#ilovemychurch #ilovecc #crosschurch

Several years ago, when the gift of Miles turned our family upside down, the hardest thing for me was being isolated at home. Miles couldn’t handle the real world and I couldn’t handle Miles. So when we weren’t at therapy, we were home.

I was so used to serving in Keith’s ministry. Right by his side.

I didn’t expect to feel so lost, so useless, so left out.

But God…

He changed my purpose for that season.

I wasn’t being left out, I was being freed up.

When I was in that place of feeling lonely and stuck, God reminded me that I don’t have to be physically present to be on the front line of ministry.  He challenged me to make praying for my husband and the other families we serve with my new ministry. I could have an eternal impact and celebrate all God was doing throughout our church by praying for our staff and their specific ministries every week. I could play a part in protecting their marriages and families by praying for them and their children by name every month. So I did. And what God did in my heart was the most unexpected blessing.

God began to knit these people, these families on my heart.

I want them to walk closely and intimately with Jesus.

I want their marriages to attract people to Jesus.

I want their children to grow up to love Jesus.

I want their ministries to help people know Jesus.

There are so many things I love about my church,

but nothing comes close to the love I have for our staff.

Each person is special.

Each one completely unique.

Each person is important.

Each one part of the team.

And our leader, our Pastor, there is no one else like him.

He is an Early-rising, Jesus-loving, Gospel-preaching, Vision-casting,

SBC-leading, World-traveling, Football-watching, family man.

He is driven.

He is gracious.

And he leads us well.

His eyes and heart are fixed on Jesus and he is “running hard toward the finish line to receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Jesus Christ, is calling us.”

And that’s why we follow him.

We know exactly where he is going.

We know exactly where we will end up.

As I sat down yesterday to pray for my Tuesday’s, our staff, I was simply amazed as I looked at the team God has formed. We all came to Cross Church from different places. And for this season, God has put us all on the same team to serve the same church to reach the same community with one simple goal...

to reach the world for Jesus.

CROSS CHURCH
Springdale  -  Pinnacle Hills  -  Fayetteville  -  Fayetteville East  -  Neosho

The Cross Church staff is made up of difference makers and world changers and standing in the gap for them the last several years has been such a blessing. Life looks different for me now and I am able to go and do and serve again, but I continue the ministry of praying for our staff because it fills me with love and compassion for them. And because lately, I have a stirring.

It's big.

It's heavy.

I feel the weight of it deep in my heart.

And I am expectant.

God is moving.

God is up to something.

Will you join us?

Will you pray with us?

Will you serve with us?

Will you BE THE CHURCH that you want Cross Church to be?

Will you COME EXPECTANT that Jesus will show up and you will leave changed?

The church is not a building, a Pastor, a staff.

The church is a people, a community, a tribe.

Jesus loves the church.

Jesus died for the church.

Together, we are the church.

Together, we are Cross Church.

"God has meticulously put this body together;

He placed each part in the exact place to perform the exact function He wanted."

{1 Corinthians 12:18}

PRAYER BOX

UPDATE: {1/12/17} I have changed this system over the years as our ministry has changed. I also went to a smaller box to make it easier to travel with. So I updated the pictures and some of the information to make it more accurate.

A couple of years ago, I started helping Alex with his personal time with God.

I knew he needed to learn to do it on his own, just him and the Lord, but I struggled with feeling like he was too young.  I liked spending that time with him and the thought of stepping back and letting him do it on his own meant that he was growing up.

But, I want his faith to be his own.

I want him to know what he believes and why he believes it.

And I want him to know, first hand, that God's Word speaks to every area of his life.

So, I started looking for a devotion book that would guide Alex through God's Word, not act as a substitute for it. I wanted something that would not only walk him through scripture, but help him learn to apply it to his everyday life. There are so many great resources out there, that I didn't have any trouble finding something.

After we found a way to help him read his Bible, I started looking for a way to help Alex organize his prayer time.

To simplify it.
To help him stay focused.
To help him keep up with who he was praying for, what he was praying about, and when God answers those prayers.

There are not a lot of resources on practical ways to helping children learn to pray.
So we created our own system.

Several years ago, a good friend showed me the way she was taught to memorize scripture, and we discovered that we can use it to organize our prayer.

I absolutely loved how the system turned out, so I ended up, not only making a box for Alex, but making a box for myself also and I use it every single day.

Here is my Prayer Box...

Everything and everyone I am praying for gets their own blank index card and that index card gets filed in one of these three sections...

DAILY
I have several index cards behind my Daily tab... Keith, Alex, Miles, then friends and family who have somewhat urgent prayer requests, each have their own card. And on that card, I write out the things I am praying for along with the date.

WEEKLY
My weekly tabs have very specific things that I want to make sure I pray for at least once a week.

Monday {Small Groups, Leaders, and Bible Study Girls}
Tuesday {Local Church}
Wednesday {Relatives}
Thursday {Friends}
Friday {United States of America}
Saturday {Lost and Unchurched}
Sunday {Missionaries, World Missions, and Church Planter Friends}

MONTHLY
The last section has 31 numbered tabs. One for everyday of the month.

This is where most of my index cards are filed. I have made cards for our family members, friends, staff, ministry friends all around the country, couples in our small group, the other small group leaders, etc... I think you get the idea.

Each of those cards are placed randomly behind a number.

This is how it works...

Let's say that it is Tuesday, April 6th.

First, I start by taking out the index cards behind my Daily tab and pray through those.

Then, I would go to my Tuesday tab, which is the day I pray specifically for our Church, and pull out the cards behind that tab and pray through those cards.

Lastly, if it's the 6th of the month, I would jump to the number 6 tab and pray through those cards.

I love how easy and organized it is.
I also love that it keeps the answered prayers in front of me.

When we lived in Florida, a staff member found out he had cancer. So, I found the index card that had his family on it, wrote down the date and the prayer request, and moved it behind my daily tab so I could pray for him everyday. After he went through treatment and finally got word that he was cancer free, I wrote the date that God answered the prayer and moved his index card back into the monthly section. Now, when I pray for his family, I can also see how God has been faithful to them and it reminds me to praise Him and thank Him for that.

I realize that this might not work for everyone. I have a lot of friends who keep prayer journals, but since I can't read my own handwriting, journaling never worked for me.

You can also use this system for children who are too young to read by adding pictures of friends and family members.

What are some ways you encourage Spiritual Habits in your children?

What are some resources that you think we should know about?