Faith @ First - May 15, 2026
When I was in seminary, one of my favorite worship songs was Blessed and Highly Favored. I listened to it constantly including on my long flight to India for a study abroad experience that would change my life. At the time, my understanding of blessing was deeply personal. I thought mostly about my own journey, my own opportunities, my own gratitude for what God had done in my life.
But while in India, my worldview began to expand. I worshiped alongside women who had survived exploitation, children who had endured trafficking, and seminary students who had been rejected by their own families because they chose to follow Christ. I witnessed extraordinary faith in the midst of extraordinary hardship. I saw breathtaking beauty and heartbreaking poverty living side by side.
And somewhere in the middle of those experiences, my prayers changed.
I could no longer think about blessing only in terms of myself, my family or even my own nation. God began stretching my heart beyond my own circumstances and reminding me that the kingdom of God is always bigger than the borders we create. Prayer has a way of doing that. True prayer moves us beyond ourselves. It lifts our eyes from “my life,” “my problems,” and “my people,” and teaches us to see all people as beloved children of God.
That experience profoundly shaped my faith and continues to shape the way I pray today. Nearly twenty years later, I still pray for the people I met there and for the Spirit to keep widening my heart.
This week, as we continue our series on prayer, we will explore what it means to pray faithfully, boldly, and compassionately—for our nation and God’s people throughout the world. Because prayer does not shrink our vision. It expands it.
Keep the Faith @ First,
Pastor Nicole
P.S. In this picture I am overlooking the Ganges River and being reminded that prayer is the ever-flowing stream that connects us to the source of all life and each other. I pray you'll join us as we reconnect to that source in our Sunday worship services. Until then pray these words with me: God of all nations, open my heart, my hands and my eyes to see all your people as precious children of God. May I be obedient to your call to serve and intercede until all feel "blessed and highly favored".
