Labor Earnestly in Prayer

I love the people God has placed in my life. I would say, without hesitation, that the relationships I have with my family and my friends are, aside from my relationship with God, the most important things in my life. More important than my job, my possessions, or money. That is why the chapter on Intercessory Prayer in Heald's book "Becoming a Woman of Prayer" hit me so hard. If the people in my life are as important to me as I am claiming them to be, than this chapter should be a refresher for me, something that I am doing right. I thought it would be, but instead I find myself yet again convicted of a lacking prayer life.

In Colossians 4:12 Paul (my biblical crush) says of Epaphras: "always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God." I can't say I remember the last time I labored earnestly in prayer for my family or friends. When my sister calls and says she has a huge exam, I pray. When I hear someone in my family is sick, I pray. When the father of a dear friend is going into heart surgery, I pray. But labored earnestly is a stretch. And the "always" part is a complete miss. I'm more of a "pray when situations arise" pray-er than a "always laboring earnestly" pray-er. I'm not okay with that.

Paul was a committed intercessor. He left behind some awesome prayers to pray for those we want to intercede for. I am going to begin to pray Ephesians 3:14-21 for the people that I claim to be most important in my life. I am going to pray that Christ will dwell in their hearts, that they will truly know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge, that they will be filled with the fullness of God. Who are you going to labor earnestly for in prayer?

It's not only Paul that calls us to labor earnestly. In John 17:21-22 Jesus says, "that they may all be one, just as you, Father are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one..."

Jesus is calling us to oneness with each other. "The Lord wants us to be to one another what He has been to us in love, forgiveness, and unlimited concern" (Lloyd John Ogilvie). One of the ways we can experience this oneness through intercessory prayer.

It is a privilege to labor earnestly for one another in prayer- a privilege that I have not been taking advantage of. I don't want to pray for the important people in my life only when situations arise that beg for prayer. I want to always labor earnestly in prayer. I want to pray the way Paul did- by putting greater value in prayers pleading for spiritual wisdom, knowledge, and enlightenment rather than less suffering, material wealth, better jobs or good grades.

Are you laboring earnestly for the people in your life? What would you like to change in the way you pray for others? I challenge you to change it and experience the oneness God calls us to experience with one another!

"As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you."

1 Samuel 12:23

Seek first God's Kingdom

A couple of weeks ago I tried out a new church service. Before they started the sermon, the congregation recited the Lord's Prayer. I half-heartedly recited it along with everyone else and didn't think much of it.

Now, I'm sitting in a coffee shop reading Cynthia Heald's book on prayer, and the chapter I'm at is all about the Lord's Prayer. Interesting. So I start to read through the chapter but don't really dig into it as much as I normally do, because it's the Lord's prayer. I've had it memorized since elementary school, what more is there to learn? Then I get to the last page, and God finally got my attention. Cynthia used the Lord's prayer as a model for her own prayer (you know, putting God's words "Pray then like this" into action). One particular part jumped out at me:

"Your kingdom being established here on earth needs to be a burning concern of mine as I pray and as I live. Wanting Your will and Your glory to be evidenced in our world begins with me."

The only burning concerns I have had as of late are either work related, or super-awesome-spy-tv-show Chuck related. So what kingdom am I establishing? If it all begins with me, then not many people I interact with on a daily basis are seeing evidence of God's glory. Work is becoming my kingdom. My little k. (Yes Dad, I can remember that far back.) I am putting all of my effort into furthering my little k, the kingdom I can control, rather than only concerning myself with the big K, God's Kingdom. Jesus was and is all about the Big K. He came to fully invest himself in the big K, and asks us to do the same:

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness..." Matthew 6:33

I am going to seek the big K, and surrender my little k to Him. If the Lord's will and glory being evidenced in the world begins with me, then I better start focusing on Him! I need to start every day asking God to reveal to me how I can help to establish his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. I need to seek first his kingdom. The rest will follow.

So here is my new focus: (deep breath) I am going to let God show up in my little k rather than keep him separate from it. I think that is going to be awesome (and so very very hard)! God is probably smiling thinking, it's about time Sarah, just trust me already!

So I will end by asking the same question my dad asked last year, what are your little k's? Stop holding on, surrender them to him today. Seek first God's kingdom! You won't regret it:)

Trust in the Silence

In my quest to transform my prayer life, I recently blogged about my desire to transform my definition of an "answered prayer." My desire has been to thank God for listening to my prayers, regardless of if I get an expected response, a promise, an explanation, or a flat out no. Well, what if all I get is silence? What if I hear nothing from God? Then what?

Silence. This has been my most recent struggle.

Last weekend I went home for the wedding of two of my dear friends. I had been looking forward to this weekend for quite some time, because all of my friends would be back to celebrate. But as I spent the weekend catching up on their lives, I realized that's all it was- catching up. It was a fun time to dwell on how it used to be, but it was a time that was also going to end. We were all going to go our separate ways once the weekend was over. So as fun as it was to catch up on their lives, it was also a time that reinforced the fact that Pittsburgh is my new home (for now).

So as I dwelled on the truth that Pittsburgh is where God wants me, I was frustrated that I couldn't say why. Why does God want me in Pittsburgh? What is his will for me here? That has been my prayer since June- that God would reveal to me why he wants me here. I don't want to miss out on his purpose for me in Pittsburgh. But God has been silent. I've met a few people, tried out a few churches, and met a couple of neighbors. But nothing that screams, this is why God brought you here! I don't expect him to reveal everything he has planned for the next six months, but it would be nice to be lead to a church, to a community of believers, to something that makes me believe this move was worth while.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Try me and know my thoughts!

And see if there be any grievous way in me,

And lead me in the way of everlasting!"

Psalm 139:23-24

When I allowed God to search my heart- I guess that's what it all came down to- selfishness. The pleading question of my heart is not, "God, what is your will for me in Pittsburgh?" but, "God, make your will something huge so that this stretching move can be labeled worth while for me." God has a purpose for me here. But until my heart wants that purpose revealed for pure reasons, my prayers will not be answered. I want to believe that if I only make one friend, if I only pour into one person, if God only teaches me one lesson through living in Pittsburgh, it will be beyond worth it. Because being where God wants me, being in the center of his will, is the only thing that matters. So I will continue to confess my selfishness and ask for his forgiveness. Then, eventually, my prayer will be one that He can take delight in.

And if he continues to be silent, then I will turn to one of my favorite verses as I learn to trust him in the silent times. To rest in him during silence.

"My soul, wait in silence for God only,

For my hope is from Him.

He only is my rock and my salvation,

My stronghold; I shall not be shaken."

Psalm 62:5-6

Desires of my heart

I've experienced my share of transitions in the past few months. They aren't always easy! Penn State classes started yesterday, my first time not experiencing first day of classes. That's a hard transition. Even harder was not experiencing a morning of getting ready with my roommates, meeting friends for coffee in the morning and lunch later in the afternoon, or spotting people in the HUB or Business Building. Weird transition. So what I've noticed from my excessive amount of transitions as of late, is that I lean on prayer. I felt pretty good about that. Hard times=praying without ceasing. Check. I started reading Becoming a Woman of Prayer. My check mark has now turned into a big, fat red x.

My typical prayers have looked like this: "Lord, provide me with friends." "Lord, show me where you want me to go to church." "Give me strength to be nice to people at work today." "Help me to do a good job at work." These are all good desires. I felt good about them at least. But they weren't always answered. The friend count is pretty much at a 0 right now, I haven't decided on a church yet, and I'm not nice every day. In fact, I sometimes let my stress get the best of me...which in turn is not providing those I work with a great example of what Christ is like. So why isn't God answering my prayers? I was getting pretty annoyed at his inconsistencies with answering. Even more so when I read this:

Delight yourself in the Lord; And he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

But then I read this: "Those who delight in God desire or ask for nothing but what will please God." So basically, if I want to walk with the Lord, my delight should only be in what he wills. And while I feel like my desires are pretty fair, I can't say I presented these requests to the Lord in hopes that they would align with his will; I just knew they aligned with mine. I wasn't recognizing the fact that even if my desires are good, they aren't necessarily what God wants for me. I kind of struggled with this at first. Because, why wouldn't God want to provide me with success at work or friends and a church? Well, if I'm honest with myself, at this point I am still pretty quick to attribute my successes to my..."talent." I am also quick to get lost in my work and put my worth in it. When I am struggling, when every day isn't going smoothly, I am more apt to go to God and lean on him. So less success=more God time. At least until it's finally drilled into my head that more God time all the time is better. All that to say, God isn't answering my requests for specific reasons, and his timing is perfect. End of story.

I guess what I'm really realizing about my prayer life are two things. First, I need a heart change. I need to change my prayer life to a plea to have my will match Gods, not His to match mine. In order to do that, I am going to start to pray a prayer Charles Spurgeon made, daily. "Lord, if what I ask for does not please You, neither would it please me. My desires are put into Your hands to be corrected. Strike the pen through every petition that I offer that is not right. And put in whatever I have omitted, even though I might not have desired it had I considered it...'Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.'" I want this to be true, really true. True daily. It will totally transform how I pray. I am going to pray it for the next 30 days and keep track of the way it changes my heart and my prayers. If you are in need of a prayer life transformation, I encourage you to pray this prayer with me!

Second, I need to change how I define the word answer. When I think of a prayer being answered, I think of the prayers that were answered the way I expected. Or, if not the way I expected, at least answered with a detailed explanation as to his reasoning behind his unexpected answer. But, answer does not always mean grant. Answer is simply attention to our requests. So whether I receive an expected response, a promise, an explanation, or a flat out no, I will consider it an answer, and thank him for listening. I want to be able to say, wholeheartedly, "My request has yet to be fully granted, but my prayer has been fully answered" every time.

Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.

Isaiah 65:24

Unwavering Goodness

The question of what it looks like to have a faith that rests completely in God has been on my heart a lot lately. Not because I feel like I am lacking a general faith in God, but because I feel like I struggle with an intimate faith, a faith that rests completely in God. I have faith in God’s presence and I have faith in his love for me. I have faith that I will see him one day in heaven. But I also have “faith” in a lot of other things. So what do I need to do to make my faith in God my everything? How do I put it above all else? What does that even look like?

I am reading, Becoming A Woman of Prayer, by Cynthia Heald. One of the chapters talks about how necessary faith is in order to have the prayer life God has intended for us. She included a quote that really hit me:

“Faith that rests in God is unwavering trust in His omnipotent power and unfailing goodness.”

Unwavering trust. That is what really gets me about this quote. Catch me on an off day and I will most assuredly be wavering in my faith in God's goodness. Sometimes I think he has failed to bring goodness my way. But when I really think about it, my definition of goodness is so shallow and nearsighted! And I live as if my definition is the right one, the best one. In reality, I am the one that fails in the equation, it's never God. Why am I so quick to doubt his judgement? I think a lot of it goes back to my struggle with patience. I want answers immediately. I want to see the fruit of my labor quickly. If I can't see "goodness" right away, I begin to doubt that it's in the horizon. God likes to take his time. Take Pittsburgh, for example. The first six weeks were so hard! I was living in a hotel, spent most of my nights alone, experienced an epic fail the night I tried to attend a church service, and was struggling to find an apartment. In my mind, there was no goodness to be found in Pittsburgh. In fact, at points I was sure that I had heard God wrong and I was never supposed to go to Pittsburgh to begin with. Talk about impatient!

Now, I will be moving into an apartment in a week and a half that is only 9 miles from work. I found an awesome church that is opening up a campus location in the town I will be living in, in September! I'm meeting with someone to talk about becoming a high school bible study leader in the fall. God is good! But I doubted that because I had to wait six weeks, I had to wait for his perfect timing. My faith wavered. This experience will have little impact, though, if I learn nothing from it. Now, I have a perfect example of God's unwavering goodness versus my impatient, temporary fixes. I think I'm going to start keeping a record of all the times God's unwavering goodness, in his perfect timing, has proved me wrong. I encourage you to do the same!

In the end, I guess it's all about me making a choice. Faith that rests in God is all about me choosing everyday to believe in his unwavering goodness, regardless of my limited knowledge of the circumstances.

Blessings on my Birthday

In less than an hour it will be my birthday. Although the overwhelming feelings of anticipation felt the hours before a birthday have seemed to dwindle with age, I still want to take a moment to celebrate! Celebrate all of the gifts God has blessed me with over the years. It would be impossible to list everything- the list is overwhelming, and goes back much further than my memory. I'm also positive that I have missed out on some of the gifts God has given me. I have found, and probably have been told more times than I have found for myself, that being aware of the gifts God has blessed me with will do wonders on the state of my heart. I too easily take things for granted and consider them just a normal part of my life, rather than gifts. I sometimes get this ugly sense of entitlement. Woof. So I want to start out this next year of my life right. By thanking God for what he has given me, for the things that I don't deserve and often take for granted. While I could go on forever, here is my top ten on my gratitude list:

1. My parents. I know everyone believes they have the best parents in the world, but I don't think many people can come close to mine. My dad is so wise and the best part is his wisdom is grounded in God's truth. His advice has helped me through so many tough decisions throughout high school, college, and now adulthood. I trust him completely. Not only is he wise, but he is so compassionate- he loves me so well. He provides me with such a beautiful picture of what it looks like to have God as our father and I am so thankful for that. If I grow up to be half of the woman my mom is, I will be content. She loves deeply, prays passionately, and serves continually. I have been so blessed by her shared wisdom, unwavering love, and strong relationship with the Lord. So God, thank you a million times over for blessing me with such wonderful parents.

2. Katy, Jake and Josh. I have awesome siblings! My sister is one of my best friends and it is such a blessing to have that. She is constantly reminding me of all God has blessed our family

with and doesn't let me dwell on the negatives. She loves me well, and continues to try and love me better (aka words of affirmation!). She doesn't laugh too often at my jokes, but we'll get there eventually. Jake and Josh claim to not have too many emotions, but I know they are just in denial. For my graduation, they wrote me the only card that brought me to tears. There were obviously some rude comments laced in with the loving ones, but I wouldn't expect anything less from two of my favorite men in the world. Thanks, God, for blessing me with such awesome siblings who are also such awesome friends!

3. My extended family. Both my mom's side and my dad's. We all love each other! We love spending time together, going on vacation together, and visiting each other's homes. We laugh together, a lot. And, we all have something else in common besides being related, we love Jesus. It's so cool to have an extended support system outside of my immediate family. To know that I can call any one of them and expect advice that is still grounded in faith. Mostly, I love how connected we stay in each other's lives. It's hard to be so far away, but it's comforting to know nothing will ever change the closeness we feel as a family. So thanks, God, for blessing me not only with an awesome immediate family, but with an awesome, loving, God following extended family!

4. Betsy, Sacha, and Lauren. Those names always bring a smile to my face. They have been a constant in my life since high school. We have gone through so much together and they have each played a part in my faith becoming more real to me. They challenge me daily. They refuse to let me believes lies about myself, my relationships, or my faith. Sometimes I get annoyed at how

well they know me and how good they

are at holding me accountable. But it's so cool that they do! It has been such a blessing walking through life with them. We have experienced many laughs, tears, road trips, and coffee dates. We have found ways to make long-distance summers work, and this new chapter in each of our lives will be no different. I am so thankful for the impact each of you have had and will continue to have on my life. Thank you for being vulnerable and intentional. Thank you, Lord, for bring such awesome friends and accountability partners into my life.

5. My friends!!! Thank you Lord, for not stopping at Betsy, Sacha, and Lauren (no offense). I have such great friends. It is so awesome to have friends who I can not only have tons of fun with but

also grow in my faith with. Friends who are willing to open up and be real about what God is teaching them. My senior year would not have been the same without my navigator family and five favorite roomies. It was so fun to live life with them, grow closer to them, and watch God work in their lives. Each and every one of my friends has impacted me in some way and made my four years at Penn State such a wonderful time of growth and laughter. Thank you Lord for intentionally putting each one of them into my life!

6. Penn State Navigators! I can't even imagine what my four years at Penn State would have looked like without the Navigators Ministry. Through Navs I was blessed with lifetime friends, challenging bible studies, and a beautiful mentor. From being in a bible study freshman and sophomore year, to having the privilege of leading one junior and senior year with Jamie, I have learned so much! My love for the word and passion to learn more grew so much from these studies. They stretched me in ways I never thought possible and challenged me in ways that were good for my heart. The fellowship I found in Navs was not something I expected in college and I feel so blessed to have been a part of that. So thank you God for leading me to Navs and for calling the people on staff to ministry at PSU.

7. HSM Girls! Oh how I have loved seeing my high school girls grow up. It is hard to believe they are going to be seniors this year. I have loved being able to be their bible study leader these

past couple of years. They are such a solid group of girls and have provided me with many laughs, boy stories, drinks at starbucks, puppy chow, and challenging questions. It has been so cool to watch as they sift through tough questions and really try and figure out what it means to make this faith their own. I cherish every early morning waffle shop breakfast, and still feel bad about the ones I slept through:). I am so excited to hear about all of the awesome ways their faith is used and stretched their senior year (and I'm also excited to take pictures with them at their senior prom...). So thank you God, for bringing me such wonderful high school girls to read the bible and eat junk food with!

8. Myanmar. Words can't even describe the love I feel for Myanmar and Agape Orphanage. I feel like the song "God of This City" was written specifically for Yangon. Every time I go there I get the overwhelming feeling that big God-sized miracles are in the works. I love each

of the kids at Agape as if they were my own family and I am so thankful that I have been given so many opportunities to visit. They have given me a life-changing picture of what it means to live a life desperate for God. Awesome things are being done in God's name over there, and it's such a blessing to be a witness to that. I will continue to pray that one day the words, "Myanmar is now a country on fire for the Lord and adoption is legalized" will be on my gratitude list. Lord, thank you so much for the opportunities you have given me to go to Myanmar.

9. Calvary. It makes my new challenge of finding a church seem impossible because I have such a strong love for Calvary. Don't get me wrong, I am sure there is a church in Pittsburgh that I will absolutely love to be a part of. But I have been so blessed by Calvary. Being a Pastor's kid, it's not really an option to play the "I don't feel well" on a Sunday morning card. I can't imagine what Sunday morning's would have looked like in my house if we all didn't have such a love for our Calvary Family. So many people have been a part of that and it's impossible to thank everyone. I am sure there are people committed to praying for my family that I don't even know about. But I pray the Lord blesses you for the ways you have impacted my life. Thank you Lord, for giving me such a passionate church family committed to loving others the way you love.

10. America. It seems silly after the other things on my list, but I feel it's necessary (especially considering the day I was born). I live in a country that allows me to pray freely, read my bible freely, and attend church openly. It is SO easy to take that for granted. It's hard to imagine living a life where this isn't the case. But even in Myanmar, the cost is high to follow after the Lord. So thank you Lord, for putting me in a place that allows me to read my bible in Starbucks any day of the week.

If you don't have a gratitude list, I encourage you to make one. Don't wait for your birthday! I am sure I am not the only one who easily takes things for granted. I have found, and been reminded of recently, that I'm not so pleasant to be around and my heart isn't very pretty when I am not full of gratitude. My dad always says, "You choose your attitude." I find it a lot easier to choose an attitude of joy and thankfulness when I make a decision to be aware of all the ways God has blessed me. So with my heart dwelling on these blessings, I truly believe this is all I need to be happy on my birthday- because these blessings make a more lasting impact than anything you can buy in a store (but if you are reading this and have already bought me a present, don't go through the trouble of returning it!). So to everyone on my gratitude list, thank you, for allowing God to use you to bless me.

Is my Hope in Him?

I get easily frustrated. My frustration easily turns into over-exaggerated statements on how awful my life is. For example, when I first checked in to my new hotel next to my new store, they put me in a smoking room. "Don't worry," the lady at the front desk said, "it's been pre-treated." After one minute in that hotel room, I decided there wasn't enough "pre-treatment" in the world to get rid of the smokey smell of that room. They told me to keep checking at the front desk, that eventually a non-smoking room would open up and it could be mine. I was determined to be okay with the situation, until I walked into the bathroom. My room was also handicap accessible. Meaning, the shower was comprised of mainly a huge bench and there was no counter space in the bathroom. The counter space dilemma, as shallow as it sounds, was enough to send me over the edge. I called my mom crying, and she tried to get me to look at the positives which only sent me spinning into an even more exaggerated explanation of how awful Pittsburgh was and how I was never going to like it. All because of counter space.

Then, last night, I had a craving for Papa Johns. I get those a lot. So I googled the Papa John's closest to me and called for a pick-up order. Eight miles from my hotel- easy enough right? After being 45 minutes late to pick up my pizza due to traffic, I finally found the street it was on. No Papa Johns. My GPS, Tucker, lied. He seems to do that a lot in Pittsburgh. Actually, at this point it was pouring down rain and I was pouring down tears so I very well could have driven right past it. But I was in no mood to search for Papa Johns. Instead, I dwelled on the fact that if I were in State College, when google said 8 miles, it would mean roughly 10 minutes, not 60. Yet again I cried to my mom and yet again she tried to get me to look at the positives. A common theme in my life recently, actually a common theme in my life period. But of course, my head already went to the negatives, the exaggerations. I was in no mood to listen to her rational logic.

When I talked to my dad this morning, he asked me which Sarah he was talking to. I pretended to be annoyed but in reality I was pretty disgusted with myself. After getting off the phone with him, I started thinking about why I had been finding my security in the "Sarah" both of my parents dreaded talking to. The most obvious reason- my quiet times have been nonexistent. Last Sunday I drove to a church after having a solid quiet time with God. It was an evening service and I was really hoping God was bringing me to a body of believers whom I could relate to. People who I could find fellowship with. When I pulled into the church, the parking lot was empty. I suppose their evening services are cancelled in the summer. I took that as God being silent in my life. Like God didn't really care whether or not I found fellowship.

I know that's wrong. But it's pretty easy to go on believing that especially when I wasn't sharing those thoughts with anyone who would keep me accountable. My dear friend Betsy had sent out an e-mail the same day I drove to an empty church. I was mad enough at God that I didn't pay much attention to the verse that she wrote out. But today, I reread it.

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him."
Lamentations 3:22-25

It hurt to read it, because I have not been believing this truth. His love has not ceased because I haven't found an apartment or a church- though I find myself thinking that all too often. I have had 3 weeks of mornings in Pittsburgh and only a handful of times (okay like 2-3) have I woken up and dwelled on his mercies. And the Lord certainly hasn't been my portion nor have I placed my hope in him. If the Lord were my portion, I would be content with the fact that for now, he is all I have in Pittsburgh. That for now, my fellowship must be through Skype and my church time must be via podcast or in an empty parking lot. That for now, my quiet times must be alone in a coffee shop rather than with some of my closest friends and accountability partners across from me. In fact, I should be rejoicing in this time. Because for now, he is truly all I have in Pittsburgh- what a wonderful time to get so lost in Him! I have no other distractions! I have been discouraged in that, rather than hopeful.

Whenever things haven't gone my way, when an apartment has fallen through or a 8 mile drive takes 80 minutes, my automatic thought has been, "Pittsburgh sucks, God probably hates Pittsburgh too, I'll never like it here blah blah blah." I want to train my mind, and my heart, to automatically think, "The Lord is my portion, I will hope in Him." When my hope is in him, everything else seems less important. If you've read any of my other posts, you know my aversion to change. It's hard to put my hope in things, when they are constantly changing. So instead, I tend to lose hope. How different would life be, if I put my hope in the one thing that has never and will never change- my creator. Easier said than done, but I have a feeling my parents will continue to remind me to do so (I'll say thank you for that now, since I never do in the moment). And I have an even bigger feeling that I'll have a lot of free time to work on it.

The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him.