Hey guys,
Can’t believe the trip is almost here! We had our final retreat last weekend, April 14th and 15th. For part of the time, we split up into ministry partners to pray before we went into a time of support raising. I prayed that the Lord would provide us with $10,000 of support that day. In my mind I was praying expectantly, but honestly I had some doubt in my heart that the Lord would provide. After our support raising time, and we had all turned in the support we had received since our last retreat, and the total amount came to $10,250. Praise the Lord!! I think that I often hesitate to pray specifically like this because I lack the faith that the Lord will provide.
At the retreat, Jeremy spoke about how our culture tends to pray differently from other cultures, such as China. In China, where there is a lot of persecution of the Christian faith, believers don’t know what the next day brings, or if the next day will be their last day of freedom. In an interview, a Christian in China was asked, “How do you pray?” The believer responded that they just pray for more faith—each day asking the Lord to give them more faith to live how the Lord has called them to live. Why don’t I pray like this? Here in America it’s so easy to fall into a trap of materialism and praying for this thing and that—focusing on things that aren’t eternally important. This realization is shaping the way that I pray—I want to pray like the Chinese do. I want to have a true dependency on the Lord and pray like Jesus calls us to in Matthew 6.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
-Matthew 6:9-13
With love,
Lauren
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