The Circle Maker

This book by Mark Batterson was a huge encouragement to my prayer life! I would recommend it to everyone! It is overflowing with personal illustrations and inspiring scripture. Here a few quotes from the book:

“All of us love miracles. We just don’t like being in a situation that necessitates one. We hate finding ourselves between an Egyptian army and a Red Sea, but this is how God reveals His glory.”

“You can’t half-circle the promise. It’s a package deal. You can’t pray for open doors if you aren’t willing to accept closed doors, because one leads to the other”

“I’m not talking about the kind of prayer that is the first thing on the agenda; I’m talking about the kind of prayer that is the agenda… I can’t help but wonder what would happen if more staff meetings turned into prayer meetings.”

“I learned that if you aren’t willing to put yourself in ‘this is crazy’ situations, you’ll never experience ‘this is awesome’ moments”

“One of the reasons we get frustrated in prayer is our ASAP approach. When our prayers aren’t answered as quickly or easily as we would like, we get tired of circling. Maybe we need to change our prayer approach from as soon as possible to as long as it takes.”

“Exodus 14: ‘Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD.’ I just didn’t know we would have to stand still for a year and  a half… We searched high and low for a year and a half, but we found nothing. It was discouraging because we were working like it depends on us and praying like it depends on God, but it was encouraging for the same reason. We had peace because we were praying through. We knew that our inability to find an alternate meeting space wasn’t for lack of trying or lack of praying… After a year and a half of standing still, the second and third miracles happened in less than one week. God did a double miracle in double time.”

“Don’t let what you cannot do keep you from doing what you can. Draw the circle.”

 

Click here to see a little peek into the fun I’ve been having recently with my nieces!

With Sauntina at the Shedd Aquarium to celebrate Daniel's birthday!

4 Comments

  1. Jenny Wilkes April 14, 2014 at 5:10 pm #

    Sounds like an incredible book! Maybe you should share some of this at the upcoming FEW in NC?
    I really like this part –
    “You can’t half-circle the promise. It’s a package deal. You can’t pray for open doors if you aren’t willing to accept closed doors, because one leads to the other”
    How true this is! The Lord has been encouraging me in the exact same area lately. I love how God works!

    Great little video clip! Praise the Lord for little nieces and nephews.

  2. Crystal April 19, 2014 at 10:01 am #

    Over all, sounds like that would be an encouraging book. Though I must say, I tend to find the Lord puts me in crazy situations more than I actually choose them. It’s more like, He leads and I better follow even if it’s a really really rough road because I know He knows what is truly best.

  3. Crystal April 19, 2014 at 10:01 am #

    P.S. Love the video clip!

  4. Donald S. April 23, 2014 at 1:45 pm #

    Thank you Esther!

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