Prayer!

Prayer is something that I have always known we need to do as followers of Jesus, but sometimes I would do it just out of habit or “what I am supposed to do”. This left many of my prayers as something I did just to check off a box, not believing God would answer them, or pretty robotic. I’ve been prayer journaling since college and for so long I just did it and wouldn’t really look at where God was working. At the end of last year I began to get shaken up with the Lord. He showed me that my prayers were working, just in His time and not mine. It made me realize that persistence and bold prayers are so important. If we don’t believe the Lord is going to do something, then we are going to pray like that. We have to pray with boldness knowing that the Lord can do anything. There are about 3 huge things I was praying and the Lord answered them all and more.

I knew that this was the Lord teaching me and showing me that He provided for me and took care of things. Well fast forward and in April I began reading a book called “Draw the Circle” by Mark Batterson. I had already read “The Circle Maker” by him as well. But “Draw the Circle” was a 40-day prayer journey. It was awesome! The Lord showed me so much through this book and literally everyday.  He was working on the big things I was praying for. The things I was reading were actually happening every day. He once again showed me it was all in His time and not mine. The Lord doesn’t leave us, but He does want us to seek Him and trust Him, instead of doing our own thing.

The Lord is faithful. His promises are true. I am so thankful He chooses to use me and love me.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers.”

“When we try to make things go faster, we usually slow things down. When we try to make things easier, we usually make them harder. Don’t try to manufacture your own miracles. Don’t try to answer your own prayers. Don’t try to do God’s job for Him. Stay humble. Stay patient. Stay focused.”   

“Sometimes the purpose of prayer is to get us out of circumstances, but more often than not, the purpose of prayer is to get us through them. I’m certainly not suggesting we shouldn’t pray deliverance prayers, but there are times we need to pray prevailing prayers. We need to ask God to give us the grace to sustain, the strength to stand firm, and the willpower to keep on keeping on.”  

New Adventure!

Wow! Cam and I have seriously had such an amazing beginning to this new chapter and adventure in our lives. Most of you know, but Cam took a new job at NorthStar Church in Kennesaw as the Operations Pastor for Students. He started at the beginning of February. It was a pretty quick turn around and I know the Lord has been in every step of it. We found out he got the job in the middle of January. We looked for a house to rent and we were told it would take a week to get approved. Oh no, we got approved within 3 hours! I was like well this is definitely a God thing! I quit my job that I started in August of teaching at Omega Private Academy and my dance teaching job at Southern Dance Precision that I had been working at for a year and a half. This meant I had to find a job once we got moved in. Well that first week of us being here, I had an interview on a Friday at 10 am and was offered the job an hour later. I am a receptionist/administrative assistant at Candito Construction. I began working there the second week of us living here. It was totally another God thing.

We have fallen in love with this area and the people here. NorthStar quickly became family. I feel like we have known the people that have come into our lives for years. It has been such a blessing! I have learned so much since moving here. I am thankful that the Lord has given us such a wonderful opportunity. I love seeing Him work in our lives!

Some things that I have been learning from this new adventure and within my life in general over the past 6 months:

-God is working in our waiting. I might not see it immediately, but He is.

-Everything truly does happen for a reason. I have seen connections and things that have happened totally form into some really awesome things.

-We have to believe the things we are praying, because if we don’t believe God can do them we are not giving God the credit He deserves. If we pray boldly and believe it, He will answer. [[ I prayed for a few things for a year and I was really starting to doubt that He was ever going to answer. He definitely did though! I just had to choose to believe it. ]]

-Sometimes fear gets in the way of what God wants, because we don’t want to look stupid, crazy, or disappoint people. We have to let go of the fear and have faith that the Lord wouldn’t put something in our path unless He wanted us to take hold of that.

-Grace. I have always heard this word, but really it has given me a whole new outlook on life. God gives us so much grace when we fail Him. Sometimes giving others grace isn’t easy if they have hurt us, but we are called to give grace. Just as much as the Lord gives us grace… We are to show people the love that the Lord gives us EVERYDAY! I mean I’ve always known this, but I am working on actually applying this. How many times do I think: I would never do that and judge someone for something they’ve done? Too many times to count. How could they do that to me? I would never do that. Guess what… We all sin. We all struggle. We all need GRACE!  I know that He is working on this in my life and I am loving learning about his grace that is greater than all of my sin and your sin. Thank you Jesus!

Some of my favorite songs recently::

-It Is Well by Bethel

-Let It Be Jesus by Christy Nockels (new Passion album)

-Place of Freedom by Highlands Worship

-Mighty Warrior by Elevation Worship

-To Be Like You by Hillsong

-Gracious Tempest by Hillsong Young and Free [[This whole album is AWESOME!]]

-Sinking Deep by Hillsong Young and Free

-Alive by Hillsong Young and Free

-My Lighthouse by Rend Collective

-Build Your Kingdom Here by Rend Collective

-Through and Through by United Pursuit Band

-Commission by United Pursuit Band

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20

I am thankful the Lord is always teaching us something… in the good days and the bad days! We might not know why we are going through something now, but we will! :)