How To Store Up Prayer For A Crisis?

“Can you imagine starting a rainy day bank account the day your house gets flooded?” [1]
(p.74)

When Kesleigh and Chad began the 40 Day Prayer Challenge they had no idea that one day they would be facing a family crisis that required “prayers in the bank.”

Kesleigh and Chad’s Story

Our church had just presented The Prayer Challenge for couples to pray together at least five minutes per day.

Well, to tell you the truth, up until this time, Chad and I have not been the most consistent prayer partners. I guess we both have just assumed that we were praying for each other, just not together. Which, honestly, has been the case.

After our first precious prayer together, I was sold that I never want to go another day without being next to my sweetheart talking to my Savior.

It’s just amazing to be held by my husband listening to him verbally thank God for the gift he was given. What could be better than hearing my husband acknowledge the difficult job of mothering four kids, keeping up with a house, and trying to work outside the home. It was just precious to hear Chad ask blessings over me.

In the same way, I prayed for him in a way I’ve never prayed before. I was able to present specific requests for Chad and fears I know he has but doesn’t talk about. It was fantastic.

I believe it will also help our parenting. It’s interesting to hear the different perspectives we have regarding our children and who they are becoming. Each perspective brings a different request to the Lord. I believe our children will be blessed ten times over because of the commitment to pray together.

In a world that is ruled by material possessions, it’s nice to be able to have something special that no one will ever be able to take away and that will reward us far more than anything money can buy. Thank you, Jesus, for the gift of YOU.

I’m excited to continue The 40 Day Challenge and continue to watch what the Lord does in our marriage and in our everyday lives. I strongly encourage you to take the challenge!!! [2]

—Kesleigh Castle

We often talk about how learning to pray together is similar to saving money for a rainy day. In the same way as learning to save money long before your house burns down, learning to pray together as a couple puts prayers in God’s bank and prepares you for unexpected days of crisis.

This is Kesleigh’s note to us seven years later.

Kesleigh and Chad’s Post Script: A Family Crisis

It’s amazing how God works and prepares us for the future even when we can’t see it. Just a few years after accepting the 40 Day Prayer Challenge, we heard the words a parent never wishes to hear: “Your child has cancer.”

Instant fear, sorrow and worry come at full force and attack even at a Christ-centered marriage and family.

Our six-year old son Clayton endured 42 weeks of chemotherapy, 28 days of radiation, extreme sickness and multiple hospital stays.

As a couple who had previously learned to pray together, we had the ability to pray each other through the hardest days of our lives. It was not easy! It challenged us to the core of our relationship, but our marriage—unlike so many in a family crisis—survived.

God gave us a peace that is inexplicable; the ability to be strong when we only knew how to be weak. Most importantly, He healed our son completely!

We are forever grateful for the gift of praying together and the gift of knowing that we serve a God who hears us when we cry out to Him.

—Kesleigh Castle

God’s creatures are disciplined and consistent.  In the summer ants gather all of their food and save it …so when winter comes there is plenty to eat.
—Proverbs 6:8, NIV

            We must do the same with our prayer life so that when trouble comes we will have a storehouse of prayer to call upon.

[1] (pg. 73 – 40 DPC Book)

[2] Kesleigh Castle, http://www.kescastle.blogspot.com/, June 8, 2008.