Don't waste your insomnia

"Intercede:  To act or interpose on behalf of someone in difficulty or trouble, as by pleading or petition."  "Synonyms:  Advocate, intermediate, negotiate."  (Dictionary.com)
For the last two nights I have been awakened at around 2 a.m. for no identifiable reason.  My first impulse was to be irritated that my precious sleep had been interrupted...a non-productive response, to say the least.  It soon became apparent that I had been handed a golden opportunity to give back to others the gift I have been given by so many over the past months.  I could use this time for intercessory prayer.
Prayer has no boundaries.  I prayed for a friend in Korea, as yet unmet in person, who is walking her cancer journey. I prayed for another as yet  unmet friend in Payson who is walking her cancer walk as a young single mom.  I prayed for a friend who faces surgery in less than two weeks and for another friend whose adult child struggles with divorce and its aftermath.  I prayed for my brother-in-law who leads the way in our family on this uninvited journey and for his wife, my sister, who walks alongside him.  I prayed for friends who do not yet know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior....and these are but a few of the many God brought to mind.  "What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer", as the grand old hymn proclaims!  I am looking forward to exercising this privilege many, many times over as I take this journey, whether it be at 2 a.m. or not.
Allow me a couple of quotes before I close the page on this entry:
"Intercession is the mother tongue of the whole family of Christ."-Dora Greenwell
"Intercession...is love on its knees."-Harry Emerson Fosdick
"In praying for people one dislikes I find it helpful to remember that one is joining in His prayer for them."-C.S. Lewis
And for me, nothing captures the heart of this subject in Scripture as faithfully as the King James Version of James 5:16:  ".......the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

Please pray that this afternoon's chemo treatment goes well and that the lab report will show that my blood numbers are holding steady.  I experience the benefits of your faithful prayers continually and I thank you sincerely.