Made For Each Other

One of the things I love about our community of faith is the people from multiple generations that come together on Sunday to worship. We have the privilege to have ten in our small congregation who are octogenarians or older.

When my parents died, I felt a keen sense of responsibility to continue the legacy of prayer they had filled in the family.  At first, I thought that I alone carried that burden, but then I realized one of the beauties of being involved in a community of faith is to know you do not pray alone. Others pray alongside you. 

This is a small piece of LaVonda's story and her legacy of prayer.

“I come into this room every day at 3:00,” LaVonda said as she led me through her home.

The late morning sun, shining through the sliding glass door, highlighted the thick notebook set out on a white table in the corner of the bedroom.

“When my grandchildren were born, I began praying for mates for them. Each one married a Christian spouse and each is involved in some way in Christian ministry. About ten years ago, I began praying for other people.”

She opened the notebook filled with photos, Christmas cards and handwritten notes. The stories spilled out:

An awkward young man who met a beautiful woman online. A lonely fellow who had his eye on a vivacious new hire at his work. A woman who was raised by missionary parents.

The stories crossed international borders. Pakistan. Holland. Botswana. Kurdistan.

LaVonda pulled out photograph after photograph.

“This is one of my girls,” she said, pointing to a tall brunette by a smiling man and two happy children. “They were married about seven years ago.”

LaVonda attended the wedding.

The girl had been part of LaVonda’s Made For Each Other prayer list, a list LaVonda started as she began praying for young men and women to find a spouse—a list that eventually grew to fill the notebook I was looking at now, a list of names that LaVonda prays for when the clock strikes three. The book currently contains the names of thirty-eight singles and ten married couples, her “success stories”, according to LaVonda.

“I was going to stop praying for people once they were married,” LaVonda said, “but God told me, ‘Don’t quit praying for them. They need it now as much as they ever did before.’”

(Married people around the world give a resounding "Amen!")

At age 84 and a half – the half emphasized by LaVonda, because “each day matters at my age”, she is still a big believer in romance and love.

We talked a little about dating and the trend among some Christian circles to not date. “It’s like they are waiting for God to just deposit someone in their life,” LaVonda said, shaking her head. “I don’t agree with that.”

She told a fun story about her own dating life. “Don’t write that down!” she instructed and went off on another tale, her eyes, beneath her cloud of white hair, lost in memory.

“I pray for the kids that they will live the life God has planned and ordained for them. I pray they make good choices. Some may never get married. That’s God’s business.”

She closed the notebook and placed it back on the table. “My job is to pray.”

Who do you pray for? Who prays alongside you?

Perhaps you say, "I don't have others who pray for those I love."

If that is the case, what an awesome task you have to be the one who prays.