Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover

"And this is the confidence that we have in him, that,

if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us"

-1 John 5:14

"Don't judge a book by it's cover."

That's what I kept thinking after I got off the phone with one of my girlfriends. She shared some devastating news with me. The kind of news that is all to common in our society but devastating none the less.

She was the girl that had it all together. I love her dearly but I have also always been *slightly* jealous of her. She has many traits that I often wish I had!

To be honest after talking with her and hearing her news, I felt terrible. I totally judged her, and I got it all wrong. I always thought she had it together, that things were perfect for her. But they aren't. And silly me for thinking that way, they aren't for anyone!

I can honestly say all these years we have been friends and I have barely prayed for her. I have a few friends who are going though tough spots right now. They have been open with sharing their struggles with me so I have been diligent on praying for them.

But her. She had it all together, she didn't need prayer! Oh how wrong I was.

See, the mistake I made was thinking that only people in my life who were in tough spots need prayer. But we all need it. We all do, all the time. If we aren't in a tough spot now, its because we just got out of one or we are headed into one. That's just life.

Now, I am not saying that by my lack of prayer I contributed directly to her issue. But prayer is important for many, many reasons. One of which is to bring us closer to God and another is to bring us closer to each other.

Had I been praying for her, despite my incorrect assessment that her life was perfect (and my admitted jealousy), I may have been more in tune with knowing what was going on with her.  I would have been checking in on her on a more regular basis. I would have known sooner that something was a miss and that might have made a difference!

Don't judge a book by it's cover.

And don't judge your friends by what you see on Facebook.

We all have issues that we keep inside and don't share. We all have things we need prayer for.

I encourage you to reach out to that women who you think has it all together. Reach out to her and ask her how she is really?! And ask her what you can pray for her about. Chances are that if you think she's got it together, others do to. This may leave her uncovered by important prayer!

I had a Facebook friend who posted a picture of her empty calendar. She told her friends that she wanted to pray for them. Pick and day and she would pray specifically on that day for their specific need. I loved this idea, so I copied it.

I asked all of my friends to tell me what they needed and on what day. Folks, it was shocking who needed pray and for what! Some posted on my wall and others privet messaged me with their pray requests. I was taken aback by the amount of people who I thought were leading happy non-prayer-needing-lives, but were really craving prayer!

I am sad for my friend. I am sad that I let her down in prayer! But, remember, where we mess up, Jesus cleans up! I encourage you to take two minuets right now and pray for that one women in your life who you think has it all together.  Because I guarantee you, she doesn't.

Pray without ceasing.
 1 Thessalonians 5:17