Stories & Reflection
PRAY: Guatemala Lessons--Live Your Teaching
Thursday, August 5, 2010 by Marti
Categories: Awe Star Ministries / Pray / SUSIE Magazine
I had an extra privilege during the SUSIE Magazine missions trip to Guatemala. On Sunday, July 4, our teams did not travel to do ministry. Instead, we spent much of the day in worship and rest. In the afternoon and evening, various students and leaders offered hour-long E.I.E.I.O.K. ("Everything I Ever Intended On Knowing") seminars. Participants could choose from classes in balloon animal-making to resume-writing to prayer to spiritual gifts. The only complaint I heard was that there were too many intriguing possibilities!
I taught a seminar on Dangerous Prayer, a class I’ve also taught at iGO, the annual missions conference of Awe Star Ministries. Thanks to the promotional work of the Holy Spirit and one vocal Leader in Training (thanks, Jed!), my two identical sessions were well-attended. I had to visit the Business Center and print more handouts than the fifty I’d brought along.
One of my new friends (a professional speaker) attended the seminar. She blessed me by saying how much she enjoyed it and gave me some tips for improvement, too. But in a later conversation, this friend had some questions about prayer. As my roommate during our training time, she’d noticed that when my husband called at night, he and I prayed together. She asked me about this and mentioned how it had blessed her. The two of us had a great conversation about what God's shown me praying for my family and how she could become more active and effective in praying for hers.
What amazed me was that my friend, although she learned from the seminar, didn’t ask about the specific points of my lesson. Instead, she wanted to know more about something she’d seen in my life and how she could apply it to hers. This experience reminded me that, in the same way I’d learned to “live the story” (see 7/20 blog posting), I could “live the teaching,” too.
Tomorrow, my husband and I celebrate twenty-seven years of marriage (woo hoo!). I’ll share more about our prayer habit in another blog. But as I prepare to teach at the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference next week, I’m asking God to help me live my teaching. The words I say will have little power unless my life (along with my writing) shows their truth.
Our words matter. Our lives matter more.
Share This Blog:
Previous Posts
Where's Marti? Spring-Summer 2016
Marti
4/1/2016
New Year's Resolution?
Marti
1/22/2016
New Year's Resolution--or Not
Marti
1/15/2016
What if I Don't Go? Lessons from My Summer
Marti
11/5/2015
Out of the Dust featured on Heart Talk with Linda Rooks
Marti
10/15/2015
The Perfect Christmas
Marti
10/2/2015
WRITE: Here I Am, Send Me? Courage in Costa Rica (Never the Same Missions, Part 1)
Marti
1/14/2015
WRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust, Free and Clear
Marti
11/3/2014
Write: Devotionals, Out of the Dust, Purpose-Driven Prayer
Marti
10/29/2014
WRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust, Lesson Learned
Marti
10/27/2014
WRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust, Battles and Blessings
Marti
10/24/2014
WRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust, Power Surge
Marti
10/22/2014
WRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust, Ready for Battle
Marti
10/20/2014
WRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust, Out of the Comfort Zone
Marti
10/17/2014
Write: Devotionals, Out of the Dust, I Surrender All
Marti
10/15/2014
WRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust, Unshaken
Marti
10/13/2014
WRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust: Don't Waste Your Pain
Marti
10/10/2014
WRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust: The Miracle Tire
Marti
10/8/2014
WRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust: Unspeakable
Marti
10/6/2014
WRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust: True Compassion
Marti
10/3/2014
WRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust: Obstacle Course
Marti
10/1/2014
Pray: Top Ten Signs You've Just Returned from a Short-Term Mission Trip
Marti
7/29/2014
PRAY: Never the Same Costa Rica, Opposites Attract
Marti
7/16/2014
PRAY: Never the Same Costa Rica, Living the Story
Marti
7/12/2014
PRAY: Never the Same Missions: Will You Go?
Marti
4/2/2014
WRITE: Words with Friends: Grace Fox
Marti
2/18/2014
WRITE: Never the Same Missions, Fundraising (Part II)
Marti
2/13/2014
WRITE: Never the Same Missions, Fundraising
Marti
2/11/2014
WRITE: Never the Same Missions: Gentle Giant
Marti
2/4/2014
WRITE: Never the Same Missions, Grace
Marti
1/29/2014
WRITE: Never the Same Missions, Adult Leaders, Part 2
Marti
1/21/2014
WRITE: Never the Same Missions: Adult Leaders
Marti
1/15/2014
Where's Marti? Speaking and Travel Schedule, Winter 2014
Marti
1/9/2014
PRAY: A Missionary's Response to Short-Term Mission Trips
Marti
7/13/2011
PRAY: Prayer for Summer Missionaries
Marti
6/25/2011
Pray: Why Missions?
Marti
6/22/2011
