Last spring I was in a ladies Bible study by Henry and
Richard Blackaby. One week there was a
section on praying as a church that really hammered in the importance of
regular meetings. Now, my church has
many activities and outreaches, but in all the years as a member, I could not
remember hearing about prayer meetings.
How could that be?
**I’ll be honest:
even growing up in church did not stop me from being terrified of
praying out loud. When I had to pray in
youth group and later women’s groups, I would start to terror sweat and try to think
of what I was going to say before it was my turn. **
After a few days of thinking about how we don’t meet for
prayer, I went to the church Facebook page and sent a message about how we
should have prayer meetings, even once or twice a month. I received a reply that it was a great idea
and would be passed on. I read that and
thought, “OK good, I have done my part.
Maybe someone will start this.”
Soon after that I was contacted by our minister of pastoral care, whom I
had never met but is now a great friend.
He was so excited for us to get started!
US! Here is yet another time I
was terrified and excited at the same time.
We met throughout the summer to plan, and had our first meeting in
August. On the way to the first prayer
meeting, the fear left me. I knew that
God was going to use me in this way, even though I felt inadequate. Knowing I had to get over fear in order to
help others really pushed me.
Over the last year or two, I have realized that if I want to
grow, I will be pushed out of my comfort zone.
If I want to be a help and encouragement to others, it means not sitting
on the sidelines. God put us here to
love each other and bring glory to Him.
For the second time in a year, I had to totally rely on God’s power to
take an uncomfortable step. He keeps
proving to me that each of these steps is worth it. Hopefully one of these days I will learn to
hear God’s voice and just say, “Sounds great. I’m all in!”
No comments:
Post a Comment