I’ve often been guilty of putting myself in a box. Putting limits on what I can and can’t do. Putting limits on what God can do in and through me. Sticking to things that I know I will be good at. Things that I know won’t cause me to fail. It’s been in the last couple of years that I’ve pushed these limits and have worked outside of my box.
I’ve also very often been guilty of putting God in a box. Putting limits on what I expect him to be able to do. Limits on areas of my life that I “allow” him into. Limits on what I pray for or what I ask others to pray for. Throughout the last several years, I’ve continuously grown in my relationship with Christ and my experiences with him. I’ve seen God do some big things. I’ve seen him work in my life, in lives of friends, and in whole communities in ways that point to him alone. So why is it that I still put limits on what he is capable of and what I believe he can do? It’s a constant battle between my heart of knowing who God is, what his word says, and my experiences with him and the logical part of me who wonders “is –insert big prayer here- even possible?”
My squad and I have been talking about praying BIG prayers. Trusting the Lord and living in expectation of him and his glory. We’ve talked about praying for every one of us to be fully funded by training camp. I’ve so enjoyed getting to know them through our facebook group and am inspired by their stories and their faith and can’t wait to do life with them. But if I’m going to be completely honest with you, when I first read their idea that we begin praying for each of us to be fully funded, my initial reaction was doubt. My thoughts were a little something like this- “Uh, that’s a nice thought and all, but don’t they realize that’s in less than a month?! Maybe they will be, but that won’t happen for me. I don’t want to ask people to pray for that, they’ll think I’m crazy.” Why is that?
If you boil it all down, the gist is that I often fail to trust God. If it’s not something that I can comprehend or do on my own, I toss it aside and shove God deeper into this box I tend to try to keep him in. It’s often like I’m sitting on top of a chest of treasure fighting to keep it closed, but at the same time I’m looking high and low, wondering where it went and trying to find alternate ways to provide (bad analogy-made more sense in my head :P). God is bigger than we can comprehend and he is so faithful. I tend to not pray for the unthinkable because what if it doesn’t happen? I don’t ask people to join me in these “crazy” prayers just in case they criticize it or if it doesn’t happen. I pray prayers, but immediately add an “out” as well, showing my true unbelief. This particular big prayer of being fully funded has looked a lot like that by me ending my prayers with “even just the 10,000 goal is good.” I can just picture our heavenly father shaking his head at me with a sly smile thinking “oh yah, thanks for that option.”
The truth of the matter is that nothing is too big for our God. He wants to provide. He wants us to ask and seek him. While not all prayers are answered in the way that we think they should be, they are in his way and in his time and we don’t need to limit our prayers to what we think is possible. This next year, I want to shatter the box that I confine myself to and the box I try to put God in. I want to pray BIG things. I want to put my full faith and trust in the Lord and see the ways that he works. I want to spend time in intentional prayer, to be in the presence of the Lord and to live out the truth of who I know God is.
This is where I start. I’m throwing out the box. I am joining my squad in praying our BIG prayer that ALL of us are FULLY FUNDED by training camp. Looking at most of our funds now, this may sound ridiculous. But we know and believe that our God is a God who can move mountains. I want to ask you to join us in this prayer. Prayer changes things and is the biggest way that you can support me and my squad over the next year.
I also want to encourage you. What big things do you want that you’ve been afraid to ask God for? Give it a chance, put aside the doubt and start praying them now. What seems impossible to you is not impossible to our God. Have stories of times you have prayed BIG prayers and how God has provided? Share them with me-I’d love to hear them and rejoice with you!
Thank you all for your support so far! Support raising can be hard and discouraging at times and life preparing for the race can be hectic, but your prayers, encouragement, and support have made this season such a good one and I am so thankful for you all!
Here are some events that are coming up if you want to check them out:
Oct.1: Yard Sale in Mt. Sterling
Oct.21: Quarter Auction in Bethalto
Nov. 18: Trivia Night in Bethalto
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