Give Me Courage

As most of you reading this blog know, I attend Granger Community Church in Granger, IN. I have really grown to love and appreciate all aspect of this church and the community of people it serves.
Last week, we started a new series called "One Prayer." The idea behind this series is that hundreds of thousands of people around the world are praying and serving God together during this time. There is concentration on praying one prayer and watching what happens around us.
This weekend, we had the priveledge of hearing from our very own Senior Pastor, Mark Beeson, and his message of his one prayer. If our paster had only one prayer, he would pray to Make Us Courageous.
Anyone that knows me well, knows that this has been a struggle for me lately! I have been weak on the courage aspect in my life. I've been dealing with some things that have been hard for me and I've really been struggling with the right thing to do and how to handle the stress that I have been feeling regarding some important things in my life.
Dr. Beeson's message certainly hit home for me as I was sitting in service last night. He spoke of a time when he was a young child in the midst of an intense game of "Kick The Can" and was faced with hard decisions as to what to do next in the game. I'm at the point...I need to fully focus on what is in front of me, find the courage to make good things happen and be happy!
Mark shared a story from Luke 19:1-10. To paraphrase, in the story, Zacchaeus was out on a limb. Jesus called out to him, to get him down from the tree to let him know that he needed to stay in his house. Zacchaeus came down immediately and welcomed Jesus into his house.
I'm at that same point that Zacchaeus was...I'm out on that limb. Most of you know that I'm also pretty stubborn, so it's not an easy task to be called down and listen to others. It's something that I need to work on and I'm making it a goal. I'm ready to get down from my limb and be courageous. But I also know that I need His help to be the best person I can be.
Mark told us last night that "What Jesus calls us to do requires great courage."
I'm ready to face the challenge...I'm ready to make the most out of what is in front of me, I'm ready to be the best person I can be..."Please God, make me COURAGEOUS!"