Prayer!- Evan Hillis

 First of all, I just want to say that I am beyond stoked for this summer! The training weekend was wonderful and I had a fantastic time meeting all of you guys! I can't wait to see what God has in store for all of us as the summer comes closer and and He draws us nearer.

Prayer- wow! Great section. I really like the opening note by Foster that said " [for] those who have braved the depths of the interior life, to breathe was to pray," particularly the "interior life" part. For me, and this is something I've seen in my life, to pray for God about your needs and the needs of others is to examine and differentiate between that which is important and that which isn't. I try to pray for the things that are of importance to me, like the well-being of my friends and family and for a serving heart from God (inspired by working for Sonshine!). 

Something else I got out of that quote was that in life, from a physiological perspective, we can't do anything without breathing; it's essential. Therefore, going along with the metaphor, we can't do anything without praying from a spiritual perspective. I've tried to make this the case by praying for whatever lies ahead of me or another before the ordeal occurs and have found it helps with making God the focus of whatever I'm doing. 

Prayer is a great vehicle to witness the Lord in all his glory and love too! When we pray to Him and ask for His help and advice, we witness Him in His response, whether it be a turn of events, a feeling, or even no change at all, which is also an answer. When we witness Him then, we want to continue witnessing Him and thus pray more and then every act we do becomes desires to know Him more! So good! 

Another thing that struck a chord with me was something Steve Mann actually said while we were at training. He was talking about when he and his wife need to talk, they go for a "walk," where the destination isn't a place but rather a person. This directly applies to all of our "walks" with Jesus I feel. While we are walking in His holy presence, we are ultimately walking towards Him and a greater relationship with Him. Woo!

Lastly, I heard a good quote the other day that said, "Service without reflection is work." I thought it was really cool because it totally applies to what we are all going to experience this summer serving. If we don't take the time to reflect on what God is saying and teaching (through cool stuff like this blog!), then it's simply work. Food for thought!

Hope everyone is doing well! God bless.