By Megan Blansit
Founder of The Beautiful Movement - a youth ministry for high school girls. For more information, visit The Beautiful Movement’s Facebook page, where I post the time, place, and activity for each month
As many of you know, I am the leader of The Beautiful Movement. We have a “girls night” once a month at different locations. For January we watched the movie, “War Room.” If you have not seen the movie yet, I highly recommend it! “War Room” will make you want to create your own “war room!” Ultimately, the movie focuses on the power of prayer and the main characters created a designated space (a closet) for prayer each day. Now, I am a firm believer that we can pray all day to God and he hears us; we don’t have to be at church or in a special closet. However, I do believe there is something special when we set aside time to tune out the world around us (friends and phones aside) and only focus on God.
I asked the girls afterwards what the main characters had that stood out to them. Here are some of their answers: persistence, time, trust, determination, and faith. What stood out to me was “faith.” A main character filled her closet wall with prayer requests and literally went to war in prayer. She was a warrior; she was a seeker. She had faith that with God she could win the “fight.”
Friend, that woke me up! I realized my prayer life could use a little more fire, a little more faith. I am reminded of Steven Furtick’s quote, “If we don’t dare to believe God for the impossible, we could be sleeping through the best parts of our Christian life.” Maybe God has called you to be a missionary this summer overseas but the thought of raising the money to go seems impossible. Maybe your husband has fallen away from the Lord and no longer prays with you or attends church. Friend, write your dreams or problems on a piece of paper and begin to believe God for working behind the scenes!
What would happen if we ran to our “war room” instead of our friends when we are overtaken by the stressors of life? Are we afraid of what God might say or do we think we are big enough to handle our own issues? Here is a personal story- When I was in elementary school, I was bullied every day by a particular teacher. She would call me out, humiliating me in front of the entire class. As a little girl, I was crushed and cried daily. This teacher was known for picking out one student per year to bully; perhaps that year I had a sign on my forehead that flashed, “pick me.”
Now, if you are a mother, I would imagine you being irate if your child came home crying everyday because of a teacher bullying them… just as my mom was. No mother delights in seeing their child hurting, but what I am about to say is not the typical behavior of an upset mother. In the middle of her frustration and my hurt, my mom said, “Megan, let me pray about this.” Within an hour or so, my mom comes to me and says, “Megan, I know this is going to sound weird, but the Lord told me to give your teacher a hair product and offer to do her hair for free.” … Wait, WHAT?! Yes, you read that correctly (and by the way, my mom is a cosmetologist). Did the Lord seriously want us to bless the woman who brought me to tears all year?! Hold up, doesn’t the Bible say to love your enemies? Matthew 5:44 says, “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who hurt you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:15 says, “ Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.” I wish I could say I was excited about what the Lord had shown my mom, but I wasn’t!
Fast forward to the next day. I marched into the classroom with a hair product and a gift certificate, handed it to the teacher, sat down at my desk, and sweated bullets of fear, anticipating what would happen next. “What would her response be?!”…”Would I get humiliated for this too?” Well friends, what happened next was a complete 180. She came over to my desk with such joy and love, super grateful for the act of kindness! From that moment forward, she never bullied me again and I surprisingly became the teachers pet for the remainder of the year! God is good, ya’ll, and as a child I had witnessed one of my first miracles.
Friends, I challenge you to go to your “War room”, seek His face, listen for his direction, trust Him to make a way out of no way, and lastly bask in His goodness. I also pray that He would fill your heart with peace, dreams, and a loving heart this week. And just like Steven Furtick says, we could be missing out on the best parts of our lives if we don’t have faith. I could have missed out on having a great school year if my mom had not chosen to seek God. Now, what are YOU waiting for?
