By Shara Beuler-Rekpa It was our prayers for guidance that sent our road ministry back to the West. The Lord kept us in our home state of Texas for a bit, but now He’d impressed on us it was time to roll. The Holy Spirit actually sang to Bruce as he strolled through the pasture: “Go West, young man, haven’t you been told?” Our departure date, though, was not without challenges: an outbreak of equine viruses in Texas and Arizona; an irritated eye on my horse, Nocona; and a flu

This time, my prayer was different. I asked God to change me—my heart, my mind, my attitudes, whatever He wanted. That prayer was difficult because it required me to get myself out of the way.

Many of us have been taught to pray with faith, but not always with intimacy. We pray carefully. Respectfully. Sometimes even cautiously. And while reverence is holy, restraint born from disappointment can quietly rob us of boldness. We stop asking God to draw near, not because we don’t want Him, but because we don’t want to be let down again.

God never created us to just push through. We were never supposed to do everything in our own strength. God created us for something far greater than survival. He created us to live in dependence on Him, to impact His Kingdom, and to walk in His grace.