Prayer Requests & Celebration

Because I know you pray, I wanted to bring three things before you that I would be blessed to have you lift up to the Lord:

Tonight, finally! After two rescheduled dates, I will be meeting with teen girls tonight (I have no idea how many) and we will be discussing Girls, Guys, and God. It's been a month since I prepared (over 6,000 words -- oye!), and at this point, I am not sure which of those thousands I ought to focus on. I am praying for the spirit to lead and for a transparent heart that the Lord would use to change lives and spare heartache and regret.

Next Monday! I'll be with about 30 teen girls, ranging from 7th though 12th grade for a "Dessert Discussion." In a fury of writing about a month ago, God put a message on my heart to share from Romans 2 in the Message, "God is kind, but he's not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into radical life-change." Please pray for confirmation from the Lord this week as to whether this is the message He wants me to give or open my eyes/heart/spirit to something else. I've also been thinking much on rejection/love, so that is why I am questioning.

Crisis of belief requires faith and action. This statement, from Henry Blackaby's, Experiencing God, may sound familiar, after all my weeks of sharing about this study. Well, I am in the throws of experiencing God at work, for yesterday, I received an offer (that I can't explain at this point) in which I need to give an answer to by next week. It is a full blown crisis of belief that will require faith and action. It is a long-term commitment and comes with enough responsibility that much in my life would have to change. It is something I wanted years ago, but let go completely in the past two years. It is something I am qualified for and able to use the gifts God has given me, but it is also a role that will challenge my character and stretch my people skills. It is a commitment that will ultimately put my writing on the back burner...as well as the idea to begin on a book. Yet, that doesn't upset me at all. I have had a great sense that the Lord has much to do in me, teach me, heal me, mature me, before I embark on writing a book and speaking more. This offer feels like a step in the training and preparing process, but I am intimated by it and know that the safe answer would be to say no, for sure. Please pray that I would be obedient to the Lord and find confirmation in the body as well as through prayer and Scripture. My husband is seemingly excited, although he had foggy travel brain yesterday and we'll need to talk more and pray this week. I covet your prayers for me in this area. Please feel free to email me... extragrace (at) gmail (.) com.

Thanks, so much, dear bloggy and real-life friends. Without you, my life would be void of much!

...For some fun and great prizes, head over to Sting My Heart to celebrate with Iris her 3rd bloggy birthday!