Audacious

Audacious

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.

AARON’S INCOMING CALL was initially surprising but not alarming. Sitting in the uncomfortable spectator chairs, watching my children attempt roundhouse kicks in their starched white uniforms, my dismay grew as Aaron explained that he was stranded on the side of the interstate two hundred miles away at 7:00 p.m. on a school night. He didn’t know what was wrong, only that his engine had suddenly seized and died.

As I hung up the phone, I turned to God. We were two weeks away from hosting our large annual women’s conference, and the leadership team has grown accustomed to unbelievable, chaotic distractions arising just before the conference. Unexplainable illnesses, sudden financial problems, challenges in relationships—the array of bewildering events over the years would fill a book and give meaning to the saying “Truth is stranger than fiction.” The pattern is clear, and we’ve learned to collectively hit our knees in prayer over these events, running to God immediately, asking for his divine intervention as we focus on final details for a conference that changes lives for eternity.

And this time was no different. Even as I called a friend to ask for help retrieving my husband, I prayed a desperately audacious prayer, telling God that I needed a new engine, and could I please have it for free. Even as I prayed for something that felt a bit extreme, my mind whirled with the momentarily tight spot we were in and the already chaotic schedule these next two months held. We didn’t have the time or money for a blown engine, and my heart squeezed at the thought of adding this to the pile. Praying an audacious prayer resulted in an audacious answer: it’s a rather long, slightly complicated story, but three weeks after the conference we had a brand new engine installed for a total cost of forty dollars.

I don’t normally pray so audaciously, but I shouldn’t be afraid to privately ask big things of God—none of us should. We are invited—encouraged—to pray prayers allowing God to be big, bigger in situations than we’d normally dare ask or believe. God doesn’t mind audacious prayers prayed with a humble heart and right motives, and there is no prayer we can pray that is too big or too much for God.

Lord, thank you for hearing our audacious prayers. May we never put you or your abilities into a too-small box. Amen.

-Julie

One Good Step: Don’t be afraid of audacious prayers, bringing your request before God persistently.