Creative Prayer Coach

An Old Scar Made Visible

Have you ever gotten a bruise and wondered, “Where did that come from?”  I saw one of those on my hand the other day. It didn’t hurt; it was just several interesting colors.  But what I noticed was an old scar became visible. When I was really young my dog, Kirby, bit me. That scar on my hand was red and bumpy for years. It used to bug me until it faded and got lost in my adult wrinkles. I forgot all about that day in the backyard – a day when I learned not to tease a dog with food. Yep, Kirby thought I was a piece of meat – my own fault.

Anyway, when I looked down at the bruise today, it made me think about all the scars I have that are invisible until something makes them come back to the surface. Sometimes I see something, or someone says something, that brings back a painful memory; or, like today, I’m not clear what has made my scar reappear, but there is no hiding when that happens.

It wasn’t a huge leap to start thinking about all the people that I’ve talked with and ministered to over the years that are wounded. We all have scars that are invisible until something brings them to the surface. We all have some things we would like to keep hidden or forget about, but those things are still part of our life story. Sometimes we need to do something about the scars, like the one on my elbow where the internal stitches are festering to the surface long after surgery. Sometimes, like the scar on my hand, it’s just a reminder of my youthful stupidity. But the bottom line is that our scars have helped shape us and mold us into the people we are today.

My goal is to embrace my scars as signs of my growth over the years and to find ways to use them to help others through painful moments. When someone’s scars are showing, I choose to have empathy. I choose to listen as they talk about the scars, to give away hope and to walk with them through the process of healing when needed. Honestly, making the choice not to turn away from scars isn’t always easy, but definitely rewarding. When I see a scar healing, fading into a distant memory or into something that spurs a person into a healthier, more productive future, my heart leaps for joy. I encourage you to take the leap and choose to use your healed scars as a beacon of hope and healing for others, whose scars have just become visible.

Over the past month, I have been running into people talking about times and seasons. It started as we did our annual “Spring ahead” with the clocks, but I sense something more significant than that is in the wind.

Yes, as I write this, I am looking out at the wind making the Palm trees dance and the leaves of the bushes clap their leaves together, both fierce and beautiful. To put this in perspective, we purposely moved to the part of town that has very little wind, so the fact that I am seeing this is abnormal.

For me, this is a physical embodiment of what I’ve been feeling – that God is about to do something that is out of the ordinary and now is the time to prepare for it, just like we closed our doors and windows to keep the dust from blowing through the house.

This past Sunday one of our group members brought a reading about time. He didn’t know that this topic has been on my heart and mind. I was struck by two different definitions of time: Chronos – marks the passage of time and Kairos – which signifies the proper or opportune time for action. My sense is we have moved into a Kairos time with God.

You may be asking, what does this mean? Honestly, I don’t know. I’m just aware of a shift and that I want to be ready to spring into whatever God is planning to do next. For me, that has resulted in a change in how I structure my day. I intentionally spend more and consistent time focusing on my relationship with God: reading the Bible, just sitting with Him enjoying His presence, having deeper more intimate conversations with Him, and experiencing a strong desire to invite people along with me on the journey.

Will you join me in walking into this Kairos time with God? Is there something you want or need to do to prepare yourself for the critical moment for action? Will you be ready?

By Andrea Sanger

One morning I woke up from a dream with a word on my mind. I felt it was a word that I shouldn’t forget, so, I leaped out of bed (totally abnormal for me). I grabbed my phone, pulled up my Dictionary.com app and typed in the word. There were no exact matches, but what did come up was Eudemonia – a noun that denotes happiness and well-being. Being a fanatical word person, I wanted synonyms for the word, so I jumped into Thesaurus.com: comfort, contentment, happiness, health, profit, prosperity, protection, safety, security, success, and welfare. What a great word, right?

Considering that in the past few months my family and friends have been racked with health and financial setbacks, it made me laugh. God has frequently done this in my life – dropped a word into my dreams that I don’t know that shows me something amazing about His plan and purpose for my life and those around me. His plan for us isn’t the stress we are embracing but “eudemonia.” The remainder of the week when something came up that could have been stressful, my dream word would pop into my head and make me smile.

When one of my friends shared the immense stress that she was carrying around, I realized that although eudemonia was a good word for me to know, it was a word from God for my friend. She is on track to fully express all the synonyms and have a huge impact on the community. However, she was internally blocked by a myriad of fears (some seem valid). Eudemonia became my prayer for her and all that she touches – a short one-word prayer that packs a big punch. Since that encounter more stressors have been dumped on her plate, but there is a new level of living well and doing well in the middle of it.

As I sit here typing, I pray God’s eudemonia would cover your life. Also that you, like me, will wake up in the mornings with a smile on your face, knowing that no matter what happens with the rest of your day in Christ, you are living well and doing well.

By: Andrea Sanger

I admit my mind was wandering during Bible Study, but what happened was purely a God moment.

As I looked down at the table, I saw a reflection of my friend’s arm and took a picture of it. It got me thinking about how each of us imposes a reflection on the world around us, even if we are not aware of it. Then, I started thinking about a Bible Study I did years ago – it was about taming the tongue from Proverbs 27:19 (English Standard Version – ESV): “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.” It forced me to think about what my heart was reflecting through the words I choose to use. Often it is not great – that is why I love writing – I have time to edit before my thoughts become public. I’ve started challenging myself again to search my heart for what is really in there so that it is appropriately reflected through my words.

Back to the current Bible Study, we were studying Matthew 8:23-27 where Jesus calms the storm. Again, I was distracted as the reflection on my friend’s phone profoundly spoke to me. There she was reading “Jesus Calms the Storm” as a calm and serene outdoor sky reflected onto her screen. It was as if God was showing me that He is reflected in the world around us through His Word. We will see those reflections in it if our perspective is right. In this instance, God was also showing me that Jesus exhibited calm in his whole body by sleeping in the middle of the storm, even though the disciples couldn’t see it from their perspective.

How many times do I miss what God is trying to show me because I am out of position or just looking at what is right in front of me? How many times does my heart falter like the disciples because I’m focused on me instead of the reflection God is casting on and around me? How many times do I reflect onto the world something that is not helpful or uplifting? I want my body and words to reflect Christ’s influence in my life. How about you?

By Andrea Sanger

In the process of writing my memoir, I’m getting to go back and review old journals (I have several boxes of them). In one of them dated 11/7/1993 I wrote two entries as a follow-up to a conference we attended:

1. We are called to the Prodigals. The ones rejected by others. Adoption is just a part of that call. Our new son is just part of that call. I pray that I heard that directly from God, but it was like He said, “Your son is the first of many who have been rejected – that may be difficult at times, but the trouble is worth it. They need a place to be loved no matter what.
2. The Prodigals – confirmed when we went up to receive anointing for our call, Tommi (one of the conference speakers) handed David a paper. The paper was for the one who has a heart for the prodigals. (Someone had given her the paper earlier in the day with those instructions. They had written out Ezekiel 34 on it with words of encouragement).

As I look back on our lives, I can see all the places where this calling on our life has “accidentally” come to pass. Not because we went out looking for it, but it found us through the amazing people we have encountered along the way. There have been a lot of days when my husband and I have looked at each other and asked, “How’d we get here?” Then we’d smile, laugh and say, “Only God could do this!”

Even when we walked down the paths that seemed to conform to the normal, we would end up attracted to the fringes. So, is it any wonder that Live180 is a perfect fit for us as a ministry. We get to work with people who don’t fit into the normal Christian circles but have an intense hunger to know more about Jesus. It is utterly freeing to be right in the center of what God designed us to do. Some days are gut-wrenchingly hard, but even in those times, we have an intense peace and joy. I wouldn’t trade my life for anyone else’s at this point.

I know journaling isn’t for everyone, but if you are at all inclined to record what God is doing in your life, I encourage you to do it. You never know when God will use what you’ve recorded to clarify calling, give hope to others or just give you a smile when you need it.