The Question That Changed Everything
This is a guest post from Madison Metcalf. She is kicking off our series on prayer. She’s a great friend, and the youth and college pastor at our church—and definitely someone you should know! You can find more inspiration and teaching from her at boundblessings.com. Check it out today!
I look back at where my husband and I started. Two college students. Both a little lost trying to figure themselves out… Falling hard for each other.
I look back at those beginnings and smile and grimace at the same time, thinking about all the lessons, mistakes, and decisions we walked through. We both grew up knowing God, but along the way we got a little lost in the shuffle of the world. We both allowed worldly voices to drown out God’s a little too much.
But even through the mistakes and the not-so-great decisions, I knew I wanted us to have God at the center of our relationship. And I knew that for my husband Tyler... it wasn’t a priority. It was like he knew God, but didn’t have a relationship with Him. The two of us together were like a house put on an unsteady, rocky foundation. On the outside, it looked like we were doing alright. But when you walked inside, you realized there were cracks in the foundation. It wasn’t going to last.
I wanted that to change.
It seems silly now looking back, but at the time, I was a little nervous asking Tyler to pray with me. I had spent years praying for my future husband, and I prayed to God every day on my own, but praying out loud with him just seemed a little more intimidating. However, I knew that it was the first step in laying Christ as the center and foundation of our relationship.
So as we were sitting at his college house one night, I asked him… “Will you pray with me?”
I don’t remember the words that were said or what we prayed about, but for the first time, we prayed together. Prayer put us on a journey. It was prayer that got us through a tough season when I didn’t know if our relationship would make it. It was prayer that gave Tyler a new foundation to lay his life and our relationship upon. It was prayer that I clung to growing up, giving me faith to know God would provide me with the exact husband He had in mind for me. It was prayer that brought me that husband. It was prayer that brought us both to the church we serve at now, the church where I serve as the college and youth pastor. It was prayer.
Prayer is powerful. Without it, we don’t have much of a relationship with God. Without it, it’s hard to see how God has worked in our lives. But with it, we can move mountains. We can have joy and peace knowing He’s working all things together for good. We can have the faith to believe that He’ll turn any mess or mistake into something beautiful.
Philippians 4:6-7 says it best. It tells us,
“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”
We don’t have to worry whether or not things will work out. We can pray about it. We don’t have to fret about our mistakes or past shortcomings. We can pray about it. We don’t have to go searching on our own to find what we’re looking for. We can pray about it.
So what or who do you need to pray for today? Who do you need to pray with? Don’t let a moment go to waste. Take it and use it for prayer. God hears every word.
And for us, it has made all the difference.
Book Giveaway Alert—Be sure to check out my previous blog post to see how you can be entered to win one of 2 free copies of Mark Batterson’s new book “Win the Day.” It’s really simple to enter and your odds are really good right now! Winners will be announced on 7/19/21.