How may we pray for you today?
Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (KJV)
Share your needs here and pray for the person who comments before you.
How may we pray for you today?
How was your week? Tiresome? Lonely? Depressing?
We’ve all got our burdens.
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. – 1 Peter 5:7-9
Share your needs here and pray for the person who comments before you.
How may we pray for you today?
How was your week? Tiresome? Lonely? Depressing?
We’ve all got our burdens.
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. – 1 Peter 5:7-9
Share your needs here and pray for the person who comments before you.
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Guide me
Teach me
Let me listen to you
Drive me deeper into
your Word, your Love
Keep me safe
Surround me
Bring me grace
I lay my worries at
your feet
Take my stress away
Speak to me
Draw me near
Prepare my heart
Encourage me as I face
difficult decisions
May my heart be ready to
face the enemy
I will trust in you
I resolve to serve you better
I will speak with boldness
I will not compromise on
my beliefs
I found this prayer in my journal. I wrote it on August 23, 2005 – Five years to the day. Much of it is still my prayer today.
~Jolene
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Change has been a major theme in my life lately. Elizabeth posted about it recently, and as you listen to the next podcast, we talk a lot about change. The changes in my life are causing me great anxiety and stress. My body is physically showing the effects. I have not been content as I continue to learn of what the next 6-12 months hold for me. It causes me great sadness because I know I am not being very Godly…so I continue to pray that these words can soon be my own:
Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content…
Philippians 4:11
Take comfort in these words – trust in them – because with God by our sides we can be content regardless of the changes and situations we face. I am working on striving for contentment, and I look forward to the great gain that comes with that. I ask for your prayer, and invite you to join with me in striving for godliness and contentment in Christ.
~ Jolene
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A random set of events occurred recently that brought me to church last night for a Tenebrae service. About a month ago, I was visiting a friend when her sister stopped by. They briefly discussed a situation at church and the need for an oboe player for a church service on Good Friday. I brought up that I knew a good oboe player from college, high school, elementary school… and that was that. About two weeks ago, my friend called me up and asked about this oboe-playing friend. Apparently their oboe player couldn’t make it, and they were now in dire need…
Through the wonders of Facebook I was able to get in touch with a girl I hadn’t seen since college 6 years ago. (Wow, has it really been that long?) The connection was made and things worked out.
Ok, rewind. I grew up going to liturgical church, and never once went to a Good Friday service. In high school I started going to a Baptist church, and the formality of the services was gone. This actually fit more with my preference for worship…traditional formulaic services were no longer a part of my repertoire. So, I’ve never experienced a Tenebrae service, let alone even heard of one.
So I was curious, and drawn by the fact that I’d get to see a friend I hadn’t encountered in quite some time. And my friend had invited me. So here I was seated in a tiny Anglican church ready to experience something new. And I was quite content.
Tenebrae is a prayer service. It incorporates music, scripture, candles, and prayer to bring to mind Christ’s last days before the cross. Readings from the Gospels are chosen to highlight events leading up to Golgotha. Each reading brings you closer to that point, and as it does so, you seem to be aware of just how heartrending Jesus’ path was. I was struck emotionally as I listened to each passage. And at the end of each passage, a lighted candle was extinguished leaving you in complete darkness and silence at the end of the service…
I really appreciated this experience. I felt connected to the scriptures, and despite the seriousness of the focus, I felt at peace. The words of Jesus, resonated through me as the final words were spoken, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.” God forsook his only son for me.
He forsook His son on the cross, to complete and utter brutality, for you.
Yet even in this sadness, we have hope. We can have peace, because on the third day He rose again, conquering sin and death, and providing us a way to the Father and everlasting life. Let us all celebrate Easter this year, remembering that God gave up his most beloved for us, and that Jesus has risen and we can be free.
Happy Easter!
Rejoice, and be glad!
~Jolene
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I am learning. And learning is always better than sitting still and stagnating, right?
When I was little I was raised in a (Christian) belief system that taught some things that might not have actually been the most biblical. I mean, most of the time they were spot on, but there was some stuff I found out later that was pretty questionable.
One of those things was that, “When you ask God for something, He will provide it right then and there.” There was a caveat though. You had to have enough faith and righteousness for your request to be honored. I can’t tell you how many of the most righteous little old ladies that I knew who were told that they just need to “press in and press on” because they didn’t have enough faith to get what it was they were needing.
That’s what I grew up believing. That if I was in need of something and petitioned God for it and it didn’t come to me right away it was my fault. That my faith was “small.” Let me tell you what, that is a great foundation for building guilt and causing doubt in your security as a child of the living God.
Here’s what I know about faith:
Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
“Because of your little faith,” He told them. “For I assure you: If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. [However, this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting.] ” – Matthew 17:19-21 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
We need faith. Jesus told his disciples that if they merely had “faith the size of a mustard seed” that nothing would be impossible for them. A mustard seed is really, really small. I’m not exactly sure how you quantify the amount of faith a person has, but I’m pretty what the Lord is telling is here is that all we need is just a little. He’s going to take care of the rest. All we have to do is believe.
Tough sometimes? I know. What I am learning through some painful lessons and some things that maybe aren’t lessons so much as just life is that things take time. We can’t always get what we want or think we need whenever it is that we ask for it. Should we stop asking God? Probably not. An open dialogue with our Heavenly Father is the best thing we can keep going so I’d suggest you keep on talking. He’s listening.
Right now I have some wants. Maybe they’re needs. I’m not really sure how to tell that and I don’t think that I am a neutral enough figure in the situation to even begin to decide that. They are good wants. God-approved and full of blessing. In my heart I sometimes ache. There is nothing wrong with what I want, but that doesn’t mean that now is a good time. Or God’s time. And I am learning (slowly and with a lot of feet-dragging, kicking and stomping fits) that no matter how “good” the thing is that I want, that God has a plan and a time for everything. And sometimes what you want, again, no matter how “good,” isn’t in the plan at all. That’s not something I want to entertain at the moment so I’m just going to skip it. But I’m learning it and accepting it and finding that with every passing day it gets a little easier to accept the Lord’s timing. What I’ve also picked up is that my godly longings are not going unfulfilled as punishment for my lack of faith. Sometimes, what we may hear in our heads as a resounding slam of a door may be something as quiet and hopeful as a whispered, “Wait. Not yet.”
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GodlyGals™ is a ministry established in 2002 by young Christian women. We seek to maintain a community for gals seeking to live a more godly lifestyle. This is a place for women, created by women, featuring articles on the Christian faith, devotionals, reviews, reflections, and testimonies
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