Sponsored byWomen's Transitional Healthcare
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Women's Prayer Ministry

A quiet place to rest, reflect, and be held in prayer.

Wherever you are in your journey of healing, and wherever you are joining us from, you are not walking it alone. Pastor Graves and our volunteer prayer team would be honored to pray with you, whatever your faith background.

Share a prayer request Explore resources
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. Psalm 23:2–3
A circle of women holding hands together in prayer

Our prayer ministry

Mae Graves, a retired United Methodist pastor, and our volunteer prayer team lift up every request shared here. Whatever you are carrying, you don't have to carry it alone.

How it works
  1. Share your request in the prayer box, with or without your name.
  2. Pastor Graves reads and prays over every request.
  3. If you choose, our volunteer prayer team can join in praying with you by name (first name only).
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.Philippians 4:6–7

This site is not for immediate thoughts of self-harm and cannot provide an immediate response. If you are in crisis or thinking of harming yourself, please call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), or call 911 in an emergency. You matter.

Prayer Request Box

How can we pray with you?

Every request is prayed over by Pastor Graves and held in confidence. Share as much or as little as you like.

This prayer is for
Requests are private and are not part of your medical record.
Praise & Encouragement

God is still answering prayers

Answered prayers and words of encouragement from women in our community. Read them when you need hope, and share your own when God moves in your life.

Share a Praise Report

What has God done?

Share an answered prayer or a word of encouragement for another woman. Pastor Graves reads every story before it appears here, so you can share safely.

I'm sharing
Please leave out last names and private details about other people.
What the Research Says

The science of praying together

Researchers at Harvard, Duke, and other universities have studied prayer and faith community. Here is what they found about praying for one another and gathering together.

Praying for others Being prayed for brings hope Adults who knew someone was praying for them were more hopeful about the future. Prayer from friends mattered most, even more than other kinds of support. Schafer · Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion · 2013 Read about the study → Praying for others Knowing others pray for you eases stress In a national study of older adults, people who believed others often prayed for them were less weighed down by depression in hard living conditions. Krause · Review of Religious Research · 2011 Read about the study → Praying for others Praying for someone softens the heart People who prayed for a partner or friend, even once, were more ready to forgive. Four weeks of daily prayer for a friend increased forgiveness more than positive thinking alone. Lambert et al. · Psychological Science · 2010 Read about the study → Praying together Praying with someone lifted depression and anxiety In a randomized trial (95% women), six weekly one-hour sessions of person-to-person prayer reduced depression and anxiety and increased optimism. A follow-up found the benefits lasted a year. Boelens, Reeves, Replogle & Koenig · Int. Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine · 2009 Read about the study → Women of faith Less depression for women who gather in faith Among nearly 49,000 women followed for 12 years, those who attended worship most often had about 29% lower odds of developing depression. Li, Okereke, Chang, Kawachi & VanderWeele · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · 2016 Read about the study → Women of faith Longer lives for women who worship together In a Harvard study of 74,534 women, those who attended services more than once a week were over 30% less likely to die during the study. VanderWeele et al. · JAMA Internal Medicine · 2016 Read about the study → Women of faith Community protects in the hardest seasons Women who attended services at least weekly had a 68% lower risk of “deaths of despair” (from drugs, alcohol, or suicide) than women who never attended. Chen, Koh, Kawachi, Botticelli & VanderWeele · JAMA Psychiatry · 2020 Read about the study →
Inside the Brain

What brain scans show during prayer & spiritual practice

Using MRI and other brain-imaging scans, scientists have watched what happens in the brain when people pray and connect with God.

Brain imaging Prayer lights up focus and connection Brain scans of Franciscan nuns in deep, centering prayer showed more activity in areas for focus and language, and less in the area that separates “me” from everything around me. The nuns described feeling deeply connected to God. Newberg, Pourdehnad, Alavi & d’Aquili · Perceptual and Motor Skills · 2003 (SPECT scans) Read about the study → Brain imaging A stronger brain against depression MRI scans showed that adults who said faith was very important to them had a thicker outer brain layer in the same areas that grow thinner in people at risk for depression. Miller, Bansal, Wickramaratne et al. · JAMA Psychiatry · 2014 (MRI) Read about the study → Brain imaging A home for spiritual experience When 27 adults recalled their own spiritual experiences, brain scans showed a shared pattern in the parietal cortex, which helps us sense ourselves and our connection to others. Miller, Balodis, Xu, Sinha & Potenza · Cerebral Cortex · 2018 (fMRI) Read about the study → Brain imaging Spiritual moments touch the reward center During moments of strong spiritual feeling, people’s brains lit up in the reward center, the same area that responds to love and music. Their hearts beat faster and their breathing deepened. Ferguson, Nielsen, King et al. · Social Neuroscience · 2016 (fMRI) Read about the study →
The Power of Connection

We were never meant to walk alone

Science keeps confirming what Scripture has always taught: we need each other. Here is what researchers have learned about connection, health, and healing.

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.Ecclesiastes 4:12
Connection Connection is as powerful as quitting smoking Looking at 148 studies and more than 300,000 people, researchers found that people with strong relationships were 50% more likely to survive over time. Holt-Lunstad, Smith & Layton · PLOS Medicine · 2010 Read about the study → Connection Loneliness harms the body The U.S. Surgeon General warned that loneliness can be as harmful as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day and raises the risk of early death by nearly 30%. About half of U.S. adults say they have felt lonely. U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory · 2023 Read about the study → Connection Relationships are the key to a good life One of the world’s longest studies of adult life, running since 1938, found that close relationships, more than money or fame, keep people happier and healthier. Harvard Study of Adult Development · Waldinger Read about the study → Connection Women are made to “tend and befriend” After reviewing hundreds of studies, UCLA researchers found that women often respond to stress by reaching out to others, especially other women, rather than just “fight or flight.” Taylor, Klein, Lewis et al. · Psychological Review · 2000 Read about the study → Connection A hand to hold calms the brain When women facing a stressful moment held a loved one’s hand, brain scans showed their threat response calmed down. Even a stranger’s hand helped a little. Coan, Schaefer & Davidson · Psychological Science · 2006 (fMRI) Read about the study → Connection A circle of support helps women heal In a study of 2,264 women with breast cancer, women with few social ties were 34% more likely to die than women surrounded by friends, family, and community. Kroenke, Quesenberry, Kwan et al. · Breast Cancer Research and Treatment · 2012 Read about the study →

These studies show strong connections between prayer, faith community, and well-being, but they can't prove one causes the other. A large 2006 study (STEP) found that prayers from strangers did not change how patients recovered from heart surgery. Brain-imaging studies are small and still early. Prayer works best alongside your medical and mental health care, never in place of it.

Bible Study Online

The most visited Bible study sites

Trusted, free places to read and study Scripture, starting with the most-visited Christian website in the world.

Near You · Charlotte Area

Local women's Bible studies

Groups around Charlotte where you can study Scripture alongside other women. Several can be joined online if you're resting at home.

Schedules change each season. Please confirm times and registration with each church before attending. Listed as of fall 2026; Women's Transitional Healthcare is not affiliated with these groups.

Helpful Bible Tools

Tools for listening, reading & going deeper

For Women

Devotions for every season

Daily encouragement written by and for women: gentle words for quiet mornings, hard days, and new beginnings.

Pass It On

This ministry belongs to all of us

This prayer ministry belongs to no one person. It belongs to all of us: every woman who prays here, every woman who is prayed with, and everyone who helps it grow. If it has blessed you, please share it with someone who needs it today.

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