Which is easier? Asking for prayer or asking for money?

Well, it took me the better part of 3 hours, but I've completed the scariest part of the mission trip I'm going on next April - writing the support letter! I've posted it as IN HIS STEPS~a pilgrimage to Israel and Palestine, but I wanted to comment on the process of asking others for support.

It seems rather easy to ask for prayer. Maybe because we toss those requests out (I'm not rating the level of intensity in the request) and know they fall in the lap of God. We're left with a comfortable distance from being thought of poorly by the ones we've asked support from. After all, how attached are we to the prayer needs of others? Really. Do those concerns uttered up at small group rest in the forefront of our minds until the need is met in whatever way God chooses? Or are we faithful in our prayers for others maybe a week, maybe a month, but as time and circumstance march on in our own lives we become forgetful of others pressing needs. "I ask for prayers, others offer prayers, ultimately it's up to God to answer them." This allows for a little (too much) space in our commitment to one another.

Of course, this isn't an indictment, or I'd be had! I'm just musing out loud, missing my frequent couch and coffee chat times with so many I love!

I'll tell you, it's harder for me to ask for money. I think it always has been, even with my parents. Somehow asking for money was (is, sadly at times) tied to my worth. And there is much less distance between money we pull from our wallets than prayers we offer for others. Do you think it's because we somehow think prayers belong to God, but money belongs to us?

I know it's all backwards. The gift of prayer should far outweigh our financial resources...

~Prayer is eternal. It issues from a place of no beginning and no end.

~Prayer is powerful. It alters the course of the world in vastly different ways than money.

~Prayer connects upwardly to God and outwardly to humanity. Money only does this through prayer.

Silly little fears to face down through the power of the Holy Spirit. I have listened to His calming voice, quieting the "what if's" my mind can conjure...

~Israel is an unheard of mission spot. "What if" they think I'm going for selfish reasons?

~Times are strained financially. "What if" they think less of me for asking?

Gratefully the real "what if's" speak louder than the counterfeits do...

~"What if" you miss out on what God has planned for you because you're too scared to take the step?

~"What if" you miss an opportunity to bring Christ's presence to the places it is needed most, simply by not being there?

~"What if" you live your physical life out, but never completely wake up spiritually to the wonder of the full life God has planned for you?

Nah...I think I'll keep pushing forward, taking the risk, and putting myself out there regardless of what the world thinks. I'm letting God show off in the many ways He is faithful. I'm doing what He asks of me, and trusting He'll do the things I'm not capable of.

I'm going to hold prayer requests in my heart as the honor they are to receive and offer up. I'm going to try to see them through to completion. I hope you will join me on the Israel & Palestine trip. I think our partnership in prayer will produce mighty things through Our God and Father.

"With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith." 2 Thess. 1:11

Praying, Favored One!