To say this has been a year of blessings would be almost silly, in no way doing justice to the love, support, and community we’ve felt from you here and in our shop.
The growth in our shop blew us away, and of course, our blog and homeschooling the kids kept us busy too.
A couple of years ago, I asked for prayer requests here on the blog. The response was humbling, mountain-moving, even. Hundreds of you left comments and sent emails, sending us a glimpse into your lives and allowing us the honor to go to God on your behalf.
I’m pretty sure I referred to that first post as “my gift” to you, but I know now, that it was your gift to us. Each year since I usually curl up to read the comments of this Christmas Spirit post, and have a good old fashioned sob. It’s so humbling, and reminds me that we’re all just in this together.
All going through life, drifting into circumstances, and sometimes into one another. We all have pain, and weakness, sickness and even grief. We all celebrate joys and triumphs, and it blesses us so to share in this life with you.
YOU each are such a huge part of our life, and honestly, our life wouldn’t be quite the same without you. So, if you’ll join us, we’d love to pray with you next week…after the holidays settle down.
In a feeble attempt to spend “real” time praying with you, Matt and I (and maybe a couple more PI folks) will do a video and pray with y’all over the things that are weighing on you this year. I know it takes some time to comment, but we’d love to start the new year praying with you.
Just leave us a comment on this post, and if you have a more private prayer request, you can always send me an email to shaunna@perfectlyimperfectblog.com. We’ll treasure each one, precious friends.
Many, many Blessings to you this Holiday Season and always…
So sweet!,It’s been a bit of a rocky year ,so I will be hitting you up via email!
Please pray for my family. It has been a really rough couple of years. Please pray for my health and my emotional and spiritual health as well as physical. Please pray for financial stability… we are late on our bills every month because we just do not make enough to pay all the bills…. yet we are down to a bare bones budget. There always seems to be something going wrong and the budget goes down the drain (we have no savings left at all). We lost our house and can barely afford an apartment, but we had to find one in an area where my husband could get to work so we were limited. He drives 120 miles a day. I am permanently disabled from a violent incident in my past and am unable to work. I have one son in college and he has forgotten God and is angry that he is not “rich” like his friends as if we like living on the poverty level. Another son is 19 and still has no license as we cannot afford the insurance or a car for him to drive. My husband is not a believer so it is hard for me. Please pray for our family to learn to know and trust God for our provision and may my husband and sons develop strong relationships with God. One son is on the way… another is… well… sidetracked by the values of college professors. My husband thinks he does not need God.
Oh my goodness! Thank you thank you for offering to pray! We are a military family and have tirelessly been trying to find a community and church home since being transplanted to southern GA. We have 3 small children and in order to be with my husband I had to quit my job. It’s been so rough this past two years! Definitely a season of struggles financially and emotionally! I just started following my passion for design. The reason I finally started to dip my toes in is because it was a necessity! I had to figure out a way to help support our family!
Just seeing someone offering to pray brings tears to my eyes and reminds me that there are still really good an genuine people in this world! Merry Christmas!!!
Bethany
Hi Shaunna- I have followed your blog for sometime but barely comment….bad I know. I actually met you in one of the break out sessions at Haven as well. Anyhow I felt compelled to comment this time. Your heart and love for god, moves me and inspires me deeply, not just with today
s post but every time I read your blog. Your gift today is so awesome particularly for the folks that need a little extra prayer, love and support right now for whatever hardship, reason or cause. And on behalf of those friends, thank you. Merry Christmas to you, Matt and your sweet family.
Shaunna….this blog post really touched my heart! I have been following you for quite some time and have found your posts filled with your generous heart. You give so much to your family, friends and your readers. God has blessed you with a beautiful spirit and heart and I am so touched that you would be willing to pray for me, a perfectly imperfect stranger….thank you! Please pray for me to be the best that I am meant to be, to get my weight under control and to eat healthy once again and to feel confident in myself. I am always, in my own thoughts, criticizing myself and not feeling good enough. Thank you for your generosity!
Hi! What an amazing post. Thank you for the oppertunity to share a prayer request along with the opportunity to lift up others request to The Lord. I am from Washington, IL. Although my husband and I moved to a town 4 miles over we still have family and friends Who were greatly effected by the November tornado. Although most material things can be replaced some just cannot. But more then that it’s the emotional side that my heart breaks for. My heart breaks for the heartache that comes from these lives after the storm. If you could lift up these people in prayer. That Jesus would minister to Their broken hearts for the things that cannot be replaced and the fears, insecurities, and anxiety that have found a place in many hearts.
This is soooo cool! What a blessing this is, and thank you for not being afraid to do it! I’m a young adults pastor and am enterimg a new/transition period in my miniistry starting in the new year. I need God’s wisdom, guidance and annointing. I also would like to see my prayer life grow in intimacy and consistency. We alsoneed wisdom in being intentional about our kiddos spiritual development. What can we all pray for you about?
Thank you for praying for us! Im a believer in prayer, for I believe in the One whom I pray to! The Lord Jesus Christ is my Saviour and no matter what the circumstances in our lives, I trust and believe.
Please pray for us. For my husband’s healing of his legs and feet, and also for our financial situation.
Thank you again. And God bless you abundantly.
Wow! I was blown away when I read your blog post this morning and thought about it all day. What an amazingly generous and heartfelt offer!
I live in a little place called Launceston in Tasmania, which is the island state south of Australia! I have been following you for a few months now and love your down to earth posts which are so honest.
Thank you for praying for my husband who has lots of Christian head knowledge but not so much heart knowledge (yet!). Pray for our two little girls, Harriet and Ivy who are 4 and 6 and their wonderful child faith 🙂 And finally, for me as I try but often fail to show my gratitude to God and faith in a meaningful way to my family.
I will pray for your family too! Enjoy this time of celebration of the awesome gift of baby Jesus! May you and your family be richly blessed in the coming year. Xxoo
How thoughtful of you and your husband. What a beautiful gift. It’s humbling to read the responses to your post. It sure puts my “struggles” in perspective. Though there have been some difficulties in our family, we are so blessed. Instead of sharing a need, I will be silently agreeing with your prayers for those who have needs. God knows what they are. Thank you.
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Have a Merry, Blessed Christmas and a New Year that rocks!
Tamara
Shauna,
It’s been a long time since someone offered to pray for me. I know we all are guilty of positing on someone FB post “praying for you”, but do we really PRAY for them, or is it just a bandaid to make us all feel better for a moment? I so appreciate your open heart…it touches me deeply. I need prayer to find my purpose again in life. I quit my job four and a half years ago to take care of my mom after my dad died. My mom was in the beginning stages of dementia, and it was a rough time. She passed away January 2, 2012, and I don’t know what to do with myself. The grief hit me like a ton of bricks, and I have just started to feel like me again. I know God has a purpose for us all, but I can’t find my way right now. I’m turning 54 on Monday and feel want more than anything to know that my life has meaning again. Thank you so much for being you and sharing your faith so boldly!! Merry Christmas!!!
Sherri
Please pray that our son will open his heart to his family. Thank you.
That my faith would be bigger than my fears. To overcome anxiety …
Please pray for my family. God knows the need. Many blessings to you and your family this holiday season. Bless you for doing this as well. Merry Christmas!
Please pray that God would clearly show me His purpose for my life (and that my eyes and heart would be open to receive that knowledge)…enabling me to be decisive, confident, and at peace with so many aspects of my life.
I have a newborn son and a 2 1/2 year old daughter and so first and foremost I ask for your prayers that they will be healthy and happy kiddos. My husband’s job as a professional ballroom dancer requires him to work late into the evening and participate in weekend events as well. Since I am a kindergarten teacher I start my day very early, pick my daughter up, come home and play, cook dinner, clean, do bathtime/bedtime, and then relax for a bit before the cycle starts over. My sweet husband really wants to find a job that has better hours for our family and he is tired of missing out on dinners/baths/bedtime stories. However, he has been dancing since he was five years old so it’s all he really knows. He’s concerned that he won’t be able to find a suitable job without having a degree in something general like business or engineering. The other issue is that he makes a pretty decent salary and he’s worried if he takes a new job he won’t be able to provide for us as well as he has. He would love if I could stay at home with our children, but at this point that’s not financially possible. Please pray that we will find a job in the coming year that will help us have more family time. My husband is my best friend, the best partner, very supportive and a wonderful father. He wants to make as many memories as possible while our kids are little especially and he wants to alleviate some of my stress by being home in the evenings so that it’s not all on me from 5 a.m. when I have to wake up for work to the point when I can get our little one in the bed. We are praying for more balance in 2014…please pray for us and thank you so very much for adding us to your prayer list.
After reading the requests I hardly feel worthy of asking for your prayers. I have just had the 2nd back surgery in 18 months and at the moment I am feeling kind of low. I want to grow my faith more this year and am currently trying to rebuild my relationship with my husband. We have been married 20 years in January. Until recently he was a police officer, now retired. I let this allow me to stray away from him not physically but emotionally. We are making a really good attempt at overcoming this and coming back together, but I am ashamed that I was not strong enough to keep myself from straying. I love him very much and he is wonderful husband and man. Thank you so much for offering to pray for me and I really appreciate it.
<3 .
Asking please for prayers that things will turn around for me this year. To say it’s been a very difficult past several years is an understatement, and I really feel I’m losing the energy to continue pressing on. Prayers much appreciated! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!