I remember a friend telling me that she prayed for me to be flexible when I went on a mission trip in 2007. She said that was what had come to her mind most often when she was praying for me. This mission trip was one of the most difficult trips I’ve ever been on. Harry and I had been married less than a year and were still trying to sort out our boundaries with other people and work and learning to be married and not single. (Another post for another day. And, of course, we’re STILL trying to figure all of that out! ) And I remember thinking, how dare she pray for me to be flexible when what I was needing was to be more assertive. And it definitely was a season of learning appropriate assertiveness and growing in confidence and setting healthy boundaries in ministry and with friends and I’m still learning those things and probably always will.

But now, in an unstable season of learning to be flexible on a level I’ve never known, I think often about her comment and wonder now if it was a more appropriate prayer than I realized at the time.  And I’m thankful for a friend who knows me well enough to know that I do need that prayer and who was bold enough to tell me that she prayed that for me.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about and working through boundaries the past few years. And I still think they’re necessary and good, but now I’m wrestling with the practical application of sacrifice within boundaries. I want to spend some time thinking about what one of our pastors, Jamie Mosley, said recently, “As love is cultivated, it increases the willingness to sacrifice.”

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