“I am lost,” is what she says. But she is stronger than she knows.
She is beautiful but doesn’t believe it yet. Rather, she is convinced of a lie: there is no hope for her; she can never be found.
Who would look for her? Who would come for the daughter who flounders, doubting her role, her purpose? How can she find her way?
Who will hear the questions she whispers in the night?
I am restless, God. How do I get more of You?
Where are You when it is eight o’clock and my patience is gone and I’m wondering how to keep loving people while feeling completely spent?
How do I pray to You when I don’t know the words?
When did that lie come in, God—the lie that I’m not enough?
These are the questions of the women of Breathing Eden. Do you ask these questions, too?
Are you like Catherine, hungry for more of God, for intimacy with him? Catherine wants more than reading books about God. Her head is filled with ideas and information about Him; but what she wants is a relationship, to know his heart and to experience his closeness. She fears she doesn’t know how to get close to Him. And God responds.
Can you relate to Johanna, who has a heart for serving people but is nervous that she isn’t serving God? Johanna loves God, and she wants to please Him. But she wonders if she is missing something in her relationship with Him. She wants to know what more He has for her. She asks God if He is proud of her. She fears she needs to work harder to be loved. And God responds.
How are you similar to Claire, worrying that you are missing something in your relationship with God? Claire feels she isn’t connecting with Him as closely as other people. She struggles with being vulnerable in community, not necessarily because she is nervous about being transparent, but because she is stuck in the fear of “getting it right.” She wonders what it is a Christian is supposed to look and sound like. She asks God, “Do You even want to talk to me, God?” She fears she can’t pray the right way to have a relationship with Him. And God responds.
Or maybe you resonant with Emily, and you are asking God to remind you how you are uniquely made—what it is you are made to do and love? Emily realizes how she is made to worship God—see Him and know Him and experience Him. And she fears that she has lost some of her true heart for worship. Emily has gotten distracted by caring more about pleasing others and succeeding than the experience of doing what she is made to do with God. She fears she can’t experience freedom anymore in doing what she loves. And God responds.
Perhaps we recognize ourselves in one of these women—or in each of them, in some way? In writing the book, Breathing Eden, I wrote stories that represent 40 different women and their heart cries to God. And for each story, I wrote down God’s response.
Are you eager to discover what God has to say to each woman? Are you eager to hear what He says to you?
Email me your Amazon receipt when you pre-order Breathing Eden, and I’ll send you the first five chapters—and the ebook, Prayers for the Women of Breathing Eden—right away. *And for other free gifts, see the list of good stuff here.
We are made new when we heed God’s responses to our deepest questions, longings, and fears.
How do you feel lost and need to hear God? With what woman do you relate most? What questions are you asking when you pray?
This post appeared originally at jenniferjcamp.com
