Prayer Partners After God's Heart

Over two years ago I was struggling personally and my daughter was having some health issues.  I felt all alone in what seemed like a nightmare.  I prayed, cried and struggled to keep it all together.  I wondered where God was and questioned who I was and why would God allow things to come crashing down on me.

Then one evening a friend on Facebook sent me the most beautiful prayer that she said God placed on her heart to share with me.  I wept and knew that it was words of comfort and affirmation from God.  This Facebook friend did not know me personally nor did she know what my personal struggles were.  However, her prayers were specifically for me like she had known me all my life.  It was words that I needed to hear.  At that moment, I knew that we had to meet so I invited her to lunch one day.


My prayer partner, Sarah Long

 Our spirit instantly connected and we each shared our struggles, our inner conflicts, our faith, our doubts, questioning, and our love for God.  We both had different stories, but similar themes.  From that point on, we knew God divinely introduced us to each other for some reason and purpose.  We communicated by phone, text, email and Facebook.  She was even a guest speaker at one of my Victorious Women's event.  She had asked me if I would have an interest in being her prayer partner.  I told her that I did not have time since I was back in school working on my Master's degree and working full time.  She told me that she had been praying for a prayer partner, but God had not revealed that person to her yet. 

About six months ago, I was at a really dark place that is often referred to as a dark night of the soul.  She was sending me personal daily prayers and devotions that were piercing my soul and exactly what I needed at the time.  It was at this place that God revealed to me a vision of a ministry that He is orchestrating in my life.  It was so overwhelming so again I reached out to my friend and invited her to my home for lunch and prayer.  One weekend we even went to Smith Mountain Lake to meet with her mentor so that he could help me to discern this vision and pray with me. 

It was that weekend that her mentor said, "LaDawn is your prayer partner."  She told him that over a year ago she had asked me, but I didn't have time.  She shared that with me what her mentor said.  So I told her that we would both pray about it and see what God would reveal to us.  Once I began to pray, there was no question that we were supposed to be prayer partners.  So we scheduled our prayer times to meet every other week.  During this time, we read scripture, meditated, updated each other on where we are at spiritually, being transparent with each other and sharing our inner struggles and conflicts between spirit and flesh, praying for guidance, truths, and God's will and direction for our lives.

I must say this is one of my most favorite times that I look forward to every other week.  It has been one of the most revealing, enriching, and deepening experiences of my faith and spirituality.  It feels so good that I can share with my prayer partner all of my failures, short comings, inner conflicts, and struggles knowing that she will never stop loving me nor judge me.  We both keep each other accountable and pray for each other outside of our prayer time.  We often receive and share words that we receive from the spirit for each other.

I know in my heart that it is no accident that God put Sarah Long, my prayer partner, into my life.  I am so grateful to her for allowing me to be authentic and transparent with what I am struggling with in my waking life circumstances.  I appreciate her willingness to stand in the gap for me when I feel like I don't have any faith to muster up.  She has helped me to grow spiritually, to be vulnerable, to deepen my relationship with God and also to be able to trust again in relationships. 

I would encourage others to pray for a prayer partner if you are wanting to deepen your relationship with God and experience the Holy Spirit with a shared spiritual revealing of what is possible.  I cannot say enough about how life transforming this has been for me.  Thank you Sarah Long for being obedient and patient as you prayed for a prayer partner for over two years.  God was working in me and preparing me for this appointed time with you!  I am so grateful and appreciative for you!  I love you sweet sister!