feel like I’m using the Echo Prayer for its fullest potential yet. I’d love to add in more prayers and even set specific times and days to pray about certain topics. But, right now, I’m loving being able to pray for the people I love more often!

Check out more Try New Adventures which is being hosted by Sarah at Loved Like the Church this week. You can also find more Things I Love at The Diaper Diaries.