While reading over the prayer lists post, I felt so moved and had to pray right away. I just wanted to offer encouragement to those with unsaved loved ones (Terri- your post about your husband has really hit my heart hard for you). I also have family members who are unsaved and it tears my heart up. However, I try to remember the example of my mom. She married my dad when he was 22 and she was 18. She went to church, he did not. She never pushed him, she always kept the invite open for him to come with us to church, and she prayed every day for him to find Christ. Well- the Lord moved in his life and he DID find Christ as his personal Savior. BUT here is the deal: my mother prayed for 40 years (yes, 40) before she got to witness my father giving his heart over to Christ. Yes, he was 62 years old when he got saved and his heart is so sweet for the Lord. My mother died several years later, but she said to the end that seeing my dad get saved was one of the greatest gifts and joys of her life. Don't stop praying for those loved ones, guys! 

Thanks for sharing that, Pat.

Thank you so much for sharing about your family, wow 40 years!  My own Mother spent 30 years praying for me till I finally came back to living a life for Christ.  Don't you wonder why it seems to take so long?  Most stories I hear ....you never hear oh it only took a year or two, its always 20+ years.  God bless your Mom for having             "stick to itiveness"!  I pray that the Lord will encourage me to stay diligent in my prayers even when it seems my heart just wants to give up sometimes.  Can't thank you enough for the encouragement your story has brought for me.

Terri Lynn

My mom prayed for about 30 years for my step-dad and he came to the Lord a few years ago.  It makes me feel so...impatient?  I really want to strive to be that faithful in prayer.  It's so easy to get lazy about praying for people.  It's easy to pray for my kids, but I have a brother I haven't seen in 28 years and I don't even know where he is with the Lord. 

One of my prayers is that the Lord will bring people to my mind so I will REMEMBER to pray for them.