Tell About It Tuesday -- There's An App For That!

Wow....Two posts in two days!  That hasn't happened in awhile! 

Today I wanted to share with you my two new favorite iPhone apps.  So if you don't have an iPhone, I guess you can just move on to the next blog....or maybe reading about these apps just might make you decide to take the plunge and get one!  I suppose these may be available on the Droid platform, but I really have no idea.  All I know is that these are two terrific apps that you might enjoy.

The first is called PrayerMate, and it is a great way to help you organize your quiet time.  If you're like me, you have LOTS of people on your prayer list.  In particular, I have a long list of people with cancer, and a long list of people who are grieving the loss of their children.  I used to keep this list written on a white board, and tried to pray through it each day.  It was rather unwieldly, and my prayers for each person were necessarily brief and to be honest, somewhat shallow, as the list just seemed to continue to grow each day.  I would also feel bad when a friend would ask me to pray for someone, and I would agree to do so, only to find that by the time I got home to my white board I had forgotten their name!  Or maybe I'd pray for them a time or two, and then a new prayer need would come along and I would forget all about them.

Well, this neat little app helps keep me straight.  It allows you to enter categories and then put names or items under each category heading.  For example, I have categories like "My Family, My Church, Unbelievers, Missions, Those with Cancer, Those with Illnesses, Those Who are Grieving, My Country", etc.  Then, under each category I have names or other items.  For example, under "My Church", I have listed by name each staff member, then each ministry of the church, such as Celebrate Recovery, Anchor of Hope, the youth group, Upward Soccer, etc.  Once you get all the information entered, you can set how many items under each category you want to pray for each day.  For example, I have fifty-one names under "Those with Cancer", so each day, I have it set so that three of those names will come up.  I can't possibly pray well for 51 people with cancer each day (in addition to other people on my list), but I certainly can pray for three. 

After you have all the information entered and the number of category items you want to pray for each day set, the app is very easy to use.  It works like flashcards.  You simply swipe through, card by card, and pray for each one.  It's also very easy to add new categories and new names.  So now, when someone stops you in the hallway at church and asks you to pray for their mother who's just been diagnosed with cancer, you can enter her name into your PrayerMate app, and there you go!  No more forgetting those important prayer needs.  Oh, and did I mention that this app is free?  Hang on....never mind.  When I got it, it was free, but I just checked the app store and it is now $2.99.  Still...that's pretty close to free.

The other app I just found recently and I haven't even been using it a full week yet....but I love it!  This one is called Fighter Verses, and it is also $2.99.  This is a fantastic app if you want to develop the discipline of Scripture memorization.  It is amazing!  You can choose to memorize either one or two verses a week, and it provides you with 520 pre-loaded verses, which is two complete five year collections of verses.  You can also add any verse you want, just by putting in the reference.  You don't even have to type it in there.  There are five different Bible translations available...so you can memorize in ESV, NIV, NASB, KJV or a Spanish version.  It also has built-in quizzes, where they put blanks in the verses and you tap them to fill them in or select the missing word from a word bank.  How many of you remember trying to learn memory verses in Sunday School by writing them out, erasing a few words, and trying to say them?  Well, this app does that for you! 

There are even verses selected just for children to memorize that include visual cues, AND if you use the ESV version, there are songs to help them learn them.  Where, oh where was this app when my children were in AWANA?  You can also set your weekly verse as the lock screen on your phone, so you see it everytime you turn on your phone.  Pretty awesome, if you ask me.  I am really loving this app. 

So, there you go...PrayerMate and Fighter Verses.  Six bucks well spent, if you ask me.  I'll let you go now, so you can go check out the App Store!  Happy downloading!!