day one: a little oswald wisdom.

(Prelude: Writing a first post on a blog is super daunting.  Just like when you get a new journal and you want your handwriting to be perfect and pretty and you want some perfect words right there on the first page.  Like maybe a verse or a quote or something cool you saw on Pinterest.  But then maybe under pressure you just skip the first page and start on the second page hoping that one day your handwriting will be pretty enough and you will be inspired with something lovely to write there but the stars never align and then you have a bunch of journals started on the second page.  Oh you haven't done that?  Just me?  Okay, cool. You're better and less weird than I am. Congrats about that.)

I love books.  A lot.  One of the harder things in this season of life is how quickly I fall asleep as soon as I start reading one.  It's really one of the more impressive things I do these days.

(The love of books is a part of our genes. Just ask my mom. It runs deep.)

Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest is a classic.  I don't know how many times I've read through it but it's probably a lot because this man's wisdom and ability to simultaneously encourage you & give you a good kick in the rear just keeps calling you back for more.  In one of the hardest seasons of my life, this book, these words, brought me to the foot of the cross over & over again.

Of all of the things written in there, these 13 words are the ones that have stuck like glue.  They have literally shaped my life.  In fact, if you've known me for more than 6 hours you've probably heard me mention this quote.

"Prayer does not equip us for greater works -- prayer IS the greater work."

Nearly every day I find myself coming back to these words.  I believe them deeply.  But at the same time any time there is a need somewhere, there is this obnoxious temptation to believe that prayer just isn't enough. 

But when I get on board with the whole prayer thing being enough -- being the greater work -- praying BIG is just as natural as breathing.

So today as my heart aches for people far from God and for Jay & Alex and the VanPatters battling leukemia; as I battle the anxiety that creeps up about normal every day things and as I bring my family and our church and my friends to the throne of our Father who is the King of Kings -- I KNOW.  THIS is the greater work.  This, right now.  These jumbled words and thoughts and songs and images are the GREATER work.

Because if prayer is the greater work, then it can't be small.  If prayer is the greater work, then all prayer can be is BIG.