"Pray Hard and Plan Big"

The pastor's sermon at church today was one of the most convicting and inspiring messages I have heard in a while. It's funny how I can often glance at the title of a message and think, "This probably won't really apply to me." I should know by now that God usually teaches me the most when I least expect to learn.

This morning, our pastor spoke about the passage from 2 Kings 4:1-7. These verses tell the story of a widow whose sons were to be taken as slaves in order to pay her family debt. In her desperation and fear, the woman cried out the God and went to Elisha to receive advice for her situation. After telling the prophet that she had nothing in her home but a bit of oil, Elisha told the widow, "Go around and ask all of your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few."

When the woman and her sons had gathered jars from the surrounding homes, God miraculously blessed them by allowing the small amount of oil to overflow, filling every one of the jars until there were none left to fill. At this very moment, the oil stopped flowing.

I loved hearing this story this morning because it revealed to me how I too need to pray hard and plan big in my own life. As the pastor said, I need to take my problems and desires to God, recognize the resources that he has given to me (even if it seems like my little bit of "oil" won't be enough), and then trust that God will provide blessings. So many times, I don't shoot for the dreams that God has placed in my heart, or I don't stretch myself into the areas that he calls me toward because I worry about failing. But I have to ask myself, what would I do for God if I knew I couldn't fail? Because failure isn't trying and coming short of my own expectations. Failure is when I never try to meet God's expectations and plans for my life.

Hearing the story of the widow also showed me that God's blessing to her directly correlated to the number of jars she gathered. He would have allowed the oil to fill even more jars if she and her sons had retrieved more to begin with. I need to learn from the message of this story and Elisha's advice to the woman: "Don't ask for just a few." I want to make big plans with the absolute faith and trust that God will provide for me and bless me while I am in his perfect will.