Tag: prayer

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We Want to Know About You!

I was recently emailing with a friend from our home church back in Michigan. As a part of this I asked her how she and her family were doing and how we could be praying for them. She responded with a nice paragraph with updates on her and her husband, her kids, and grandkids along with how we could be praying for them. At the end of the email, she made a joke about how she had sent me a lot. I am here to go on record that you can never send us too much!

When you send us family updates, and prayer requests in particular, they are such a blessing to us for the following reasons:

  1. Moving across an ocean, we’ve had to say goodbye to so many dear friends and family. We try to stay connected with many of you, but the reality is that this is just not possible. God has been so generous in providing us with incredible community in France and Senegal, but we still feel the loss from leaving family, friends, our home church and the community that each of us grew up in. There is no replacing these relationships or even the small moments of connection with so many of you on a Sunday morning or while bumping into you at the grocery store or downtown (for those local to Midland). We’ve found that getting updates from you really makes us feel so much more connected. We are happy to send out our newsletters and let everyone know what is going on in our lives, but we’d love to get your newsletters (or just an email is sufficient) so we can know what is going on in your lives.
  2. Further, we love knowing how we can pray for you. We’ve found that when we ask someone how they are doing we typically get a lot of the higher-level items such as job updates, family changes, perhaps moving houses or things of this nature. We love knowing these things (please tell them to us!), but when someone shares with us how we can pray for them, we often get a deeper view into their heart. We hear about what they are hoping for, what is causing them anxiety, what struggles they are trusting God for, what they are passionate about and things like this. This allows for deeper connection.
  3. And of course, when we get your prayer requests we know how to best pray for you! Being in Senegal, we aren’t around to help you move, to offer you an encouragement or a hug on a bad day, to babysit your kids so you can go on a date night or to bring you a meal after welcoming a new baby. But, we can pray and we love praying for all of you! We try and take time each night around the dinner table to pray for two families. If you have not already sent us a family picture (Selina requested this in a newsletter a while back), please do so! We use these with the kids so that they know who we are praying for.

All that to say, we love hearing from you!  Please never hesitate to reach out to us (email, WhatsApp, Facebook messenger and Marco Polo are all great) and let us know what is going on in your lives and how we can support you in prayer.

-Adam

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Staying Close From Far Away

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy…It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart…” (Philippians 1:3-4 and 7b)

The other night some fellow students and friends of ours here in Albertville came over and we had a time of fellowship and prayer. One of our conversations was about what we find ourselves praying for the most as this can be a good reflection of what is most important to us. This was such a helpful conversation for me because I was able to reflect on how moving overseas has impacted my prayer life.

While I have known people living in other places than me throughout my life who I have labored for in prayer, I feel like recently God has been developing in me a deeper appreciation for interceding on the behalf of others. There are so many people back in Midland that I miss and long for deeply. So many that I want to just sit with over a cup of coffee to catch up, to laugh with, to share each others joys and burdens and to pray together.

Technology certainly allows a level of connecting with people around the world that is such a gift, but still, not the same as spending time physically together. There’s an additional difference when not living life together day to day in the same physical location, especially coming from a fairly small town like Midland. Between busy schedules, life circumstances, time differences and trying to navigate the ever-present tension of staying connected “back home” while also being present here, there is just realistically less time to meaningfully connect. We cherish all the memories of our time in Midland with the incredible community we have there. As such, I have felt the loss of those easy moments of fellowship, of the encouragement and challenging in small groups, during playdates, coffee dates or through chance run-ins around town. However, in those moments of grieving, or when different people come to mind I find I’m often drawn into prayer.

In the last several weeks it has been dawning on me how meaningful prayer is. I can’t be present for all of the things I used to be present for, I can’t spend the time I want to with many of people who mean the most to me, but I can have an impact on their lives in the deepest way possible; by lifting them up to the One who created all things and knows all things. The Lord loves them and knows their needs so much more than I do anyway, but in praying for others I feel a closeness to them and ability to care for them, even at such a vast distance. This power of prayer has always been present, and I know this, but the beauty of it has been so much more tangible since leaving. The verses in Philippians 1 about how Paul feels for the Philippian believers continually comes to mind as I think about and pray for so many dear friends and family around the world (and as I lift up believers in Christ around the world who I don’t even know!)

Likewise, I feel the impact of your prayers. We know there are so many who are laboring on our behalf through prayer and we are beyond grateful. What a gift it is to speak to our heavenly Father and be a part of each other’s lives in this way. Thank you and know that you are often prayed for as well, on this side of the world.

-Selina

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Our Personal God

I have a mentor who was sharing with me about how she will often ask God to minister to her heart and He always responds in amazing ways. This was a new, but interesting idea to me. To minister is “to attend to the needs of [someone]”. God meets all of our needs so it seems to me a fitting thing to pray to Him. So, lately, I have been trying to more intentionally bring my sorrows, concerns and longings to Him, asking Him to minister to my heart.

One of the biggest things I have been learning through this is that He is such a personal God. He is a loving Father who hears my prayers and wraps me in an embrace. He is a tender Savior who lavishes me with love, though I am so quick to doubt and fear and worry. He knows each of His children better than we even know ourselves and supplies exactly what we need, when we need it.

On our recent trip to Kansas City for our Avant Go training I felt Him ministering to my heart in two very special and tangible ways.

First, it had recently dawned on me that when we go to France for language school we will be in classes four days a week and therefore our kids will be in daycare four days a week, for the first time ever. My desire has always been to stay home with our kids and the last three years of doing so have been such a gift. When I realized the reality of full time language school I was disappointed. I feel confident in our calling to go overseas and excited about learning French next year, but I couldn’t help feeling sad that I would not be with our kids in the stay-at-home capacity I have loved. So, in time, I brought it to the Lord, asking Him to minister to my heart. While at Avant we had classes all day so our kids went into a childcare setting during that time. Despite this being the longest the kids have been apart from us, especially with non-family members, they did great! Mia in particular thrived in the classroom. She adored her teachers, loved her classmates and eagerly anticipated each new day. One morning she woke up, came over and hugged me and then the first thing she said was, “Can I go to my classroom now?!”. I am so thankful for this experience and the glimpse it gave me into the experiences Mia will get to have during our time in France. It felt like a literal pat on the back from God as He assured me that He will care for our children whether they are home with me or not.

Second, our class for Avant Go was made up of people we had met last July at Avant Start as well as some people we were meeting for the first time. During the day our classes were filled with studying Scripture together, learning about what it looks like to move and work overseas and growing in appreciation for how God has uniquely created each of us. Each evening many of us gathered to play games together and share food and laughter. By the end of our week and a half of training it was hard to say goodbye to these dear friends. What stood out about this to me is that God knew who was going to come to this training. He knew each of our personalities, strengths and weaknesses. He provided fellowship and community and so much relational joy. And all of that in a mere week and a half. One of the biggest sorrows for me with our upcoming move overseas is leaving our community here in Midland. Almost all of our family lives near us, we have an amazing church family and tight knit friend group. As we drew close to people we had just met at Avant Go I felt God comforting me that He is the one who provides for us and that includes our relationships. Again, it was a gentle embrace from my Father who knows my desire for community and chose to show me so clearly that He is able to provide it, wherever we are.

I am so thankful for our personal God and the assurance that He hears our prayers and responds. I pray you know Him personally as well and get to experience the wonders of His love!

-Selina