Prayer for Our Ministry

The days before our commissioning service at the CBF General Assembly were busy. We had several meetings and trainings before the conference really started and we were given tons of information (that we are still processing). We had been warned that there would be a lot going on but not miss the special blessings that we would receive that week.

We were blessed to meet other field personnel that encouraged us with reassuring words, practical advice, and warm hugs. We were blessed by the CBF staff that made General Assembly a-maze-ing! We were blessed by our church that was represented by our pastor and mission's minister. We were blessed by our families that shared this special time in our lives with us.

 

A special blessing came through a St. Francis of Assisi prayer offered by Karen Gilbert over us and our ministry.  Jeff assures me that I have heard the prayer before but in that moment there was a new application or meaning that was a poignant moment for me.

Here is the prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

 

This is our prayer now for ourselves, for our family and for our ministry. 

We are going to Macedonia to live out this prayer.

There is ethnic tension in Skopje, we will seek to bring God's peace

The  Albanians are hated, we will seek to show them love

Life for the Albanians is difficult, we will seek to show them the hope that we have

We want to live in relationship with those God puts in our lives so that we can begin to understand, console, and love.

Please join us as we pray this prayer over our ministry and over our lives.