October Ministry Update

October 31, 2024

October Ministry Update

Hello everyone! This month has FLOWN by! But I feel like I say that every month now.

I've been thinking a lot about prayer lately. I was sitting in one of the cores I help supervise and they were talking about James 1.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.”

‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This verse led to a conversation about prayer in general, and how we approach God in prayer. They were saying that when they ask for big things, they ask with the caveat of, "But only if it's your will!" or "But if you don't want that, then it's okay." I think the attitude behind this makes sense, where we want to acknowledge God's sovereignty and that His plan is ultimately best. However, their discussion ended up coming back to the fact that sometimes these caveats may come out of a place of self-protection. It keeps my heart guarded if God says no to that thing, or it seems too big of a thing to get my hopes up for that will happen.

I've been pretty convicted by that! Often I won't ask for big things in my prayers, and I've questioned in the last month if some of that comes from a disbelief that God will do what I'm asking. Or a self-protective posture, guarding my heart to be okay if God says no. I've been trying to be more open with God about some of my desires and praying boldly, knowing that ultimately I can approach him like an unashamed kid with their parent asking for big things because He CAN do them and wants us to feel safe to approach him with everything in those prayers. And then, I can hold my hands open with those things and trust that whatever He does is the best thing.

So I suppose I just wanted to let y'all into that and ask you to consider how you approach God in prayer. Do you ask Him with full faith that He can do it and wants good things for us as His children, or do you let your doubt get in the way of the ask? Just something to consider and pray about for yourself, as I've wrestled with in the last month :-)

Ministry has gone well this month! We are about halfway through the semester; small groups and one on one studies are rolling. We've had 3 baptisms this month!! God is moving on this campus and it is so fun to see be part of.

I didn't take many pictures this month, but here's one of the baptisms from this month that one of the girls I meet with, Maddie, got to do for her friend Jojo!