so anyway, with all that said, it's SUMMER!!! i couldn't be more excited. we are off to a great start and are really enjoying the warm sunshine, long days, lazy mornings, bike rides, runs, visiting the grandparents, reading, swimming, and you know, all the other things that seem to get accomplished in between those things like cleaning and making meals. i just love the slower pace of summer and being home with greyson. we have enjoyed it so much! :) i find that i don't even turn on the tv during the day except while i'm getting my run in. it's a great way to keep greyson entertained until it's his turn to run (he likes to run when i'm finished...it's so cute).
with all that being said, i have started reading a book that i got a few months ago called "prayer, your own letter to God". i have always struggled with prayer and have gone through many stages in my prayer life. i have seen God's power because of prayer, but i find myself falling in prayer ruts. this is one area i am trying to improve on. i do not want prayer to be a last resort, nor do i want it for use in emergencies only. unfortunately, i let it fall into those two categories too often. here is something that i jotted down in my journal that really stuck out to me.
"I will admit, that having faith the size of a mustard seed is sometimes difficult, but i have found that putting my faith in God rather than in His answer keeps doubt at bay. It goes back to the word SOVEREIGNTY. God is in charge. He knows what He is doing. His way is perfect; and if He does not answer my prayer exactly as I want Him to, He has a reason that I may never know."
wow...isn't that an awesome thought and challenge!?! putting faith in God rather than His answer is sometimes challenging, but so necessary. He sees where we are headed and knows where we've been. He will take care of us even if it isn't the way we expected or desired.
this book challenges you to write your prayers out (as well as many other things, but i'm not going to blog about that right now). i have done this in the past, but like most other things, let it go. so i'm taking the challenge and starting again. my goal is to write my prayer at least once a week, so after a year, i will have 52 prayers that will show just where i have been and how God has worked in my life. right now, i've already written several in this first week alone because i find it helps me focus and really talk to God without getting distracted. i still am trying to use my daily prayer list as well to help me focus.
i have a heavy heart and have been praying fervently for several things for several months now. while God has not answered any of those specific prayers yet, i was reminded that He is SOVEREIGN. He is in charge and He knows what He is doing! i will not lose hope!
4 comments:
Praise God for this post and for what you just shared with so many of us! What a very powerful post. Yes, it is hard to have the faith of a mustard seed, and what a great thought to put faith in God and not in His answer. I also love the writing the prayers out part! This post was amazing!!! And way to go on running...you could have totally ran with me this Saturday :) See you tomorrow!
that is awesome stuff, Jessica! i might have to read that book because that's the thing i think i struggle with most in my walk with God, too. or one of the main things anyway! this was really encouraging and i think i'm gonna do the writing down at least one prayer a week, too. i love the thought of having at least 52 prayers at the end of the year to show where i have been. that's awesome. it's like prayer blogging! i love blogging, too, and reading my old blogs! if for noone else, i am going to be blogging for my future self to read back over one day! :) i love reading my old xanga posts!!!
I Loved reading this. And it really challenged me. We've had some hard months recently for a few different reasons and we feel like we're just waiting for answers. I loved how you said to put our Faith in God, not in His answers. I'm going to have to tell this to Jordan so we can both work on it :) It's hard to be patient when you just want answers, but by just focusing on my faith in God, rather than His answer-I'm already realigning my thoughts, and refocusing on what I really should be focused on anyway. Thanks for sharing Jess! SO glad to hear your summer is off to a great start!! :)
What a great post, Jessica. I think we all go through phases of struggling in an area of our faith. That's a great idea to write out prayers to see how faithful God is over the years.
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