When Women PrayPrøve

THINGS HAPPENS WHEN WOMEN PRAY My maternal grandmother was a sharecropper. She and my grandfather raised 15 children through the Great Depression. They faced every imaginable disadvantage associated with the times and the racial complexities of our country’s dysfunctional past. My earliest memory of her was during my preschool years. It’s when we made the annual pilgrimage to the South just to reacquaint ourselves with our culture, share our family stories, and touch base with our Southern relatives. We met at the intersection of my beginning and her ending. I was too young to fully grasp the value of those moments, but I value the memories today. I remember the ornate, old-fashioned quilt that covered her lap and the feeling of the knotted fabric where fragments of curtains, old dresses, and slacks had been cut and carefully sewn together to form a beautiful, but simply done, covering for her aching knees. Like my grandmother’s quilt, women are varied pieces of fabric, neither monolithic nor monochromatic. Each woman comes with her own history and to rob them of their unique stories for the sake of conformity would ruin the authenticity of their shared narratives. Each woman has different ethnic intersections, unique experiences, and various ranges of influence. The thread that binds this quilt and warms the heart is the thread of faith and prayer. Every woman in Scripture is your grandmother of faith. Their DNA exists in you. Their courage runs through your veins like blood. When life gets tough and the nights seem cold, you can look back at them--and always look up at God--and believe that He who has begun a good work in you shall guide you through as He did them! Always remember...When women pray, God brings about new life. When women pray, He brings redemption and reconciliation into darkness. When women pray, we find hope and joy in unexpected places. When women pray, victory is gained over injustices and the “issues” of life. When women pray, curses are turned into blessings and people are set free from bondage. When women pray, salvation comes and even what is dead can find life again! The world will turn upside-down when women get together and pray!