Ayars Prayers

Our church launched into another 21 days of prayer and fasting this morning, a time of resetting, regrounding and refocusing that is always so sweet (and early :).  

As we went through the Lord's Prayer piece by piece this morning, the Lord worked me through His sovereignty, His provision, His conviction, His forgiveness.  I started to protest at one point, noting that my specific circumstances surely call for some exception to identifying closely with the Lord and following in His footsteps to the cross, and He reminded me rapidly that I have NO grievance He Himself has not experienced or understood, and also brought into complete submission to the Father. We have no exceptions, no excuses.

The image of Him walking before me and asking me to step carefully in His footsteps appeared, and a few painful places I have been wanting to walk my own way alongside of Him He asked me instead to walk the very way He walked...in sacrifice, in forgiveness, in trust, in obedience.  

I told Him that was far more painful than my own way. He reminded me He was dragging a cross, so, duh.  

And so I stepped. Right in His footprint. "So closely," Matt keeps reminding me, "That we can't help but overflow anything but Him, just Him. By default."

So here's how you can be praying for the Ayars this new season of clinging and stepping out in Him!

After 17 years of training pastors, recruiting pastors, equipping pastors and raising-up pastors, the Lord has clearly guided our family to come alongside a new church plant. As Matt and Wesley Biblical Seminary have been helping Methodist congregations to find new homes, denominations, pastors and resources, Matt's been preaching in and counseling dozens of congregations and attending Global Methodist conferences around the nation. 

The Lord had really warmed his heart, months ago, to one specific body of shepherd-less believers, and over the last weeks we have been praying and fasting alongside of them and feel it would be simple obedience to join them.  

Matt shepherding this family will mean NO traveling, which will be the first season since Lily was born that did not include Matt being gone much of the time (He was previously scheduled to be gone all four weekends of January, for example!). I can't evening imagine what this will look like, but we are looking FORWARD to it! It will also be the first time since 2005 (that is 19 years, friends) that he will not be responsible for massive fund-raising (which our family and many other families depend upon!), which means that sitting down to lunch with a friend or mentor or stranger for the Gospel can for the first time just be lunch with a friend or mentor or stranger for the Gospel, and not a fund-raising necessity or opportunity. 

It will also mean lots of preaching and teaching and using of Matt's gifts in one place, calling and family instead of in fifty, and again, we don't know what that's going to look like exactly, but mama is looking forward to it. It will also mean serving alongside him again as his wife and family--as we did at Emmaus and were not really able do at/through WBS--and I'm looking forward to this as well!

Finally, we have been talking for 20 years about the need for more trusted leaders and faithful churches, and it is a stretching, humbling, blessing-burden to continue to be a part of THAT sacred and challenging work.

Meanwhile, we have continued to block off January for continued healing, rest, resetting and restoration, and next week, with the help of some gracious and faithful friends, Matt heads to a ten day intensive crisis counseling retreat in Colorado for pastors,  missionaries and Christian leaders, something we shoulda done a long time ago! We are so grateful for this healing and life-giving opportunity and would love your extra prayers, January 16-26. 

Please continue to pray for our kiddos and hearts and faithfulness and focus on Him through these transitions! 

If we're starting new, we're asking the Lord to leave no high place standing, no rock unturned, no wound unhealed, no work unattended, no self-sufficiency dethroned, no selfish ambition still rooted.  If He's bringing us out of broken, we're refusing to move until He's done breaking or allowing to break anything He will...refusing to move on until He's at work healing each place, His way. The cause of Christ is too precious, too sacred, to not do the all the work He has brought us painfully and graciously to, and to come out on the other side looking a whole lot more like Him!

More like Him, that brings me Hope! Opportunities for more like Him, that brings me Joy.

If He's brought us this far....

Love you all and your faithful friendship and prayers.