Prayer Buddy time!

I have said it several times on this blog, but stumbling into our little blogging community has been one of the greatest gifts I have received throughout the last 3.5 years of heartache.

It was during one of the lowest points of this journey, when I was just about ready to abandon my faith in my quest to build a family (not literally, but I was incredibly confused and distraught), that I sat down one day at the computer and typed Catholic Infertility Blogs into the Goo.gle search bar. Little did I know that this search would put my husband and I on a journey that would finally be flooded with hope. Through these blogs I have found new friends, new perspectives, and new faith in God's plan for us.

One of the things I love about this community is the way in which we pray together- for each other and with each other. I love that this little group of believers is living as the earliest Christians did - in community with each other.

Each of us has our own unique cross to bear. But, despite our differences, what we have in common is that we carry our crosses together.

God has worked some incredible miracles in our little blogosphere, and many took place during or soon after a Prayer Buddy season. I have no doubt that He will continue to work wonders during this upcoming Prayer Buddy season.

Participating in this prayer partner swap has been a great way for me to turn my suffering away from myself, and instead focus my energy on blessing someone else, who is also experiencing brokenness. In praying for others, I have received a peace that is hard to explain, but oh so wonderful.

So, I totally recommend signing up. You don't have to have a blog. You don't even have to be infertile. You just have to be open to prayer and willing!

If you are interested (and I know some of my peeps are!), Here you go:

• E-mail me at thehendersonstory@gmail.com to sign-up. 

• All participants must send an e-mail, this includes both new and past prayer buddies. 
• New participants - please see the note at the bottom.  
• If you have participated before, we just need your e-mail, we have all your other information from previous sign-ups (unless something has changed that you need to let us know about). 
• Please share any prayer intentions in your sign-up e-mail if you would like (optional) and we will pass them onto your prayer buddy.
• Deadline to sign-up is Saturday, August 6th. 
• Someone will contact you with your assigned prayer buddy by Wed. August 10th. 

• How you pray for your buddy - that is completely up to you! 

• Please notify the person you were praying for on Sept 29th, or shortly thereafter.  Everyone wants to know who has been praying for them!  

Please, please, please don't forget to notify your prayer buddy after the prayer buddy session ends and let them know that you prayed for them. As we have long said, gifts for your prayer buddy are optional, but we do want you to reach out to your fellow blogger / non-blogger and let them know who was praying for them. For the last couple of sessions there have been a few bloggers that ended up not knowing who prayed for them. We can provide that information at the end, but it is always nicer if the prayer buddy reached out themselves.

• NEW PARTICIPANTS (Bloggers and Non-Bloggers)!  Please provide your real name (just your 1st name is okay too), mailing address, blog name, and any intentions you would like to include.  If you do not have a blog, that is fine, just please provide your name, your mailing address, intentions and indicate that you do not have a blog (so there is no confusion and we match you with another non-blogger.)  Bloggers will continue to be matched with bloggers and non-bloggers will be matched with non-bloggers.  Mailing addresses for everyone are OPTIONAL.  Some prayer buddies like to send a little something at the end of the prayer buddy session, but it is not mandatory. If you don't want to send anything, you don't have to. Mrs. Henderson and I will not share the mailing addresses with others, except for your assigned prayer buddy. 

• Questions - please let me (thehendersonstory@gmail.com) or Joy Beyond the Cross (gaudium08@gmail.com) know and we will try to get back to you as soon as possible.  
• Remember - commenting doesn't sign you up, you have to email me!