Let Us Pray

After reading the book, Radical, that I told you about in my last post, there were several things that I was impacted to do. One of them was to enlarge my prayer focus as well as educate my children about missions and people groups around the world. As a part of the "Radical Experiment" that David Platt challenges us with, he recommends a couple of books to help us know how to specifically pray for particular areas of the world. One of these books directed at children and families is called Window on the World. We have added this book to our nightly Bible Story and prayer time. My kids are one and two and a half, so there are way too many words on the page to read it all. However, there are great pictures and we can pick a few things to focus on and pray for those. As they get older and can sit still a little longer we can read and learn more. It would really be great for teenagers even! As we approach our mission calling we will be specifically focusing on France and the French people, but it is great that we can know what is going on around the world and how we can be a part of that in prayer. I remember when I was teaching French at two elementary schools in the Memphis City Schools district. I had 5th and 6th graders who when asked if they could name other countries would say "Arkansas" or "Mississippi". They had no idea that there was more out there! If they had been out of Memphis, they thought they had seen it all. I want my children to be aware of those around the world who don't grow up with the luxuries that we have much less grow up knowing who Jesus is. I want them to be able to see beyond their little "world" and see how big our God is! I want our family to be a part of something bigger than what we are able to physically accomplish. Its so great to know that even before we get to the mission field we can be a part of missions. Its so easy to get caught up in every day life, so its important to take a moment and change our perspective! I definitely need it as much as my kids do! If you are interested in buying this book, or Operation World, which is more adult-focused, you can find them at a good price on Amazon.com. Last night at church, the preacher read through the prayer of Jabez and I have not been able to get out of my mind the words "enlarge my borders". That's what I want. I want to pray BIG and expect God to work beyond what I could ever begin to imagine...whether that means providing the support that we need to get to France or to work in an area of the world that I will probably never see! It all begins with prayer!

Back Off Satan!

It seems like Satan has really been at work in the lives of my friends and family over the past few months. I have spent too many nights in tears over the people who have been affected by him. This past week while I was at our church summer camp, we were singing one of Chris Tomlin's songs that reminded me of the promise in Romans 8:31 "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?" I am reminded of how big my God is and how in the end, we win! No matter what Satan throws at us in this life, he has already lost the war! I know is sounds cliche, but I am making it my goal to think eternally and not dwell on the sadness here in the present. With that being said, I am also making it my goal to be a true prayer warrior for those I love. I want to ask for your prayer for our good friend, Kathryn Lohness, who has been serving in France with World Team. She and her husband, David are the friends that we met while we were living in France. They took care of us, treated us like their kids and invited us to celebrate all the Holidays with them while we were there. They were such a blessing to us and they have a church plant in Le Deluge, France that has been growing since we left. Kathryn has just found out that she has breast cancer. They will be operating hopefully within the next two weeks. I know they would appreciate your prayers even though you do not know them. Finally I want to tell you about a book that I have been reading that does an amazing job discussing our role in global missions no matter who we are. He challenges the view that many Americans take when it comes to reaching the lost around the world. Here is a short excerpt from the book... "I'm not called"..."I wonder if we have in some ways intentionally and in other ways unknowingly erected lines of defense against the global purpose God has for our lives. It's not uncommon to hear Christians say, 'Well, not everyone is called to foreign missions,' or more specifically, 'I am not called to foreign missions.' When we say this we are usually referring to foreign missions as an optional program in the church for a faithful few who apparently are called to do that. In this mind-set, missions is a compartmentalized program of the church, and select folks are good at missions and passionate about missions. Meanwhile, the rest of us are willing to watch the missions slide shows when the missionaries come home, but in the end God has just not called most of us to do the missions thing. But where in the Bible is missions ever identified as an optional program in the church? We have just seen that we were all created by God, saved from our sins and blessed by God to make his glory known in all the world. Indeed, Jesus himself has not merely called us to go to all nations; he has created us and commanded us to go to all nations. We have taken this command, though, and reduced it to a calling- something that only a few people receive." I will leave the rest for you to read on your own. The book is called Radical by David Platt. It is a short book and an easy read. Definitely worth checking out! He asks some tough questions that have changed my way of thinking. I want to be "Radical"!