And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.—Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)

A friend asked me to pray for a family that her daughter, a physician, was treating. The mother had delivered healthy twins but was seriously ill with Covid-19. The father was overwhelmed with work and care of an older child. Since I didn’t know the family, I wasn’t sure my prayers would help, but I prayed daily for the family and medical staff. A few weeks later, I learned that the mother had recovered and was home with her family. 

Then several counties in northern Kansas were ravaged by wildfires fueled by sixty-mile-per-hour winds. Many families lost everything: houses, barns, cattle, and hay. One family lost valuable Clydesdale horses. I prayed again. My church also prayed. Healing scarred land and rebuilding herds take years, but help arrived from many sources and recovery efforts are well underway. 

I’ve been asked to pray for a person contemplating divorce; a woman dying of cancer; a child in an unhealthy family situation; and a teenager in a coma following a horrific accident. Sometimes I know names; other times I have only the prayer request. Some prayers have been answered; I don’t know about others. I do know that my faith in the power of prayer has steadily grown. And I’m confident that God sees each heart, understands each hurt, and will answer every prayer in His perfect time.