How to Pray for 15 Minutes

As you enter into your 15 minutes of prayer, here are key areas you may want to cover. (Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit as He guides you in your prayer!)

KEY AREAS TO COVER IN PRAYER:

• The Church Staff (Kent, Steve, Leah, Lindsey, Cathy, Gary, Jennifer, Rick, Frankline, Kathryn)
• Our Sunday class teachers
• Our small group and Bible study leaders
• Our youth and youth leaders
• Our elders and deacons
• Our key volunteers
• Our Food pantry leaders and visitors
• Our building and premises
• Our community directly around the church
• Our preschool and preschool teachers (Director Kris Crowther)

Then, start here:

PRAISE
Praise is the entryway into God’s presence. Tell God who He is.

Tell Him, “God, you are…”

• Adonai –  “Lord” or “Master”
• Elohim –  “God” or “gods”
• Yahweh – “I AM WHO I AM” or “the LORD”
• El Olam – “The everlasting God” or “the eternal God”
• El Roi – “The God who sees”
• El Shaddai – “God Almighty” or “God the All-Powerful”
• Jehovah – “The LORD,” “the Self-Existent One,” or “the Eternal One”
• Jehovah Elyon – “The LORD Most High”
• Jehovah Jireh – “The LORD will provide”
• Jehovah Nissi – “The LORD is my banner”
• Jehovah Raah – “The LORD my shepherd”
• Jehovah Rapha – “The LORD who heals”
• Jehovah Shalom – “The LORD is peace”
• Messiah or Christ  – “anointed one”
• Emmanuel – “God with us.”
• Lamb of God – the one who takes away the sins of the world.
• Alpha and Omega – eternal and all-encompassing nature

WAIT
Take a couple of minutes of silence to quiet your thoughts and become aware of God’s presence. Take note of any prayer direction from the Holy Spirit that comes to mind.

CONFESS
Ask God to “search your heart” for any sin, and take a moment to confess it, turn away from it, and receive God’s forgiveness.

DECLARE SCRIPTURE
Open your Bible to any of the Apostolic Prayers and plug in the names of our staff, teachers, groups or anything else related to Cedar Hills.

• For wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God (Eph. 1:17)
• For strengthening with might in the inner being (Eph. 3:16, Col. 1:11)
• For love to abound (Phil. 1:9, 1 Thes. 3:12)
• For the knowledge of God’s will (Col. 1:9)
• That the Word of the Lord would run swiftly [rapidly spread and powerfully take hold] (2 Thes. 3:1)
• To glorify God in unity, with joy, peace, and hope (Rom. 15:5-6, 13)
• To preach with boldness and power (Acts 4:29-30)

INTERCESSION
Contend for God to move on someone else’s behalf.  Identify the situations, areas of culture, or groups of people for whom you are asking for spiritual awakening, and pray for them.

PERSONAL PETITION
Identify areas in your personal life where you are hungry to see God move and pray in faith to your Heavenly Father who loves to bless you!

THANKSGIVING
Remember God’s blessings. This shifts our perspective from our circumstances to God’s activity, strengthening us to contend, believing that God does not withhold any good thing from His children.

SING
Sing along with Spotify or YouTube, or sing any song on your heart. Or take any scripture and make up any melody you want.

Cathy Dahm Funeral

Please continue to keep the Dahm family in your prayers as they grieve Cathy’s passing. The funeral will be Thursday morning, August 3 at 10:30am at the church, the visitation Wednesday evening 4-7pm at Cedar Memorial.

Obituary

Cathy Sue Dahm, 59, of Cedar Rapids, went to be with the Lord on July 29, 2023, while surrounded by her loving family at the Oldorf Hospice House.  A visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, August 2, at Cedar Memorial Park Funeral Home.  A Celebration of Life service will be held at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, August 3, at Cedar Hills Community Church, Cedar Rapids. Interment will be in the Union Mills Cemetery, Union Mills, Iowa.

Born on December 15, 1963, in Oskaloosa, Iowa to John and Shirley Netten Ferguson, Cathy was raised on the family farm near New Sharon with her sisters, Marcy and Molly.  Cathy participated in 4-H, athletics, and helped on the farm while growing up.  She graduated from North Mahaska High School in 1981 and Des Moines Area Community College in 1983.  Cathy was united in marriage to Scott Dahm on August 25, 1984, and they moved to Cedar Rapids in 1985.  Cathy was self-employed for most of her accounting career, which enabled her to work from home and raise her children. While Cathy enjoyed her flower gardens, bicycling, cooking, and decorating for Christmas, what she enjoyed most was spending time with family.  Cathy was a member of Cedar Hills Community Church.

Cathy will be lovingly remembered by her husband of 39 years, Scott; daughter, Danielle Dahm; son, Ryan (Molly Ruhser) Dahm; granddaughters, Maren LaVon and Maya Sue Dahm, the lights of her life; father, John Ferguson, and sisters, Marcy (Fritz) James and Molly (Rick) Swenson; as well as nieces, nephews, and many other relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by her mother, Shirley.

In lieu of flowers, please remember Cathy with donations to the Cedar Hills’ Open Hands Food Pantry. 

Prayer Champions and students are invited to meet on Sunday, August 13.  Grind Coffee will be on site with their coffee truck, offering specialty coffees and smoothies at regular prices.

I don’t know if there’s such a term as a high functioning depressive but that’s what I’m calling it.  If you were to go by or call the desk, you probably wouldn’t think there’s anything wrong with me.  I’ve become really good at hiding it.  Having the structure of the work day is an immense help in that.

Once I pass that time clock in the evening, the darkness sets in.  I don’t have anywhere to go but home.  COVID has only made it worse.  There’s no shopping, no going out to eat, no museums or arts to check out.  Making decisions over simple things like ‘where can I stop to pick up supper’ or ‘do I get gas tonight or tomorrow night’ are impossible to make.  It becomes overwhelming so I go home and do nothing until the only choice left is to take care of it

There’s a commercial on tv for Rexulti.  They show a woman with her friends, obviously not having a good time like they are.  For me, that’s what it feels like on a good day.  Although I laugh and joke around, I feel nothing.  Most of the time I’d rather be home by myself because it’s mentally painful to watch others enjoying life.

Thankfully I don’t have any ideations of hurting myself.  I just don’t want to be here anymore.  When I see a young person so ill or hear of a fatal car accident, I ask God why he doesn’t take me instead of someone who was loved and needed.

It took not wanting to see my grandchildren to get me to realize that it was really bad again.  I am getting the help that I need and it is slowly getting better.  To the point that I think I need to share my experiences.  I believe part of the cause is heredity.

But, there are 2 parts to this story.  Today I got validation that the 5 concussions I’ve had over my lifetime indeed play a role in my diagnosis.

Suffice it to say, I’ve never been graceful.  A horse, a bike, a toboggan, a motorcycle, and a divot in the sidewalk were all contributing factors to the falls causing concussions.  Each time I ‘recovered’ and nothing was ever thought about it again.

A few years ago I started seeing articles about athletes and the long term effects of a concussion.  That’s when I started asking my providers if there could be something to it.  Only to be told I appear to be fine so no worries.  It felt like being in a Charlie Brown scene.

So frustrating that a jock can have 1 concussion and the world comes to an end.  Yet nothing to see here when it’s a clumsy girl who suffered 5.

This spring I got a referral to a psychologist who actually heard me.  FINALLY someone listened to me and told me there was something that could be done to help.  Except there was no availability within CCH and the only other option was to go out of network.  Cha-ching!

I was able to maintain for quite some time after that.  But a few months ago, like a clock, things started going downhill again.  Every year starting in September my mood drops.  Thirty eight years ago this past Saturday, my 23 year old sister was killed by a drunk driver.  She had a 6 week old baby.  I can’t believe I haven’t gotten over that after all these years.

At any rate, a couple weeks ago I had an appointment w/my PCP.  I told her what was going on and she said she’d reach out to the psychologist again.  Such a blessing that now there was an opening to be seen by Occupational Therapy.

I had my first appointment last week, today my second for testing.  At the end of the hour, the therapist had me in happy tears when she told me that the concussions definitely were a contributing factor to so many things I couldn’t explain.  Thank you God for sending an angel with wonderfully great news.

This isn’t a cure.  Probably not even a miracle.  But there are things that can be done to get me to a better place.

Don’t ever give up.  It’s taken many years and a good dose of stubbornness to get me this far.  If the good Lord’s willing and the creek don’t rise, I am just starting the journey to many years of better days.

Your poster child for Major Depressive Disorder,

M.

Pray For Me is a rich prayer movement that pairs adults (Prayer Champions) with students, children and families to actively pray for them.  We’ll be watching a short video today about what this all entails, but you can begin signing up today to be paired with a Prayer Champion or become a Prayer Champion for someone else.

• Families Sign-Up (with children grade 5 and under)
• Students Sign-Up (grades 6-12)
• Prayer Champion Sign-Up

Starting in May, we will be releasing more information and the books that accompanying this exciting opportunity!

May 7, 3:30-5:30pm –> MOVIE NIGHT!

The Cedar Kids Club House is having a special movie and pizza night for their final meeting of this school year.  Students in grades 2-5 are invited Sunday, May 7 to watch Inside Out and enjoy pizza from 3:30-5:30pm (an hour earlier than normal!).

Club House is a youth ministry for students in 2nd-5th grade and meets on the 1st Sunday of the month October-May.

Want to register for next year? GO HERE

ALL CHURCH PICNIC

The entire church is invited to the E Ave Morgan Creek Pavilion Sunday, May 21 at 5pm for a church picnic and grill-out. We’ll provide burgers, hotdogs and drinks.  Bring a side to share.  Grill-master Steve will be manning the grills. 🙂

The new playground and pavilion are accessible from E Ave, just west of the church.  All ages are encouraged to attend.  Bring a lawn chair and your favorite outdoor games.

A Sermon Series April 23-May 28

The prayers of the Apostles are prayers taken directly from Scripture – the written prayers of the New Testament that were written by Jesus followers and the Apostle Paul.

These prayers are a great pattern for us to follow as we continue to learn how to pray and want to expand our prayer vocabulary.  They are deep and rich Scriptures.

There are roughly 40 in total. The prayers were written for the people, whether to use them or said on the people’s behalf.

Inspired by the Spirit, they focus on God and center on cultivating goodness and blessings among God’s people.

DOWNLOAD PDF of the Apostolic Prayers