The Power of a Praying Woman

Today, I talk about the power of a praying woman. When I think about that phrase, I don't immediately think of a sermon or a book, I think about my grandma Jackson. 

She was a Godly woman who spent countless hours in God's Word. If she wasn't reading her Bible, chances are she was  listening to Billy Graham preach the gospel. Hefaith wasn't something she talked about only on Sundays; it was something she lived every single day!

Transcript

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Welcome to the Born to Win podcast for the ones who stumbled, the ones who have wrestled, and the ones who decided not to quit. I am HD, and this space is about real people, real stories, and a very real Jesus. Here we share testimonies of what happens when you stop running aimlessly and you start running with purpose. This podcast exists because none of us were created to live an accidental life. We were born to win on purpose with Jesus. So whether you're brand new to faith, coming back after a long hiatus, or walking closely with Jesus but hungry for more, you belong here. These stories aren't about having it all together. They're about what happens when surrender meets grace. And ordinary people say yes to an extraordinary Jesus. So take a breath, lean in, and let these testimonies remind you your past doesn't disqualify you, your pain isn't wasted, and your race is far from over. Let's get to it. Oh my goodness gracious. Life has been crazy, y'all. It's been crazy in such a good way. I've been traveling a lot, speaking, and a little bit of personal travel here and there. And so it's just been a minute since we've had an episode. And I'm excited to do this solo episode, and then we have some amazing, amazing guests coming up over the next couple of episodes. So I'm excited about that. But today I wanted to talk to you about the power of a praying woman. And what started this was I did a little snippet for a class that I'm in. We talked about something from your childhood or someone from your childhood that affected you and had a lasting impression. And my grandma Jackson was the person that I just had to speak about. She was incredible. She was adopted, I think, by her aunt. And then when she grew up, she had two kids. And then when she met my grandpa, somehow those two kids got left behind. And then she had eight kids with my grandpa who was abusive mentally and physically. And somehow, through all of that, she never lost her love of Jesus. She never remarried after my grandpa, and they were divorced before I was even born. But I have her Bible here in front of me, and it's it's the pages have fallen out, and there's a stick of gum in here that who knows when it's from, somehow the gum and the wrapper have become one. But just looking through her Bible and reading the notes that she wrote and the things that she underlined, and I don't remember her ever. It seems like every time I went to her house when I would come in, she was reading the word and watching Billy Graham. And I just think that there's so many of us in my family, although many of us have strayed, not everyone, but a lot of us. I think we all come back because of the power of the prayer of my grandma Jackson. And I think she affected a whole community. She made pies for people, and she would always make me a little uh hot pie size pie of my own, of each pie that she made. And the softball team in town would come over to her house and they would have her French braid their hair, and she would just line them up and go through the whole line of the girls. She went to church camp as the cook every year, I think that I can remember. I mean, of my life. And she was just such a servant heart. And as crazy as all of us kids, there was, I think when she died, we were on our maybe fifth generation, and all of us thought we were her favorite. Every one of us would argue that we were her favorite, and she'd she never yelled, she didn't have to. When grandma would grunt, and when she would grunt, we knew we were we were crossing the line, and so we would straighten up. But I just was thinking about you know the power of a praying woman. I wish I had known more about this when I was a mom with my kids growing up. I just didn't know at that point the power of my voice. But, you know, a woman may not always have the loudest voice in the room, but when she prays, she has access to the greatest power in the universe. Is that not incredible? You don't have to be the loudest voice in the room, you just have to know the right person, right? You have to have that right connection. And, you know, used to, I would say BC before Christ, but I've been I've been a believer since I was seven years old. So I can't really say before, but before I was I had a relationship with the Lord. Um prayer was kind of my last resort when things were going bad or I needed something, or I would go to go to go to him in prayer. And it should not be our last resort, it's our first response. Now, I mean, I'm in prayer all day, every day. Like it's just Lord, thank you for this. Lord help me, you know, when I'm at Walmart, Lord give me favor, like all these little things just constantly throughout the day, and it has really just changed my life so much. Um, and you know, a praying woman changes not only her circumstances and her life, but also herself, because when you're in that constant state of prayer, it it changes who you are, it changes who you are. Um, I I just you know, there's a scripture, James 5, 16, the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Ain't that the truth? Like we just we we don't, I think a lot of us just don't understand the power of our words, the power of our voice, the power of our prayer. And um, I just I don't know, prayer it strengthens your faith, it brings peace in difficult seasons, it aligns our hearts with God's will. And before God changes the situation, he often changes us because we have to sometimes change our perspective, and then the whole situation changes. And I was thinking, I read something that said a praying mother impacts generations, and I think that's kind of what led me to my grandma. She just, gosh, the hours she must have spent praying, you know, eight kids and 450,000 grandkids and great-grandkids. I mean, there's a lot of us. Um, I don't know exactly how many, but it there's a lot. And just the thing, I know she was praying for each and every one of us. No wonder she was always in her words. She was always praying. And there's a lot of us that probably needed a lot more prayer than some of the others. If I'm being honest, I was probably one of them. But you know, a praying mother, a praying grandmother, it impacts generations, and a praying wife brings strength into her home. That's another aspect that I'm I'm missing because although I was praying while I was raising my girls, I don't think I was I wasn't praying the right way. I wasn't praying the right words, I didn't understand the power in my prayer. And looking back, I feel like I prayed for the wrong things, and I I did a lot of whining more than praying. But, you know, the other thing is a praying friend stands in the gap for others. I don't know what I would do and where I would be if I didn't have praying friends. I am surrounded by good, godly women who pray for me. And you know, I pray for them. I have a prayer board in my room in my little prayer corner, and I just put people's names on there. And, you know, I just I try to be so aware and so in tune with the spirit that when somebody is lands on my spirit, that I make sure and pray for them. I don't need to know why, or I know the spirit puts them on my heart for a reason, and I just go with that. You know, the other thing is prayer gives strength for the battle. We're all gonna have battles. There's always gonna be battles. And if you don't know how to pray, you know, oh prayer is spiritual warfare. You've gotta have, you've got to have a weapon, right? If you go to war, we would never send our soldiers to war with another country without giving them weapons. They're just gonna stand on the front line and just, well, whatever happens, happens. Here we go. No, we give them weapons. And prayer is what we need to use against the things of the world right now. It helps us face fear, disappointment, uncertainty. It's just it's so necessary. You know, putting on the armor of God every day. We did it, we have to. We just have to go into battle prepared. And even when we pray, we may not always see immediate results, but God is always working, He's always working in our behalf, He's always working behind the scenes, He's always working, He never leaves us. You know, in the Bible, Esther prayed and fasted before stepping into her purpose and changing the course of history. Are you praying for your purpose? Do you consult him on each step, or do you just run all willy-nilly like trying to figure out what the next thing is and not waiting on him? That's what I did for many, many years, decades. And it didn't get me anywhere good. We have to fast and pray, and it doesn't have to be food. A lot of people just think fasting is food. You know, I fasted social media and TV, and when I would the times I would be spending on that, I go into the word or I pray, and it just it changes, it changes the dynamic of your life. Are you praying for your family? Are you praying for your kids, your grandkids? Are you praying for your co-workers? Are you pay praying for the people who who have wronged you? Prayer is powerful. It's very powerful. Okay.