Where to begin?

Woooooow! How do you begin to describe the plethora of feelings one has when they are rocked, first by God and what He wants them to do, and dealing with all of the crazy emotions and stress of taking steps toward that, then adding to it the incredible, unbelievable, overwhelming amount of support by their family and friends?

I mean seriously, come on. Who am I to have such amazing friends and family? Who am I to have a workplace jump behind me immediately upon hearing about the World Race? Who am I? Nobody. But that’s not true, is it? And I’m talking to YOU, my blog reader, right now too, because you’re amazing and don’t ever let any single person in your life tell you that you don’t matter, that you don’t have a purpose, that God doesn’t love you as much as He loves everyone else around you. Do not believe it.

God has created you for a distinct purpose. He loves you with an everlasting love! Sure, He’s called me to the World Race for this season of my life. And I’m getting pretty darn excited for it too! I’m still processing this past weekend and the past month and how this has all played out. I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever come down from this high I’ve been on…because I’ve realized without a doubt that none of this could have happened with Jesus. Plain and simple. Done. Just walk away. No more words needed. JESUS! Woooow. He deserves ALL of the praise! He draws us close to Him, whispers to us, drenches us in His love. Sit and soak Him in, ask Him to come, and He WILL. He loves YOU. You are precious to Him. I wish I could say that in a stronger way so you could actually tangibly feel His love the way I’m feeling it right now. It’s the love He has for everyone.

Keep after Him. Keep seeking Him. DO NOT give up. Seek His face, and He will come to you. There’s no formula…it’s just humbleness before God. I am nothing Lord, I realize that so obviously…but I can’t help but yearn for You every minute. You are everything my soul desires! I want to feel Your arms around me, holding me tight. I want to trust You more. To not be so wrapped up in this world. Help me to know what it’s like to be truly FREE in You. To let go of my insecurities, my fears and anxieties, and just simply trust in You. To walk forward in what You have placed me in right now, and to keep walking toward the dreams and desires that You have placed in me. I am made for more, for greater, and especially to worship You. Help me to do that! I love You!

This is my prayer for me and you. Thank you for reading my blog, for your promises of support for the World Race, for following me and encouraging me and being such amazing friends to me. I can’t ever express how much it has meant to me and will mean to have you all by my side as I go through this next adventure the Lord has placed before me. Ultimately, this is ALL for Him! To God be the Glory and ALL praise through this and all future generations in ALL nations! Amen and amen (as Pastor Rob would say :D)

Be blessed today. Just soak in Jesus. He IS with you, I promise. Yearning to be close to you. Let Him love on you today 🙂

I need to start fundraising soon. If you would like to support me, click on the link to my World Race blog now on the right side and go to the “Support Me! :)” link. Or just click here. And while you’re at it, sign up for e-mail updates on my WR blog 🙂 I would love to have you follow me on my journey as I prepare and process everything along the way.

Well hello there, life change!

Wow! Who would’ve thought I’d be writing this blog a year ago? So crazy to think how your life can change so much in 1 year! Talk about wild!

I’m really excited, and just a little bit nervous and scared, to announce something to you. Quite a few of you know what I’m going to say, and quite a few of you don’t. But it probably won’t surprise you. You see…I’m about to embark on a crazy adventure called The World Race. It’s not the Amazing Race (it’s better!), not even really a race, but it is a trip around the world…11 countries in 11 months! Can you say WOWZA???

I first discovered this on July 7 (see, I even remember the date!?!?!) and was hooked from that very moment until this very day. Now it’ll be with me for a lifetime. It’s for 21-35 year olds…and its an 11-month long mission trip. See the world, experience all sorts of different people, cultures and places…learn how each missionary and missions organization does things differently, get stretched out of my comfort zone, strengthen my faith, get loads and loads of Holy Spirit goodness…and that’s just scratching the surface of all that’s in store. How do I know?

Well…there are these little things called World Race blogs that I’ve read every day since July 7. I know, I’m a little crazy at times. But I told you I was hooked, and I can’t get enough! You see, every World Racer has a blog. They get to tell the world about their experiences, their struggles, what they’re doing, where they are, their adventures, how they’re growing and changing, etc. So naturally I will get to do this soon, too (here’s a link to my very own World Race blog :)). But I’ve been reading these blogs for months now, and they’re crazy awesome. Real, down-to-earth, human experiences. Super encouraging. So anyway. I would highly encourage you to read some of these in your spare time.

But yes. I just received word that I was accepted. I applied on Dec 2, had my interview Dec 8, and found out Dec 15 that I’m in. That’s lightning fast! It’s been a whirlwind–and I’m really, honestly not 100% sure how I feel about everything yet. It’s a strange mixture of nervousness and excitedness (I think I just made up a word :-P). There’s a lot of other awesome God-stuff to tell you about, but in short, I’ve known for a while that this is something He wants me to do. There’s so much goodness in store, and I know it won’t be easy–it means leaving family and friends for 11 months, it means probably painful life-change and a lot of constant adjustments, it means being uncomfortable and tired all the time. But it also means stepping out and growing into who God wants me to be. This is something, a stepping stone, that I’ve been looking for for some time now…waiting for, wondering about, wishing for. But never for sure knowing what it would look like. The World Race is going to be a launching pad for me into full-time missions. My heart knows this. God has revealed some things to me and confirmed them in quite a few very obvious ways lately…and I know this is just the beginning.

It’s going to mean a lot of changes, and it’s going to mean I don’t get to see all of you wonderful people for a while, but I know you’ll be okay, and I’ll be okay, too. God’s on our side, who can be against us?! Big things are in store for all of us!

So, just briefly, I’ll let you in on what I know so far.

• I’ll leave in September 2012.
• I have to raise $15,500.
• I’ll be going to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam/Laos, Tanzania, Mozambique, Swaziland, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Moldova, Romania, and Ireland. (check out more details of my route here)

This was all part of why I decided to go. I was in love with the World Race, or more so, the idea of it. I love to travel…want to see the world…love missions…love God…perfect, right? Well…I just wasn’t for sure yet. So, I prayed one of these prayers. “God, if you want me to go on the World Race, you know the countries I want to go to, so I’ll know that I’m supposed to go when I see them all on the same route.” Haha! I should’ve been more prepared. When the September routes were announced, I remember taking a deep breath before I read the email, because I had a hunch that God just might be calling me to one in September (but I didn’t tell anyone this, because I wasn’t sure). So…I opened the email. And started laughing. Because voila…there it was. My route. Totally meant for me. I should’ve known. God, you’re funny!

So then I hemmed and hawed and prayed and thought and prayed some more about it all…anxious because I’d need to quit my job, but knowing this is exactly perfect for me with where I’m at right now. The opportunities are endless. And God kept after me, whispering to me to “just do it.” I finally had to forget all the wondering and the emotions and just simply “do it.” Stop wondering about what I know now or don’t know and just go for it. So I did. And now I’m here. Writing this blog, a little overwhelmed, a tad excited and sad and a puddle of random emotions…but relieved at the same time to be able to step out of my comfortable Minnesota bubble and do what I’ve been dreaming about doing for a long time now. Travel the world for missions and write about it.

I know and trust that God will show His face to me through this. That He will open me up to a world that is broken and in need of healing, but also a world that is ultimately HIS. Created for His glory and His purpose. I just want to shine His love.

So that’s the scoop, friends and fam! I can hardly believe it! The journey has just begun. There’s lots more to come, and I will keep you posted on the new life adventures of Jess. Love you all!

I’ll be sending out support letters soon…but for now, if you would like to begin supporting me, either go to my World Race blog and click the “Support Me” link, or click on the image below for details on how to support me. THANK YOU! 🙂

God heart

God is Lord of your heart. He knows your deepest wishes, your biggest dreams, those parts of you that you never show the world because if you did it might call you crazy, or psycho, or just lame. God is a God of the small and the big. Those little dreams you have, however insignificant, are important to Him. He knows the desires of your heart. Wait for Him. Draw near to Him and He’ll draw near to You. Let Him surprise you with how big He is. Enjoy being HIS. Don’t let the world tell you that you have to read your Bible for so many minutes or pray for so many hours a day for Him to hear you and draw near. Those things are good. In fact, they’re necessary and incredible and should be practiced daily, yet…wow…we all mess up. We go for weeks, perhaps months without truly digging into the Word, without spending passionate time in prayer, instead glancing at a verse here and there and praying tiny little prayers about needs and wants, sometimes for others, but if you’d admit it, mostly about you and your struggles and pain and frustrations. That’s a frustrating place to be. Because you know you can be better. And you want to be. But your flesh gets in the way and you give in to it too much, you know this, yet you still do it because it’s comfortable. It is a war against our flesh. But we can let the frustrations and feelings of unworthiness bog us down. Keep fighting. Keep praying.

Let the King of the Universe love you for who you are, not what you do.

Because He’s calling out to you to see Him every day and to hear His voice. He loves you with endless passion. I wonder if we could see the heavenly realm, if we’d be horrified by the extent of the battle fought for us every day. Satan is sneaky. Those feelings that you’re never going to make it, you’ll never be good enough, you’re not pretty enough, you’re insignificant and no one really truly loves you…those are LIES. I am talking to myself just as much as anyone here. Seriously, it’s a battle.

One thing I have really been impressed upon doing lately is just to let myself enjoy being with God.

I don’t have to do anything. Just simply be. Rest. Soak Him in. I don’t think we give Him enough chance to really get through to us in our days. We’re always going, going, going, off to the next thing. Ignoring, truthfully, because we don’t want to have to take the time to focus on Him. It’s such a battle!!!!! But remember, Jesus wins. Truth, love, grace–it triumphs. God is good. He loves you so much. Let Him simply love on you today. Listen to Him. Talk with Him. Rest in Him. He’s waiting.

Confliction

What do you do when your life starts moving in a new, exciting, heart-pounding direction that you’ve been trying to get to for a long time now, yet when it actually starts happening, you’re frozen in your tracks and all of the sudden you aren’t sure at all of what to do, how to react, how to feel, etc? Nothing is bright and shiny, although it should be. Or maybe a better way to say it is I know that God’s behind it, so I think I should be really excited about it, yet something feels very vulnerable, very unworthy, very inadequate, very non-committal, very timid and unsure. I mean, seriously? Shouldn’t I be head over heels excited? Jumping through the roof thrilled? Yet my emotions feel broken. I’ve always struggled with this, and it feels even more of a struggle now that my dreams are peeking over the horizon and I’m stuck…I’ve forced myself to move forward because I know this is what God wants of me…but how is it that I still can remain so emotionless? Does anyone else struggle with this? It’s like my brain and body are going through the motions for my heart, because my heart has been dreaming of this for so long that now that it is close to becoming reality, it can’t move forward…it’s stuck in place, yearning to get out, yet maybe not knowing exactly how. It gets released tiny bit by tiny bit, but it’s nothing like how I think I should feel. Maybe that’s the point. I can’t let my life be run by emotions, but only by what the Holy Spirit tells me…what God shows me to be the next step…and maybe, just maybe, I will always feel like this to an extent. Stuck inside, yet moving forward anyway, because the emotion, the thrill and excitement, will come later and overtake the blah-ness.

Through it all, God is good. I KNOW this…but it is so hard when you don’t feel it.

Changing things a bit

I just changed up the look of my blog to something with a tiny bit more depth and personality. Hopefully I’ll be able to personalize it more as I spend more time on here, but it’s good for right now. I like the parchment paper look, like you could reach out and grab it right off of the screen.

Now I have a question for you. It seems random but just go with me on this. This blog has been full of random, and it’s yet to be seen if I’ll be able to keep up with it the way I’d like to. Oh well…but it’s how life is for me at the moment 🙂

If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?

For me, the answer has always been Thailand. The place where my heart is, even though I’ve only set foot in the country for no more than 3 days. There’s something about it that grabs me, that keeps me thinking of it day after day after day. The people, the experiences, the yearning to go back and the desire to reach this sweet nation with the love of Jesus.

Perhaps your place is also a place of the heart, or very simply someplace you long to see and experience, a place where you have family and friends, a vacation spot, a place with a specific need that’s within your skill set, etc.

But what is it? Maybe my question is more along the lines of, Where is your heart calling you? I think deep down inside of each of us is a longing for more. We all have a hole in the depths of our being that is only filled with the forgiveness and love of Jesus, who died on the cross for us, taking away our sins, and then rose again from the dead so we can live in heaven with Him forever. Once that hole is filled, you find peace. Contentment that can only be found in Jesus. But there comes a time when He will remove that contentment and fill you with restlessness…a yearning for more of Him, a desire to move mountains for Him, to shine the love of Christ to others, but you’re not sure exactly what that means or how to get there. And slowly, ever so slowly (He’s really good at helping me build up my patience, haha!) He’ll start to reveal what His plan is for you, but only so far as the next step. He may give you a brief glimpse farther into the future, but it stays hazy until He’s prepared you and prompts you to move toward that.

It’s an interesting, scary, exciting, wondering place to be. It’s weird. The sensation of knowing God is calling you to bigger, to more than yourself, to something only He can do through you and that you can’t ever imagine doing on your own, but only with Him working in you and through you–it’s crazy and goes against every human instinct. The instinct to be safe and secure. To prosper in this world. To make money, have a close-knit community of friends, a nice house and nice car. To fit in and not draw attention to yourself by being “too” different. When you follow Jesus, He begins to push you out of the world and into His. He loves us so much that He wants more than anything to use us for His glory. Whoa. Think about that. God is SO big. He made the universe and the millions of galaxies with just a few words. Yet He loves us. And wants to be with us and wants us to be His hands and feet. Just wow.

So where is He taking your heart? What has He placed in your heart that burns within you? That little flickering flame of an idea or dream that is too big to even put into words. For me, it’s just an image, compiled of a bunch of different dreams and ideas and places and people, that I can’t even begin to put into words yet. But maybe it’s good to try. Write it down, tell it to God, speak the desires of your heart to Him. You might not feel that He hears you, but He does.

Not so into this

Blogging has been a struggle for me lately, not gonna lie. I’m pretty sure it’s just one part of a multi-faceted attack by the devil on me. It’s been a struggle to write, a struggle to blog, a struggle to process things, a struggle to feel emotion and excitement, a struggle to remain confident that this is where God has me. And I believe it’s because I am on the brink of moving, of changing, of actually beginning to put action behind words and dreams. It’s because I’m taking steps toward something huge, totally bigger than myself. There’s a lot that’s going to go into it and it’s scary and crazy and sometimes, actually all the time lately, I find myself thinking “who am I to even think that I can do this?” It’s going to take a lot out of me. But…dun dun dun…I think that’s the point. A lot needs to be taken out and removed so that God can pour into me what He wants to be used for His glory.

My dad has been an extreme encourager for me during this time. He’s constantly reaffirming me and he’s really good at reminding me about my passion and who I am in Christ and who he and my family and friends see me as and capable of. To have him and my mom and family and friends behind me in this is extremely amazing.

One step at a time.

**Disclaimer. I apologize for being so mysterious. Some of you are just plain confused right now, others will know what I’m talking about immediately. All will be revealed in due time 😉 Love you all!

Hawaii Tales: The Beginning

I just got home this morning from a mother-daughter trip to O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Amazing. We looooooved it! First, we really just needed to get away and indulge in a vacation. I felt guilty about it for a while, since it wasn’t a mission trip, but I also felt God speak to me that I was in need of some rest, as well. Okay, I knew He was right, because the past couple months have been incredibly busy, incredibly stressful, incredibly awesome, so I simply just needed a break, and I needed to get away from everything familiar. Well…Hawai‘i is definitely the place to do it! I didn’t do a whole lot of thinking about anything except just enjoying God’s creation, exploring, spending good quality time with my awesome Mom…it was so well needed.

I also learned some more about God and how He speaks to me. He was teaching me to trust Him. You see, I get some pretty cool travel perks through my current job, so I get to fly standby (which means seat availability: if there’s an open seat on the plane, I might be able to get on, depending on how many other people are “standing by” for the flight (thus the term standby) and there are different priorities that people have to beat others onto the plane). It’s very competitive, and the flights are fuller than ever this year, so I knew we could be in for a bit of an adventure. Through it all, I felt very strongly that we were going to get onto our flights, and not to worry about it. I know, I know, it’s just a small thing, and there are so many variables, but to be honest, I don’t need to know the why or the how behind it all…because at the end of the day, God has my back and already knows everything and has it all planned out. Even though I was taking a vacation, He approved of it, chose to bless it, and I believe He made a way for us, since for each flight it always looked impossible to get on, yet somehow we made it. There’s more to the story, and it’s full of time in airports, but it was one of those things where I wasn’t worried about it, because I knew I was in God’s hands. That even though we were taking personal time and I felt slightly guilty about it and “leaving behind” the rest of my friends and family to go to Hawaii, that it really was okay. 🙂

Needless to say, I will write more later to recap our trip, but it was super fun, nice and relaxing yet full of exploring O‘ahu and finally experiencing what Hawai‘i is all about. It’s a totally different change of pace, which was refreshing!

Coming home was a little bit more adventurous, involving a red eye flight and us arriving home an hour before I needed to be at work again…but it was so worth it. God is good, and He has GOOD things in store for us! Believe in that today!

More later. 🙂

A little rawness

[I’m feeling a little raw today. So I thought I’d be real with you.]

I am fully human. I go through periods of anxiety, of wondering what’s next, of always waiting for something. These times of waiting are usually (eventually) followed by a period of peace, of being okay with the “right now,” being fully in the moment, realizing that life is too precious to waste a second of it. But other times it seems like it all goes together and I don’t know what I think anymore—all these things get muddled up/mixed together in my brain and I’m left wondering if I really have the ability to think straight, or if this happens to everyone (because no one talks about it!). But through it all, it’s SO good to know I have a God who understands me better than I understand myself! He is my hope! He is fully aware of my feelings and knows exactly where I’m at in this very moment—today—and He has a plan for me. I know it’s better than anything I could dream up. But why, oh why, is it so hard to wait? I’m so sick of waiting.

I’ve realized lately—why do we always wish our lives away? Why are we always, without fail, waiting for something? For what’s next. Why is it so hard to just BE?
You’re a kid and you wish you were a grown up. You can’t wait to turn 12, then it’s 16, then 18, then 21, then 25, then all of the sudden you wonder where the time went.
You can’t wait until you can drive. Then it’s college. Internship. Your first “real” job. The day you finally start dating “the one.” That first kiss. That engagement ring. The wedding day. The honeymoon. That 1^st child. That big vacation. The huge promotion. Retirement. Then you’re left wondering what happened. How did all of that life go by so fast?

Maybe it’s so hard to be content because we know we’re made for something greater than who we are and what we’re doing right now. I know I just want to jump leaps and bounds to be this incredible, selfless, always joyful and happy, hour-long-devo-in-the-morning, glass-is-half-full type of person that I want to be. Key word: want. I might portray that to you every once in a while, by God’s grace, but it is truly Him at work in me and nothing of me, at all, because as a human, my selfishness and cynicism and frustrations and anxieties very often take over before I have time to realize what has happened.

There’s so much more to life! To being fully alive through Christ, because He made me to be ME. He made me to be fully present, right now. I know I will keep failing, but I will keep trying, keep placing my focus back on God, keep surrendering to Him. I can’t do this on my own. None of us can. Only through Him who gives us strength can we truly be all He has called us to be! That takes time. I know it’s natural to wonder. God didn’t make us with brains that know it all. We’re constantly learning and adapting. But God is good. He made us for greater than we could ever see ourselves being. Perhaps that’s why I can sense the calling to be greater, but I have no idea how to get there. Because the only way is through God. He has the PERFECT timing, though. Maybe I need to learn how to be okay with wanting and waiting, and how to sit still and just soak up God’s presence even then. Even if I do feel otherwise. Feelings are not always trustworthy, but God does use them.

[That was a lot of jumbled-up rawness…hope you could make sense some of it!]

Psalm 91

Psalm 91 gives me chills! It is an incredible psalm and an incredible promise. Wow.
God promises He will protect! Yes, He allows things to come into our lives that we most often don’t understand why…and it hurts and is really hard…but through the storm and through whatever we face, He’s been there, He is there, He’s right by our side. He doesn’t take war from soldiers, they still have to fight, but He is right there with them throughout the battle!

Every morning I wake up, I need this reminder. It’s a daily battle, but God is right there with me. With you. He never left you. He’ll never leave you. It’s a constant battle to believe that I’m worth it…that He still loves me like He did yesterday. But no matter the feelings, it’s the TRUTH. We can rest under the shadow of His wings because He is with us, protecting us, caring for us, carrying us, and no matter what happens, we are His. Ahhhh…love it.

I could read this every day and not grow tired of it. It is SO encouraging to me, and I hope it encourages you today, as well!

Psalm 91

¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.^[a]
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
³ Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
⁹ If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
¹⁴ “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”

Seriously. Chills.

There’s POWER in Prayer

Lately, I have been becoming more and more aware of the intense, incredible, authentic, and life-changing power of prayer!The coolest thing is that there is no defense against the power of prayer! You can go to the nations in prayer! Countries may have closed borders and be closed to the Gospel, but prayer penetrates those borders. It gets through the cracks in hard hearts. It breaks down barriers. Isn’t that just awesome?!

I have this vision of God’s people praying, and it’s like an aviation map. The prayers “fly” across the world — there is no border that prayer can’t cross, no fortress strong enough to hold it back, no wall thick enough to keep it out. That is the power of God through prayer! A country may be closed to you, but it cannot be closed to the power of your prayers. We can change the world through prayer!!!!

Don’t listen when people discourage you from praying. When people say, “oh, my friend, I have done too many bad things, so do not even try to pray for me, because it is hopeless for me,” do not listen to them! I can easily see this as the devil speaking through them, because he recognizes the power of prayer! Think about it…the devil knows how powerful God is and that there is incredible, life-changing power through prayer. If the devil tries to discourage you, he’s trying to limit the goodness of God, limit the incredible life-changing power of God, and he knows that prayer could change this person’s life and so he discourages you from praying, even through the mouth of this very person, to try to stop God from doing miraculous work through prayer. Whoa, huh?

We often times don’t see the end result of our prayers. And that can be very discouraging. But can I encourage you to keep at it with all excitement and Passion and boldness? It is hard when the feelings aren’t there…you feel dry and empty…but it’s all about believing in the power of God to transform lives and do what seems impossible to us, because it is really nothing for Him. We are to be rooted in prayer, because there is nothing that God cannot do. He is everything! There is so much strength in prayer, so much peace in knowing that you have prayed, and now you can let God do the rest, because you have done your part, even if it feels like the smallest thing, by praying.

We underestimate the power of prayer. Many people, or most people at one time or another, think that prayer is wimpy or not good enough. We think we need to DO something tangible in order to make a difference. But I’ve been learning that that is just not true at all!!! Pray with confidence! Pray with conviction! God may not answer our prayers the way we think He should do it, but — reality check — He is WISER than us and He has a PLAN!

There’s a closeness, an intimacy with God when we pray. Sometimes you won’t feel it (I know I don’t most of the time). And sometimes it will overwhelm you!!! But it is really not about feelings. It’s about knowing who God is, knowing His truth and trusting Him no matter what, that He has the best plan. It’s understanding that His ways are not our ways, that we don’t understand “why” all the time. But don’t you think it’s definitely possible that our brains could never truly grasp how wide and how deep and how high is His knowledge, His power, His love for us? It’s about trusting Him through that and never ceasing to pray. Pray with a humble heart and open hands, ready to receive and go, and ready to be all who God has called you to be.

Prayer reaches the nations! How awesome is that? We cannot fathom how far it reaches. We do not understand the full depths of its power. But God is so huge. Prayer is an incredible gift that needs to be picked up and used. It’s hard to pray all the time. It’s challenging, and I fail so often. But try. And keep trying. God doesn’t give up on you. He loves you with an everlasting love. I am so grateful to serve a God with such depth to Him. I can’t comprehend Him, but oh how I love Him and how He loves me!!! This is a beautiful thing, my friends!

Never cease to pray. Lift up yourself…for healing and understanding and the filling of the Holy Spirit. For boldness and confidence in Christ. Then lift up others around you. Bring them to the throne of God! Pray for your nation — for peace and wisdom for its leaders, for God to be known amongst every people group in your nation, and finally, all the other nations in the world. That Christ’s love and undeniable power would be known across the globe, and that the Holy Spirit would penetrate every border, every people group, every person in every nation. That no one would die without the chance to know Jesus, to know that He died for them so that they could have eternal life and be with God in heaven forever! Ahhh-mazing. Amen!

[I wrote this a couple of days ago in a moment of inspiration 😛 I’ve tweaked it since then…but I’ve been incredibly challenged by this. It really challenges me more than I could ever tell you…and I’ve realized lately that I lack so much in prayer. I used to pride myself in praying “all-day-long.” But I am now humbled in knowing I have a long way to go. Would you join me in becoming more persistent, more confident, more deliberate in prayer? It’s SUPER challenging. But the reward, getting closer and more in tune with the Holy Spirit and the heart-beat of God, has GOT to be SO worth it!]