Not Even If I Tried

Okay, I couldn't make this story up if I tried, so here goes. A few weeks ago I challenged the teens of UNINTIMIDATED to ask God to show them for themselves that His hand was in this journey. Two of my girls took up the challenge and asked God to show them something they needed to specifically pray over for Tebow. The next morning, both girls heard/read news about Tebow's new girlfriend. This was cause for some concern as the girl Tebow was dating did not appear to be saved. This was upsetting to the girls, but at least they had something to pray over. I admit, it had me concerned too and quite honestly I speculated a bit in my prayers. I know these girls, and I can almost guarantee you they have been praying for Tebow's wisdom in dating this actress and for God to intervene if she wasn't right for him, in my prayers however, I think I judged a little and assumed some.
     It strikes me as odd that Tebow has had very little success in New York, he has not been the savior of their team as he was Denver, not much chance to talk about his faith. As a matter of fact, he has been given very few opportunities to play and the one game where Sanchez was benched, Tebow was inactive due to broken ribs. Yesterday, Sanchez lost the starting job and Tebow was passed up as starter for third-stringer McElroy.
     Ironically, according to the news, Tebow has been interested in this girl since arriving in New York and began officially dating her just a few weeks ago. It seemed to me that God was letting Tebow know that dating an unsaved person was definitely not in His plan for his life. Now, the Holy Spirit convicted me over that, let me know I wasn't Him and didn't know all the details. This could be a time of testing for Tebow for all I knew. So I did modify my prayers. I did sincerely attempt to keep my speculation and opinion out of my prayers, but my thoughts kept coming back to it, perhaps it was the Holy Spirit guiding my prayer, I don't know. What I do know is that I prayed for God to give Tebow wisdom in dating her, that if she was going to pull his heart and focus away from God, that He would intervene and take her out of Tebow's life.
     Today, there have been numerous articles on Tebow (which now that I think about it, I did ask God to move specifically in Tebow's life today and apparently He did). Just as I was about to log off, I was scrolling through the news feed and a new article had been posted. Now hold on to your seats here cause this is pretty astounding...Tebow broke up with his girlfriend. HE broke up with her, not the other way around.
     I just laughed when I saw the article, could God be any plainer, any more direct in His answer? This is crazy...and awesome...and amazing...and well, I'm out of adjectives, but tell me, just how marvelous is our God? (oh, guess I came up with one more adjective after all)

For Themselves

Last week as I was praying, I realized that so much of what my kids are holding to is my faith and my belief that God is going to answer this request. This is not a bad thing necessarily. For the ones who are new to this, it's probably what they need for now, but for the ones who have been at this for awhile, they need some ownership in this prayer, they need to see God work in this for themselves. I began to pray that God would give at least the original seven a heart and a burden for this request; that they would take up a leadership role in this group. From that prayer, God lead me to challenge the teens to try Him and prove for themselves His hand was in this.
     So I did. I challenged them to ask God to do something specific over the next week to help them see for themselves, directly from God that this was His will. I told them if they weren't sure what to ask, to let God know that and give Him a chance to show what they should be asking for. First thing this morning, one of my girls told me she had been asking God what she should be praying for Tebow and would He please show her. On her way to school she heard a news piece about the girl he is currently dating, one that doesn't appear to be saved. She was excited because God showed her she needed to pray for Tebow's wisdom as he pursued this relationship.  Another girl told me virtually the same story at lunch. She was frustrated because she felt her prayers were becoming repetitious and she wanted to know specifically how she needed to pray. She, too, heard a news story about him on the way to school.
     Both girls were so excited to share and to see for themselves that God not only heard, but so quickly answered their prayer. This is really what this journey has been about, getting them to see and experience the power of prayer, to attempt impossible things that only God can answer and then expect Him to answer. I think tonight, at least two of the fourteen have definitely seen that for themselves, and prayerfully, twelve more will before Friday.

Sometimes, They're More Than Just Rewards

This past week has been AMAZING for UNINTIMIDATED. God has worked so greatly in two very specific areas. One I shared earlier, that God had sent someone, for at least a day, to pray with Tebow over our request. The other came Friday, when 12 kids showed up at 2:45 to pray for UNINTIMIDATED, many of whom I had prayed specifically that God would work in their hearts to bring them in. Our prayer group has doubled the number of teens alone that are now a part of this...fourteen teenagers are now committed to pray on a daily basis for Tim Tebow. I am so excited to see how God will now work, and the change something like this will bring to our high school.
     This working of God did not go unnoticed by Satan. As you can imagine, he went on the attack. Something very minor happened at school on Wednesday, but apparently it was just bad timing, because I cried, rather hard, for the rest of the day. I felt so miserable about it, I almost didn't go to church. A few hours before services began the Holy Spirit asked me if I was going to let Satan win this way, one day after God had so directly answered a prayer. So I went to church and of course it helped, mostly. On the way home, I didn't really want to pray about Tebow or our request, so I determined to just go home and go to bed. The Holy Spirit then asked me if I would really not pray in a week where I was asking God to speak to numerous teens about UNINTIMIDATED. He then reminded me that that very day, two teens had committed and would be joining us on Friday. So I prayed. Thursday as I was driving to school, I stopped at a store and realized my tire was flat...yes ANOTHER tire, that makes three if you're counting...and I am. :) I called a friend to pick me up, got my shopping done and went to school, completely unruffled. Things didn't quite go as planned and my car didn't get fixed, but Safeway was amazing and told me not to worry about having my car towed. I did manage to get it fixed Friday afternoon, after a few snags, for a really decent price, after twelve teens showed up to pray.
     It was really hard to get anxious or upset. God had sent so many blessings into my life this week that they were my focus. When I did get upset, God reminded me of the blessings He had already sent.  Blessings are amazing, and sometimes God send them to us as more than a reward for obedient living. Sometimes, they are reminders and sometimes they are distractors so we stay focused on Him and not on what Satan is trying to do around us.
     I always try to be thankful for the things God does for me, but this week, there's just a bit more gratefulness for what God did because for once in what seems a very long time, Satan didn't win a battle he usually does...and all because God sent the blessings first.