Our church was looking for a speaker for a weekend retreat for our mid-sized church. The Lord led us to Umbrella Prayers and we could not have been more thrilled. Melody Hester has crafted a unique, scripture-saturated method of exploring and enhancing intercessory prayer and it has made such a positive impact on our Women’s Ministry! Melody has blended the study of prayer and the joy of prayer in a profound way, that ministers to both the life-long followers of Christ as well as to the new believers. It’s been more than a month since our retreat and our ladies are STILL talking about our Umbrella Prayers retreat. I highly recommend this workshop to any Women’s Ministry looking to dive into the power of prayer while having a great time learning!
Chrissie Manis, Director of Women’s Ministry, Chicago, IL
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“Melody was a new speaker for us at our 3rd Girls Beach Weekend retreat. Through video and phone conversations we quickly realized that God had a part in connecting us. We hired her to instruct us on bible illustration and she gave us so much more. She is a biblically based teacher, a creativity instructor, and a friend. Melody is confident, warm, friendly, and full of light. Melody is intuitive and tapped into what the Holy Spirit was asking her to share with our women. She delivered several powerful messages about God’s truth, promise and faithfulness. Women attending our event heard of God’s mercy and grace in Melody’s testimony. As an event planner, Melody was very easy to work with. She was an encourager, offered valuable insight, and committed to prayer for our planning committee and all of our attendees. Melody helped us deliver a very specific and unique vision for this year’s event. We look forward to partnering with her again.”
– Cary Heise, Planning Committee for Girls Beach Weekend
“Melody Hester’s Umbrella Prayers was a highlight of our ladies events here at Celebration Church! What a fun day of learning, as Melody taught us this creative way of journaling our prayers. It has transformed many of our prayer lives as we started to see our requests through the “umbrella” of His character. It has also been a ministry of encouragement as we share these prayers with others. Decorating our umbrellas was such fun and they continue to brighten our homes and remind us of His wonderful attributes! The best event ever!!!”
– Joanna Chapmon, Pastors Wife at Celebration Church
“This Umbrella Prayers book has been a real resource in my daily quiet time with the Lord. The book has reminded me of who my God really is and how His character never fails. No matter what season of life I’m in, who I am praying for, or what I am giving praise for there is a trait of God that I can use to cover them in prayer. Before, when I would journal or write out prayers they seemed more of a list. This book is a great resource to really focus your prayer life around the true God that is there through all circumstances in life!”
– Parin Lakhani, Thrive Ministry Leader
“Wow! I really don’t know how to describe this workshop other than transforming. This method of prayer has given my prayer life a complete makeover! An Umbrella Prayer takes my love for journaling, my innate desire to create, and my yearning to communicate well with Jesus and combines them all into one piece of unique art that satisfies all three. I highly recommend this workshop to anyone who struggles in their prayer life (which means everyone… ever). Abundant thanks to Melody for creating such a helpful tool, and, above all, to God be the glory for the inspiration!”
– Catherine Reynolds, Young adult worship leader
“The Umbrella Prayer event at our church was just beautiful and we loved having Melody lead us to focus our minds and hearts on Christ and His great love for us in this unique way! My favorite part was watching the ladies of our church express their love to God as they created their prayer umbrellas. I watched as some cried, some smiled, and some sat in awe of our Savior all while our ears were filled with beautiful praise music! It is an event I would highly recommend to any church who wants to deepen their fellowship with Christ!”
– Tammie Kendrick Jones, Pastor’s Wife at Baptist Home Church
“We had a lot of fun organizing and planning for the Umbrella Prayer Workshop for our church ladies. The leader kit and materials Melody has put together was extremely helpful and the flexibility of it allowed us to customize the workshop for our group. Our ladies had fun and were blessed by the lesson and the activities. One of the neatest parts of the workshop was watching the ladies color the umbrellas. It was like seeing their inner child come out as they colored and wrote on their blank canvases.”
– Annie Leashomb, women’s ministry leader
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