A prayer for a friend with breast cancer. A prayer for someone injured in a motorcycle accident. A prayer for a mom who lost a child.
These are the type of prayer requests that fill both the prayer board and the prayer box at Sneaux House Snowballs in Luling, which is owned by Pamela Guthrie.
Guthrie reads each request and prays, morning and night.
“I pray for everybody that comes to my place, and I pray for everybody on the prayer board,” Guthrie said.
Before she opened the Sneaux House, Guthrie knew her business would display a prayer board (for public prayers) and prayer box (for private prayers) so her customers could write down their prayers. She didn’t think twice about it. And when the historic January snowstorm caused damage to her patio and prayer board, she knew she would replace the board as soon as possible.
The prayers, written on index cards or on the dry-erase board, touch Guthrie’s heart. During busy seasons, the board is almost always filled with prayer requests. She posts the public prayers on Facebook so others can pray, too.
Often, she tracks down the customers who write the requests, so she can offer help, donations or a gift certificate for a free snowball.
“When I see a prayer that really touches my heart, I try to really pray for them,” Guthrie said. “If I see something that God puts in my heart and touches me, I feel the need to help.”
For the young twin boys who lost their mother last year, Guthrie bought them tablets as Christmas gifts. She gave cleaning supplies and other household goods to the twins’ aunt, who took them in. Guthrie has stayed in touch with the family, and she sometimes takes the boys to church with her.
Through Facebook and at the Sneaux House, Guthrie raises donations for the homeless in New Orleans. And, in January, she befriended a man named Sam, who traveled to the parish for work but was sleeping in his truck. Guthrie helped him find permanent housing, and now Sam joins Guthrie on her trips to New Orleans to feed the homeless.
“I just want to give back, you know?” Guthrie said. “I want to help people. And I think that’s what the world needs. You know, we need to come together because we’re in this world together.”
Guthrie, a longtime resident of the parish, raised her two children in the community. She said she feels so much empathy for the people in the parish who are struggling or facing tragedy and hardship. But she doesn’t want any credit. She gives all the credit to God.
“I just want to do God’s work,” Guthrie said. “So that’s what I’m trying to do.”
She said she hopes the prayer board teaches others about Jesus. She knows that prayers can be answered, she said.
“I’m hoping a lot of people, their prayers get answers,” she said. “And by that I hope they become Christian, and they accept Jesus as their personal Savior.”
