Prayer Request Email

I sent out the following email to a number of friends who have supported me in prayer over the years tonight, but thought I'd put it here for all of you as well. I really would appreciate your prayers over the course of the weekend.

Hi All!
I haven’t talked to some of you in a while, and some of you I talk to all of the time, but you’re all friends, and I wanted to send out a quick update on what I’ve been up to lately, and to ask you to pray for an event I have going on this weekend.

I think a lot of you know that a number of months ago I very carefully and prayerfully made a decision to return to the church I grew up in for a season of time, and got involved in working with the youth group there. I can honestly say that this has been one of the most difficult, challenging and occasionally satisfying seasons of my life. As I’ve gotten to know these young people, God has given me a great heart for them, and to see them grow deeper in relationship with them.

So here’s where the prayer request comes in. This weekend we are taking them away on a retreat. Just a short, overnight Friday, back late afternoon on Saturday kind of thing, but I’d love it if you’d pray for us. You can pray specifically for me on Friday night, as I will be doing half of the teaching portion of the evening, talking about ways God speaks and how we can learn to hear his voice. This is a rather intimidating setting for me to broach this subject, as the church I grew up in is not particularly open to things of the Spirit. However, I strongly feel God’s leading as I have studied and prepared over the last couple of weeks, and am excited (and very nervous) to be presented with this opportunity. I believe that the Spirit has helped me put words around the things I want to communicate, and I am especially excited to talk about the times when God is silent, not speaking, since I know that a number of these students (and particularly some of the girls that I have been getting to know these last months) struggle with this at times. I am praying that God will give me complete freedom to speak what he’s laid on my heart for these young people, without worrying about whether or not this is exactly how the church I’m involved in would say it. I’m also asking God to give me many opportunities over the course of Saturday as we take the kids hiking and wander around the town we’re going to to have individual conversations with these young people and challenge and encourage them to continue pursuing the deep things of God. Pray specifically that any cliquishness that exists will be overcome, and that the group will really come together. As we’re hiking on Saturday, we’re going to pause a number of times along the way and invite the kids to journal (none of you should be particularly surprised that I get to give them a five minute introduction to why journaling is a useful spiritual tool) and begin to notice what God is saying or doing in the context of creation, their friends and families, and in their own lives.

For those of you who like specific details, we’re holding the retreat at a hostel in Canmore, Alberta. This is the most affordable solution we could come up with, and we were able to book a private meeting room on site for our gathering on Friday night. This will also allow us to cook together, and hang out in a relaxed setting. We think our teaching time will probably start around 9:30 p.m. or so, and I am teaching the second half, so probably starting around 10. Saturday we’re hiking in the morning, then wandering around town in the afternoon, returning to Calgary by around supper time.

Thank you all for your friendship and prayers. It’s greatly appreciated! I’ll be posting an update on how the weekend went on my blog at http://ofalltheliars.blogspot.com sometime after Saturday night (probably Sunday or Monday) if you’d like to find out how things go.

Blessings,

Lisa