1.23.12

Hello again! How was your day of prayer and fasting? Good I hope, though I would love to hear about it in the comment section. Mine was probably the best fast I've ever done. I had so much energy and joy (even when everyone decided to go to Jose Peppers, a delicious local establishment that I often crave, but alas, could not partake in)!


As I prayed, I wrote in a notebook as I often do (I have a very short attention span and find this helps me focus, besides the fact that I love looking at past prayers and seeing what God has done) and after much debate, decided to post it. It's quite long, but I feel like God guided my prayer profoundly. This said, I will be praying this prayer throughout the year and am wholeheartedly inviting you to do the same! Join me :)

January 22, 2012

God today I am fasting again as I did in 2008. Today is the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Today we begin our 40th year in the desert of convenience, of selfishness, of lies and of ignorance. Could this be the year where we turn from the sins of our fathers and You can finally bring us into the promised land? May it be so, God.

Many people are fasting with me today. We have humbled ourselves and have taken this time to set aside our desire for the things we fast and decide that we want you more. We want to see Your heart, to be tuned to hear what You say and do Your will. Give us more love for our nation's children and for their mothers. Help our people to see the blood on their hands. May our eyes be opened to the horrors and the evil deeds in our depravity so we will all be so mortified that we can no longer sit and watch death win. May we see when death is about to steal our lives and the lives of our children that we will hold them back and say, "No, not this one".

Help us understand fully Your love for us so we can see Your love for them also; so we may have the boldness to stand for their rights as well as our own.

Fill our hearts with love for the mothers and fathers, God. Help us to be overflowing with grace and understanding. May we love them enough to call them out of their sin, but also to stand by them and hold them up with prayer and encouragement. May we have so much compassion that there is no room for judgment. Help them to feel so loved that they turn to You and can’t help but love their children.

Help our people to love adoption. As You set the lonely in families, help us do the same.

Change the heart of our government to love our children. Make their eyes be open to the truth so they may repent and turn from death. Help our nation to be known for cultivating a passion for life and kindness and humility. Break our selfishness.

God, help us to be so passionate about life and so bold that our communities are changed. May we gather so many mothers and babies in our arms that abortion clinics go out of business and our communities can’t help but see You.

May 2012 bring radical revival that we haven’t seen yet. Gather people into Your embrace by the thousands. Rid us of the complacency that creeps in and steals life from us. Use us in ways we wouldn’t have thought to dream of.

God, may the men of America stand up as protectors of life. Help them lead us in boldness and bravery. May their hearts break with compassion so they won’t allow such morbid action and cruelty on their children. Have them take responsibility for these orphans and no longer be weak as our society makes them, but let them lead us as heroes and champions into freedom by paths of righteousness.

Give grace to women who have had abortions and let them not forfeit the grace that is so freely theirs. May they know how incredibly cherished and valued they are as Your princesses. Make their hearts contrite and broken for their deeds, but then filled with joy and peace in your grace and forgiveness.

Thank You, Jesus, for Your love for the millions of killed babies and that Your arms are big enough to hold every single one of them. Thank You that they are alive in You as You sing and laugh over them.

Thank You that you love America enough to answer our prayers when we humble ourselves. Thank You that You love us too much to let us choose wickedness without discipline. Thank You that Your grace is enough to drown out condemnation and cover our mistakes. May we not take advantage of that. Give us strength today as You guide our prayers and encourage us when we are weak. Let us know that even though it may not seem so, every prayer we pray is taken seriously by You and will always come to fruition.

Use us, God, in 2012 that we and our people see Your heart.

Amen.

1.22.12

Hello! If you are reading this, you have probably (and accurately) guessed that today is our day of prayer and fasting here at All Things Considered. If you have no idea what I'm talking about and I have sparked your curiosity, I talked about it here.

As I said, on this day of January 22, the 39th anniversary of the ruling of the supreme court that pronounced abortion as legal, we are fasting for the repentance of America and of our communities and that God will turn our hearts from darkness. We will pray that we will cultivate an attitude of love and grace for these mothers who plan to, or have already had abortions and that we will no longer stand by, pleading ignorance, but will somehow be involved in stopping abortion.


God hates abortion. We know that by now, right? Though the mother of that child may not want him, and the father of that child may not want him, and the abortionist seeking his life certainly doesn't want him, God desperately wants that baby. Seeing His baby dismembered (suction abortion), burned inside and out (saline abortion), or beheaded (partial birth abortion) breaks His heart. That baby's body, life, and future were intricately planned by his heavenly father who created him with exhilaration and excitement.
You don't mess with a child of God. The same is true for the rich, the poor, the loved, the "unwanted", the joyful, the broken, the orphans, the widows, with you, with me, and with children who have yet to breathe their first breath. Don't you dare try to harm one of God's kids. He loves them to death. And therefore, commands us to do the same.  You may say, "Sarah, good for you that God has given you such a passion, but stopping abortion just isn't my thing". To this I would say, pray. Pray that God will cause you to love the unborn with all your heart and I promise you He will. If you ask to have His heart, He will give it. And He will probably give you more than you initially wanted.

What does actively stopping abortion look like? I'm not 100% sure (I know it involves praying and fasting and a lot of loving, but that can sound rather vague). I do, however, know what it does not look like. It does not look like standing outside of a clinic and shouting curses at the expectant mothers. It does not look like judgement from us to them. It does not look like bitter looks or bitter hearts. 
Remember what I said about messing with God's children? It applies to the mothers as well. He loves them passionately and cherishes their hearts. It breaks his heart to see what they endure and He gladly offers His ocean of grace to them. And therefore, commands us to do the same. He commands us to be full of understanding and love. Yes, abortion is wrong, horrible, and morbid. But if you have never sinned, feel free to place your judgement. However. Jesus, who hasn't sinned, will not place judgement on a contrite heart.






Now back to prayer and fasting (forgive me, I tend to step on my soap box too easily). If you are fasting and interceding with me today, I want you to know how thankful I am for your support (though I know it's not for me) and how I hope and pray that you are more blessed by this than you even expected to be and that God reveals more of His heart to you. If you are not fasting, I would ask you to pray as well whenever you can. He loves it when His children seek Him, especially on behalf of others! 


Before I close, I would like to ask a question. Should we have regular days of community prayer and fasting here at All Things Considered? And if your answer is yes, then what should we fast and pray about next? Something other than abortion? Do you have anything you're dealing with? Do you have an issue on your heart? A family matter?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments :)


May you have a wonderful day!


(Oh, P.S. You should totally check out Gianna Jessen, a survivor of a saline abortion. Her story and what she has to say is incredible!)

1.2.12

Firstly, let me wish you a very happy new year! May it be filled with God's presence and more adventures than you expected.

I could tell you about my activities in the past few weeks; maybe my latest discoveries or perhaps a couple of humorous stories (I may tell those later), but I would honestly rather get to the point. So grab a warm cup of hot chocolate on this cold winter's day and listen to my very interesting, though quite lengthy story about God's latest development and a rather intriguing dream He gave me.

Sometime last week I was reading the book, Innocent Blood by John Ensor, which speaks primarily about abortion and taking action against it. Now, there was a time where I was greatly concerned for this issue. I prayed for it and I fasted for it. But I didn't know what else to do about it and I think this was the main reason that this topic slowly made its way to the back of my mind. After reading this book, it could no longer stay there. I looked up sermons about it (most of them by John Piper, who speaks excellently on this subject) and when I felt strong enough at heart, I researched abortion methods.
Most of you who read this are probably pro-life and know that abortion is wrong and cruel. What you may not fully understand - as I surely did not understand - is the utter grotesqueness and morbidity or this practice. It is the worst and coldest sort of murder, more brutal than my imagination could create. You may read about it here, though I would warn you that it is graphic. I read it right before bed (perhaps an unwise decision) and as I lay there in the dark, I kept asking God what I could possibly do about this. It was with a heavy heart and a mind filled with desperation and questions that I fell into a deep sleep....

In my dream, there was an abortion clinic attached to a library, which made it a very public place that received a lot of traffic and was obviously well known. In this dream, I was in nursing school and for some reason, was required to watch these doctors perform their abortions. As I stood there, I saw the many corpses and skeletons of these dead children (I still cannot get the images out of my mind) and the stoic looks on their mothers' faces. I was horrified and saw the next woman waiting to have her abortion. I cried and pleaded with her frantically over and over again not to kill her baby, but to consider giving it up for adoption instead. Her face was sad and helpless as she refused and proceeded to carry out the abortion.
Heartbroken, I went right to work, visiting the clinic every day to talk with mothers and plead for the lives of their children. Often times, I was successful and was able to save the lives of their children and also kept the mother from more heartache.
Inevitably, the staff at the clinic grew to hate me and despise my presence (especially the manager). Their eyes were filled with anger as they would often physically remove me from the building. But I never gave up. Over many months, I built many relationships with these women and young girls and also got my whole church, and eventually the whole community, passionate about doing everything they could to save our babies. Hundreds of lives were saved and hundreds of mothers found healing as God brought an extreme, passionate revival to our once dark and spiritually depraved town.
Through all this, I continued visiting the clinic and reached out to the staff as well. Eventually, I got the manager who had hated me most of all to see the bitterness in her heart and she gave her life to God, leaving her practice of death and focused on building His kingdom instead.
What happened to the clinic? It closed down. It went out of business because the young girls and women of the community repented, found grace, and began to love the children inside of them far too much to kill them. The practice of death was forced to leave our community and our peoples' hearts were turned toward cultivating life and also adoption.

The moment I woke up, I knew God had given me a dream. And it has not left my thoughts ever since.

The other day, as I once again expressed my new-found passion, I was told that I couldn't hope to solve this issue on my own. I replied that I was very thankful that I wasn't chosen to try to stop it on my own (as there are others much better suited for it), but I would work alone if I had to. If no one else ever works beside me on this issue, I will not give up. I won't let millions of our children be massacred without my strongest fight.

There is a direct correlation between abortion and the gospel and Satan knows it. Children are being literally dismembered and murdered who may have otherwise grown up to show the love of God to many people. Babies are being poisoned and killed who may have otherwise grown up to become a modern William Wilberforce or George Muller.

I could go on and on.

God's heart is grieved at the atrocities that cause the destruction of His children. It angers Him to see this terrible injustice that we stand by and watch. We can no longer plead that we did not know or are ignorant. We all know what is going on. We can find the truth about this practice of death with the click of a button. Ignorance will not stand in the courtroom of God and we will be judged according to what we did or didn't do about what we know.

January 22 is the 39th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the ruling of the supreme court that pronounced abortion as legal, putting the desires of the mother over the life of her child. On this day of January 22, I will be praying and fasting for the repentance of America and of my community and that God will turn our hearts from darkness. I will pray that we will cultivate an attitude of love and grace for these mothers who plan to, are having, or have already had abortions and that we will no longer stand by, pleading ignorance, but will somehow be involved in stopping abortion. Would you join me?

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (and Other News)

First, let me preface with the fact that I was unaware that I haven't posted since August! Yikes!

Anyways. I suppose now would be a good time to update you on all of the recent happenings....

School is going well! I'm getting ready to finish my last semester of classes before I apply for nursing school. Everything has gone by so fast!
Church is going well also. Currently, I am helping out with the youth ministry and leading worship for the children. It has been so cool to watch these kids grow and see what God is doing in their lives even in such a short time! If you remember to pray for me, please pray that I would remember to not make anything about myself, but about Him and that God would move in the youth ministry (most of the kids there are very....troubled).
More big news is that my brother just moved here from Florida to live with us! We are all excited about this fact.

And the weather here? Well.....let me just show you a picture of the leaves on the tree outside our kitchen window....

Today, as it was cold and rainy - and all my homework was complete, thus instilling a particular joy in my heart - I decided that this needed to happen.....

Indeed, my friend, it was quite the pleasurable afternoon as I turned on the Christmas music (Michael Buble's newest album of course!), made some extra chocolate-y hot chocolate, and lovingly decorated my Charlie Brown-esque tree (yes, without the love displayed through ornaments, it is painfully bare).

Also, if any of you should attempt to ruin the joy of my soul remind me that Christmas isn't for another 48 days, I will personally hunt you down and shove Christmas ornaments down your throat have to kindly reply that we have predictions of snow this week; therefore, it is now Christmastime (Clearly, I would gladly skip Thanksgiving and all of November).

This, my friend, is all I have for you today. No time for deep thoughts or revelations. Next time, I promise to try to be more interesting :) I wish you a wonderful week, filled with fun and productivity and maybe, just maybe, the enjoyment of Eggnog hitting the stores......

8.28.11

Joshua 1:9

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

This has long been one of my favorite verses. There have been many days where all throughout the day, I would simply repeat it to myself over and over again. Through every internal struggle and every change in season, this verse has, in a way, been my best friend. It's such a simple verse, but the Lord's gentle command stays with me always, even though I'm so often weak and frail.

As I said before, previous to my Uganda trip I was, quite frankly, a mess. Ask anyone close to me. It was a nightmare. Even as Cameron and I said goodbye in the airport an hour before my flight to Africa, I couldn't hold back the tears (and that was supposed to be an exciting time!). As I stood in the security line, I was sobbing and looking very pathetic, feeling utterly and indescribably alone. He could see me from where he stood and texted me, "Be strong and courageous :)". I looked up and gave him a wobbly smile.

Even since Africa, I have much hope, but I am not brave. I'm far from all the things that used to be so easy; far from many whom I love. I do love it here in Kansas but though I was raised here, it's so foreign in a way to me. Foreign and inexplicably intimidating. I often feel very alone and all that God has called me to no longer seems exciting but overwhelming. Terrifying. I know this is where I'm supposed to be for now, but I do not feel like I have what it takes in any area.

This being said, a while back, I was thinking of  Joshua. My first thought when I think of him is that he was unfailingly brave and courageous, as I'm sure you think when you picture him. Then it hit me....

How many times does God tell Joshua to "be strong and courageous"? I counted seven (but I could be wrong). So I wondered, "If Joshua was already so strong and courageous, why does the Lord seem to have to continually remind to be brave? Why would a strong man need to hear something meant for frail hearts?"

Joshua did amazing things for God. But perhaps fear haunted him as much as, or more so than the rest of us. He was right in the position God wanted him, but maybe he struggled with feeling alone and terrified too. Joshua was a man. His courage did not come naturally. He doubted God's presence. But God used him to lead his people and essentially change the world.

This gives me great hope. God's power is not contingent on our own. The degree to which God uses me is much less dependent on my own courage than on my complete abandonment to His will and my stubbornness to pursue it even when I'm petrified.

God's opportunities here for me are vast and I often feel inadequate. But every so often, I hear a still small voice whispering, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go......"