I mentioned a
couple posts ago about the book we had started reading for our small groups, “The
Circle Maker,” by Mark Batterson. It has absolutely revolutionized the way I
look at prayer and my view of God. A bigger view of God means we pray bigger
prayers and the prayers we pray ultimately become the script of our lives.
Almost every miracle has a genealogy that can be traced back to a prayer. I can
think of so many things over my 27 years, and before I was ever even born, that
are a result of either my parents or my grandmother’s prayers. That just makes
me want to get on my knees every day for Stella and intercede for her and her
future.
When I
started this book on September 4, I was coming out of a disappointing month and
was letting my lack of understanding regarding my situations get the better of
me. The night I began reading, the author challenged the reader to write down
the things that you wanted God to do. So many times we just pray an empty
prayer with whatever words/thoughts pop in our minds, and I was really
motivated to start becoming intentional with my prayers. If not, how am I ever
going to know if God answered something or if it was just mere coincidence? When
Jesus healed the blind man, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Of course, Jesus knew what he needed, but he wants us to ask Him.
I wrote down
four things that I would be “circling” in prayer. This “circling” is new
terminology to me, but basically it just means praying through.
1.
We
would be completely out of debt by the end of the year {aside from a mortgage}.
2. I would be able to stay home with
Stella by the end of the year {or possibly working part time, but I wanted more
time with Stella than working}
3. Our house would sell.
4. Stella {just in general; her future,
school plans, future spouse, etc}
I’m sharing
these things knowing that in God’s sovereignty he may say “not now” or there may
be other situations that arise that I can’t ever possibly forsee that I don’t
even know to be praying for. But, I’m also sharing because I want God to get
the glory when He does answer these.
We got a
phone call this past Saturday about a pipeline coming down from somewhere North
of Nebraska all the way down through South Texas – and it has to come right
through the longest part of our property! The starting bid to purchase the
easement from us is MORE than enough to get us completely debt free plus more! What
an encouragement to keep praying! It allows us to look at the bigger picture
and realize that the sell of our house may have postponed just to allow us to
be able to get debt-free, which allows so many other things to be put into
action.
On Sunday, we
had a prayer walk at the new property our church has purchased for relocation
plans. It’s right on the frontage of George Bush near Miles road. Our church
has been in our current location since long before we started attending there
23 years ago. We hope to break ground in January, but it was so neat to be
walking on the ground where our sanctuary and our children’s ministry will be –
where Stella will grow up learning about God. Blake spent a couple days last
week helping the church get the property cleaned up for the prayer walk and we
are just so excited about our future and the future of Northplace Church. At
the beginning of the prayer walk, everyone was given a rock that we wrote down
things/people, etc that we were believing God to do or for salvation of that
person. At the end of the prayer walk we placed all the rocks in a pile. That
pile of rocks will be used to pour the concrete of the alter in the new church and
it’s going to be such an amazing testimony when God answers those prayers.
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| {We let Stella write on a rock, too} |
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| {Daddy helping Stella put her rock with the pile} |
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| {My family} |
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| {Someone was just a lil tuckered out} |
Before
heading to the prayer walk after service, Blake told me he had something to
tell me and that he finally had direction and peace about our plans. I’ve
always felt, since before I even imagined being pregnant with Stella, that I
wanted to be home with our kids. After having Stella, it just didn’t seem
feasible for me not to go back to work. We needed health insurance and there
were other financial obligations such that we felt like it was in our best
interest for me to go back to work for a while. The drive to work takes me
nearly an hour and half to get to my office and so last September I was looking
for a job closer to home. I got the job offer I wanted, though it would have
been a significant pay cut. After putting my notice in at work, they came back
with such a crazy counter-offer, that looking back it was SO God’s hand
providing a way for us to achieve our financial goals more quickly than we
could have otherwise. I know God takes us through a process to grow us, but
having the hindsight now is so neat to see all these things coming together. So,
after service on Sunday, Blake said that he knew that me staying home with Stella
full-time after the end of the year was exactly what we needed to do and that
it was time for us to just lean and trust on God and that He would provide {and
I love how Blake added, “I always find a way to make things happen, don’t I?”}
Anyway
– I know this was super long, but I just love sharing the awesome things that
are happening!
