Would you consider joining us for 40 days of prayer?.....
let me walk you through a few things that have happened the past couple weeks.
1. Those of you in our fellowship group know that we have been challenged to pray with our spouses at least 5 times a week. This has been such a neat and relationship-changing exercise as Tom and I have already seen some of the many benefits of praying daily with your partner.
2. Tom & I are both doing a study through Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology. Two weeks ago we read a chapter on Prayer. It was, for me, a VERY convicting chapter that made me realize that my lack of prayer shows my lack of trust and dependence on God. I am also robbing Him of glory by not asking for things within His will. Furthermore, I prevent God from showing His power to us and others when He answers prayer.
3. Many of you lovingly ask us how our adoption is going and if we have any news. Unfortunately the answer is always "No, we haven't heard anything" This is definitely a case where "no news" is NOT good news. Yet we know that we are doing what God would have us do in regards to adopting from the country that He led us to. But I must admit that we have not consistently prayed for the timing of everything like we should.
4. In a recent conversation about our adoption with my dear friend Jennifer Herrmann, asked if I had ever considered asking a group of people to join with us in daily prayer for a specific amount of time. Shamefully I admitted that I had not considered this, but I needed to talk to Tom about it. Thanks to the ice storm, Tom and I got to stay home that night and talk and pray about the idea!
Which leads us to where we are today.......wanting you to join us in coming before God daily, in humble dependence, and praying for our adoption for the next 40 days.
Prayer changes the way God acts. James 4:2 says "You do not have, because you do not ask."
Grudem says "If we were really convinced that prayer changes the way God acts, and that God does bring about remarkable changes in the world in response to prayer, as Scripture repeatedly teaches that he does, then we would pray much more than we do. If we pray little, it is probably because we do not really believe that prayer accomplishes much at all."
We are to pray in God's will. John 15:7 says "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you."
Grudem says "We should have great confidence that God will answer our prayer when we ask him for something that accords with a specific promise or command of Scripture (e.g. Care for the orphans)
Pray with Faith. Mark 11:24 says "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
Grudem says "Several passages encourage us to exercise faith when we pray. "whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith." - Matt 21:22 and James 1:6 "Ask in faith, with no doubting." "Prayer is never wishful thinking, for it springs from trust in a personal God who wants us to take him at his word."
Here are our requests: You don't need to pray for each of them every day (except for request number 1 - please do make that a daily request.) Maybe just take one request a week.
We'll start out with a praise. Thanks to God's provision - partly through many of you who attended our adoption fundraiser dinner in November, we have the funds to cover everything but our travel expenses, as outlined below.
1. That God would see fit to give us our referral for our little girl by March 15th, and that we would be able to travel to get her by the end of the summer. Because we know we are obeying His will to care for orphans, we also believe that our little girl would be better off with our family than in an orphanage for another year.
2. Safety and well being of our daughter as she might be living in conditions where she doesn't have optimal supervision.
3. Provision for travel expenses: We estimate that it will take about $14,000 for just Tom and I to go to for two weeks to pick up our daughter. However, we would love to also take our bio children with us. This would be a cultural experience that they may never have again. We estimate that to take them would add additional $6,000 to our travel costs.
4. Provision of a family van: Once our daughter gets here we have outgrown our vehicles.
5. Attachment and Bonding issues: smooth transitions into the home. Unless you've specifically read up on these issues or have personally dealt with them, you don't realize that adopted children can sometimes have difficulty fitting in with their new family. They typically understand that they were once part of a different family, but sometimes have trouble understanding why that family has seemingly abandoned them. That can cause problems with accepting the new family.
We are asking you to pray BIG with us. We know that God is capable of HUGE things. We have no doubt that He can and will answer our (and your) prayers!
If you decide to join us on this commitment of prayer, please respond back to us and let us know, so we know who we are partnering with and can be encouraged by you!
Thank you for wrapping around us in this way,
1. Those of you in our fellowship group know that we have been challenged to pray with our spouses at least 5 times a week. This has been such a neat and relationship-changing exercise as Tom and I have already seen some of the many benefits of praying daily with your partner.
2. Tom & I are both doing a study through Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology. Two weeks ago we read a chapter on Prayer. It was, for me, a VERY convicting chapter that made me realize that my lack of prayer shows my lack of trust and dependence on God. I am also robbing Him of glory by not asking for things within His will. Furthermore, I prevent God from showing His power to us and others when He answers prayer.
3. Many of you lovingly ask us how our adoption is going and if we have any news. Unfortunately the answer is always "No, we haven't heard anything" This is definitely a case where "no news" is NOT good news. Yet we know that we are doing what God would have us do in regards to adopting from the country that He led us to. But I must admit that we have not consistently prayed for the timing of everything like we should.
4. In a recent conversation about our adoption with my dear friend Jennifer Herrmann, asked if I had ever considered asking a group of people to join with us in daily prayer for a specific amount of time. Shamefully I admitted that I had not considered this, but I needed to talk to Tom about it. Thanks to the ice storm, Tom and I got to stay home that night and talk and pray about the idea!
Which leads us to where we are today.......wanting you to join us in coming before God daily, in humble dependence, and praying for our adoption for the next 40 days.
Prayer changes the way God acts. James 4:2 says "You do not have, because you do not ask."
Grudem says "If we were really convinced that prayer changes the way God acts, and that God does bring about remarkable changes in the world in response to prayer, as Scripture repeatedly teaches that he does, then we would pray much more than we do. If we pray little, it is probably because we do not really believe that prayer accomplishes much at all."
We are to pray in God's will. John 15:7 says "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you."
Grudem says "We should have great confidence that God will answer our prayer when we ask him for something that accords with a specific promise or command of Scripture (e.g. Care for the orphans)
Pray with Faith. Mark 11:24 says "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
Grudem says "Several passages encourage us to exercise faith when we pray. "whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith." - Matt 21:22 and James 1:6 "Ask in faith, with no doubting." "Prayer is never wishful thinking, for it springs from trust in a personal God who wants us to take him at his word."
Here are our requests: You don't need to pray for each of them every day (except for request number 1 - please do make that a daily request.) Maybe just take one request a week.
We'll start out with a praise. Thanks to God's provision - partly through many of you who attended our adoption fundraiser dinner in November, we have the funds to cover everything but our travel expenses, as outlined below.
1. That God would see fit to give us our referral for our little girl by March 15th, and that we would be able to travel to get her by the end of the summer. Because we know we are obeying His will to care for orphans, we also believe that our little girl would be better off with our family than in an orphanage for another year.
2. Safety and well being of our daughter as she might be living in conditions where she doesn't have optimal supervision.
3. Provision for travel expenses: We estimate that it will take about $14,000 for just Tom and I to go to for two weeks to pick up our daughter. However, we would love to also take our bio children with us. This would be a cultural experience that they may never have again. We estimate that to take them would add additional $6,000 to our travel costs.
4. Provision of a family van: Once our daughter gets here we have outgrown our vehicles.
5. Attachment and Bonding issues: smooth transitions into the home. Unless you've specifically read up on these issues or have personally dealt with them, you don't realize that adopted children can sometimes have difficulty fitting in with their new family. They typically understand that they were once part of a different family, but sometimes have trouble understanding why that family has seemingly abandoned them. That can cause problems with accepting the new family.
We are asking you to pray BIG with us. We know that God is capable of HUGE things. We have no doubt that He can and will answer our (and your) prayers!
If you decide to join us on this commitment of prayer, please respond back to us and let us know, so we know who we are partnering with and can be encouraged by you!
Thank you for wrapping around us in this way,
I would love to pray with you. But, I must be honest and say that I don't like the idea of praying for a specific date. I guess I feel too much like then we are trying to be in control. But, of course, I will pray that if that date is in accordance with His will, that He will move mountains to make it happen by that date. I think that in adoption the best thing that happens to us is that we have to learn how little is within our own control. It causes us to feel a real need for utter dependence on God in all circumstances. I'm sure that God will answer theses prayers of yours! He is a mighty God!!!
ReplyDeleteWe went though parts of Grudem's in a theology class our pastor taught last year. Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteI love that you're inviting everyone to pray along with you. I'm continually petitioning the throne of grace regarding your referral, and I will be praying also for everything you need financially to see this adoption through. I'm excited to see how the Lord works!