The last few days I have been praying on and off concerning a specific request that I recognize is beyond my own ability to supply. The truth is, when it comes to prayer I have always had to be driven to it. Not that I am not a person who prays--I pray throughout the day; prayers of gratitude, thankfulness, intercession and often my own thoughts in general that I share with God. But specific, constant, intentional prayer for something is something that I have to be driven towards-- and I first learned about this as a young missionary in South America. Latinos showed me a different way of praying. We would start many prayer circles and I would open up with what I thought was a decent prayer--very on task about what I am praying about and for, but then my latino brothers and sisters would pray and it would just be taken to another level. In the end, I realized that as a white, middle-class American, I have a lot of control and power to do and be and go where I want. For the most part, my life is pretty under my command--and I'm only driven to prayer when something serious is happening that I cannot manage. However for many of my latino friends, they grew up without the power and means to sustain their daily lives without the help of God. So they prayed because they were in constant need for God's provisions and they took him at his word when scripture speaks of God hearing our prayers and that we have a say in what God decides to do. They always made me go deeper in prayer--it was contagious.
But, I'm back in the US now and my life is, overall, pretty manageable. Or at least I live under that illusion.
Until it's not.
Leading EnterMission is one of those things that brings me back to reality. I can control a lot of things, but there are a lot of things I cannot control. So for these, I cry out to God and ask Him to do what I absolutely cannot.
As a new ministry going on it's fourth year, I cannot control how many apply to journey with us, and while we have an interview and admission process, I cannot control with certainty whether an applicant should or shouldn't be accepted. So in this aspect, I cry out to God a familiar prayer-- "Oh God, open up the windows of heaven! Send us the people that you know need us and who we need to be the community that You desire!"
Each August is a gift to all of us at EnterMission. It is a gift of a new journey with a new community. There will be mountains and valleys, times of joy and times of sorrow--but the gift of discovering spiritual community is precious.
Will you pray for our new community that is forming? Specifically we have a great group of young ladies and are praying for 3-5 more guys to join us this fall. But we don't just want anyone-- we want those who God is preparing and who are willing to take the leap of faith to leave the community that they know, to join our own.
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