Author: Hope McCardy
Located in: Bahamas
Submitted: October 10, 2014
Tell us a little about yourself. Hope McCardy is a Science teacher by profession who has spent the last 23 years as a homemaker and home-school teacher (14 years) to her four children. Hope has also been leading the prayer ministry of her church home, Grace Community Church, as Prayer Director where she developed a prayer ministry called The Prayer Garden.
Born in Governors Harbour, Eleuthera, Bahamas, Hope is the fourteenth child of 15 children born to parents, Sidney and Freda Burrows. Hope attended Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, where she majored in Chemistry and Education and then returned to the Bahamas where she taught at The Government High School for 9 years, becoming head of Science in the third year of her tenure.
In addition to her homemaking role, Hope has been busy with her church, developing the College Students email ministry and the Praying Wives email ministry. As a part of her Prayer Garden responsibilities, Hope facilitates the various prayer needs of the church via email. She also serves as co-director of the Marriage and Family Ministry along with her husband helping to build healthy families in their church. Hope is also an avid prayer journaler who loves to write and has developed 5 Prayer Garden journals and has written curricula for both the Praying Wives and Praying Husbands ministries. Currently, she assists her husband in whatever way is needed at his new company (Hope Insurance Agents & Brokers Limited).
Hope has been a Christian for 46 years and is married to Cardinal McCardy and they have four children, Kristi, Rashad, Nicole and Adria and one son-in-law, Wendell Collie, Jr. (Kristis husband).
What was your motivation behind this project? I wasnt thinking about writing a book when this project first began. I was just inspired to pray through the scriptures chronologically for my family by something I read in author Mark Battersons book, Praying Circles Around Your Children. As a wife and mother, many times I feel totally at a lost as to how to handle the things my family may be going through and so I try to seek Gods proactive guidance
hence I have often prayed through the scriptures.
It so happened that my church offers a Lamplighter Program which encourages us to read through the Bible in a year, and I am an active participant in that program. I began to record passages that jumped out at me for my family and adapted those scriptures into prayers. My husband and I prayed through the selected New Testament scripture prayers and then I proceeded to make copies for my grown children. They also began praying and talking about the prayers. It wasnt until March April 2014, during my churchs annual 40 Days of Prayer and Consecration that I felt that the prayers may be helpful for more than just my family and I was challenged by one of my readings to put my foot into the water so to speak. So I went to work and the end result was Be Blessed and Encouraged.
What do you hope folks will gain from this project? Just like me, maybe there are readers out there who crave Gods guidance in understanding various issues and situations in their lives and in the lives of various family members and seek guidance as to how to wisely proceed towards healthy solutions
Readers who desire to walk in a righteous manner and lead their families in ways that bring honor and glory to God.
I want folks to know that God truly loves them and is interested in every aspect of their lives. That He deeply desires to empower and show them that they can live the kind of lives that ultimately bring honor and glory to Him.
How were you personally impacted by working on this project? My personality is more shy and reserved - a background worker. I was constantly amazed at how God wanted to use me to work on this particular project. I felt unqualified and ill equipped, but He had given me a drive and a sense of urgency on the topic of "praying for our families." He also let me know that if He chose me He would qualify me. I began to feel it a privilege to be His servant.
Who are your influences, sources of inspiration or favorite authors / artists? My mom was a prayer warrior; I know she always prayed for her family. My sister, Eula and sister-in-law, Shirley were my main childhood and teenage spiritual mentors. Then there were pastors in my life, particularly Pastor Rex Major and Evangelist Ooi Chin Aik, who pushed and encouraged me to deeper levels of prayer. I have read many books on prayer from authors such as Stormie Omartian, R. T. Kendall, Dutch Sheets, Beth Moore, Dr. Myles Monroe, E. M. Bounds, Andrew Murray, Cindy Trimm, and as of late, Mark Batterson
to name a few.
Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know: That God truly loves them and is interested in every aspect of their lives. That He deeply desires to empower and show us that we can live the kind of lives that ultimately bring honor and glory to Him.
