More than I asked for...

Dear Beracans,
Hi. I hope that the past two weeks have been okay for you, and that you are continuing to grow in the faith. My utmost desire is that each of us would form and enjoy a personal, intimate relationship with God. It’s one of the most beautiful things in life, the very essence of life.

This time around I’d like us to look at some Benefits of Prayer, benefits that we can actually enjoy in our daily lives. I’d like to look at two benefits today. The first one is PEACE. When we give our concerns to God, we have a shift of burdens, and God carries our burdens and we do not carry them any more. We have to trust Him, though, and not take them up again after praying. The second benefit we enjoy, is that, after we trust God to do something, He goes ahead and gives us not only the desires of our heart (Ps. 37:4), but also OVER AND ABOVE WHAT WE SEEK (Isa. 55:8-11).

Sometimes this sounds like cliché, but I think it helps when we have an example that we can identify with. So I’ll give an example from my life. I prayed to God about having a job, something that I would enjoy doing, something that would use my talents, and make me know that I am serving God’s purpose in my life. After a couple of disappointments earlier on, I had prayed to God that my next job would need me and find me, that I wouldn’t go through the process of “tarmacking” only to be fired or to lose my job for whatever reason. Now, that was a big challenge, because, if it was my desire that my job finds me, then I had to wait patiently for that to happen. Given that condition, the best way I could show my trust in God would be to wait. If I chose to go out and “hassle” for a post, then that would go against the desire of my heart to have my job “find” me. And then, I could also not truly say that my job found me, if I went looking for it. So my best option obviously, was to wait.

I must admit that waiting isn’t easy, because you want to see results; you want to prove that your salvation is “real” and that it “works”, etc. but I chose to wait. I knew that there was nothing I could do to answer my own prayer. I prayed to God, and I left it with Him. Now it was up to Him to prove His word (By experience you will see that the Lord is good; happy is the man who has faith in him, Psalm 34:8 Bible in Basic English). Whenever I tried to think about my options, I got stressed out. But when I decided to let God do His thing in His own way and in His own time, I felt indescribable PEACE flood my life. Well, God did answer my prayer, and in a SURPRISING WAY too. I love being near my home. Soon after my total surrender, someone came asking me to join where I’m at now. Talk about surprises. My job found me, and also, it was a great deal – I now enjoy my serving God with my talents knowing that I am living God’s purpose for my life. And the icing on the cake – although I had not directly prayed for this, but it was always in my heart, my working place is NEAR MY HOME!
That for me is very special. It encourages me to trust God more and more with even the details of my life. I want to serve Him with my entire being. And surrender all of my needs to Him - always.

Here are a couple of things to pray about these two weeks.
a) Events: 2nd service on Sunday 24th May this year (we’re leading), and Super-soul Sunday.
b) Growth: spiritual (intimate relationship with God), as a team (unity, love, care for one another), musical (skill)
c) Relationships: Ernest, Mary, and upcoming ones. Pray for holiness, grace and wisdom.
d) Our country: leadership, food, security.
e) Kawira: I got a message this morning (Monday) that she’s unwell.
I will be updating you soon on the Beracah blog, as well as a day that we shall fast and then meet to pray.

I wish each one of you a special week full of God’s favor. May you experience the benefits of prayer.

In Christ’s service,
Anngladys.