The Power of Prayer

Written by: Lauren LeBlanc

I haven’t always worked in Family Ministry or even Children’s Ministry as we used to be called. To be honest, there was a time it never would have even occurred to me, but the road here is an interesting story and comes with a bit of a confession.

One of the ways that I first got involved with serving at Heritage was helping to count the offering. Every week I would come in with the other volunteers and help Pat and Tracey count the preceding Sunday’s donations and prepare the bank deposit. This would lead to me hearing about a need for help in the nursery and eventually working with Family Ministry.

However our story takes place about a year into my helping with the nursery kiddos on a warm, sunny, summer’s day. Picture it! I had come in to assist with counting the offering like I would any other week. On this particular day, I was sitting next to Pat as we worked, and one of our congregation’s awesome prayer warriors walked in holding what looked like a connect card that had been folded in half. They unfolded it and set it down on the table between Pat and me saying, “Hey this isn’t the first time this anonymous prayer request has come through. Do we need to keep praying for this guy or do we consider it done since we’ve prayed for it in the past?”

Now here’s where my confession comes in: I peeked at the connect card from the corner of my eye. I just couldn’t help myself. The request written on the card asked for prayers for help with finding a job for the author that would allow them to provide for their family while still making it possible for them to be everywhere they needed to be when they needed to be there and also allowing them to heal.

Pat looked over the card and replied, “I’m not so sure that the person who wrote this is a guy, and yes, we need to keep praying for them. If it’s still coming in as a request then it’s an ongoing concern for them, and we should continue to pray for them.”

The card was then folded back up and everyone went about their day. Well if you haven’t already guessed, the prayer request was mine. I had recognized my own handwriting the moment the card had hit the tabletop, and a few weeks later, I was hired as the Children’s Ministry Assistant. 

You see, I had worked at a corporate office job for quite a few years. I had been promoted, worked in multiple departments to gain experience, and was steadily making progress towards becoming a manager with my company. Then everything went sideways. Both of my grandparents passed away. My daughter had to have surgery. My company did a complete internal restructuring and software overhaul. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer which quickly spread and took her life. My daughter started kindergarten. My father’s side of the family finally got in touch, which brought me not only the dad I had always wanted to meet, but also my amazing bonus mom and a whole slew of siblings. Seriously, we could probably form a softball team between ourselves and our kids. It’s just life, but it was A LOT to take in over a short period of time. That coupled with several medical issues that I had assiduously ignored or tried to force into submission, resulted in my needing to take a major step back and focus on myself and my family. 

Now those who know me know that resting is not something I do or rather do willingly. I picture God sending me messages to rest like the scene from Harry Potter where the letters from Hogwarts kept coming. And coming. And coming. So naturally, I did not take this step back lying down. I went back to school, I volunteered with the PVO at Maria’s school and her Scout pack, and I asked Ashley Allen to help me find ways to help out around Heritage…which brings us back to our story

I had gotten a little better, but was still plagued with the aforementioned issues. I worried that going back to work would make things worse. I worried that staying home would keep me stagnant. And despite all of the volunteering and going to school and Scouts, I was lonely. I was tired. I was scared. I was lost. I kept saying prayers asking for guidance and wondered if anyone heard me. 

God definitely heard me. He upended my world so I would have no choice but to start making the changes I needed to make. He gave me a new road to travel. He opened my eyes to new possibilities. He gave me courage to move forward, even when everything in me said, “I’m not so sure about this.” He removed people from my life that weren’t helping me to heal or grow, and replaced them with a larger, richer family. He gave me support and people that have sustained me in some of the bleakest hours of my life. He gave me work that has brought me great joy: we have some truly amazing kiddos and families here, and I am so grateful to get to know them. He also gave me work which allowed me time to focus on my health and to focus on growing closer to Him. God heard me and hears me still. He hears us all.