Hi there and welcome to today's encouragement from our daily bread.

Today's reading, titled The Purple Shawl, was written by So Chi Dixon.

While serving as my mom's live-in caregiver at a cancer center hundreds of miles away from my home, I asked

people to pray for us. As the months passed, isolation and loneliness sapped my strength.

How could I care for my mom if I gave in to my physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion?

One day, a friend sent me an unexpected care package.

Jody had crocheted a purple prayer shawl, a warm reminder that we had people praying for us daily.

Whenever I wrapped the soft yarn around my shoulders, I felt God hugging me with the prayers of his people.

Years later, he still uses that purple shawl to comfort me and strengthen my resolve.

The Apostle Paul affirmed the importance and spirit-refreshing power of praying for others in

the Book of Romans. Through his passionate request for prayerful

support and encouragement during his travels, Paul demonstrated how those who pray for others

become partners in ministry. Offering specific requests, the apostle not only showed his

dependence on the support of fellow believers, but his trust that God powerfully answers prayer.

We'll all experience days when we feel alone.

But Paul shows us how to ask for prayer as we pray for others.

When we're wrapped in the intercessory prayers of God's people, we can experience God's strength and comfort, no matter where life takes us.

Today's Our Daily Bread Devotional Scripture reading is from Romans chapter 15, verses 23 through 33.

But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions,

and since I have been longing for many years to visit you,

I plan to do so when I go to Spain.

I hope to see you while passing through,

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