Don't Worry...Pray

As a child, sometimes falling asleep was hard for me. I can't remember how old I was before my parents had to stop picking me up in the middle of the night from sleepovers, but it was probably later than most kids. There were times I could fall asleep at the drop of a hat, but other times when sleep was not going to come. I remember my mom sharing that when she woke up in the middle of the night or she couldn't get to sleep, she would pray. And my dad would go to his office and study and pray when he couldn't sleep. The example taught to me through my parents' actions over and over was that God was the place to turn when you couldn't find peace and rest. (moms and dads, we are watching, listening and learning, even if you don't think we are, you are doing good work, keep doing it!)

Sleep is the deepest of peace, letting yourself fall into unconsciousness to regenerate and refresh, without fear of harm. And to my fellow 'over 50' folks, we know it just gets harder as we get older. And it has eluded me much this winter. Waking up at 2am and failing to find that restful sleep again for hours. Why? Well, the passage in my devotion this morning that landed hard on my soul was Philippians 4:6-7. "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."

Last week, I confessed that I have failed Alegria this winter. Well, this should not come as a surprise to me. Alegria is not mine, and as a human, failure is just part of our DNA. It's also called 'sin' - an archery term that means missing the mark. Yep, that fits. I've missed the mark. But the whispers this week at 2am have been that God will be the Lord of the harvest. He is working even when I'm sleeping. It doesn't mean I don't work with all my might as unto the Lord. God loves work. He honors it. But the harvest part can't be done by my work, only through Him. We plant, cultivate and water, but only God can bring the harvest. He is the only one who can prompt a heart through an image, a video, words, a display, an email. The heart part - that's Him. It has always been Him. 

Let me take an aside in our prayer update for Alegria and ask you, sweet prayer partner, is there something keeping you up at night? I'm praying right now that these words from God can assure you that He is awake too. He never goes to sleep. And He's holding out His hand to you and asking you to give the burden to Him to carry. You do your part, and then go to your knees and surrender it to Him. It was always His to begin with. He is listening, His is aware, He is good, He is love, He cares.

2am is not lost on me. I wasn't sleeping at 2am on December 3rd, 2020 - the night He called me out of my grief and loss to start Alegria. So when I'm not finding sleep in these hardest days of winter, I will be finding myself in conversation more with my Lord, over other things too, but mainly over the things we're praying on for 2026, and here they are in the order we are seeking God on and asking for Him to lead and guide and give wisdom and His intervention to move them forward:

1. For sales numbers to increase so that we can pay our wages, bills and obligations. (yes we are very short of this right now, and it's scary...this is the winter reality, and why we try to save through the fall)
2. For Alegria to pay off our debts. It is a small percentage of our annual revenue, but it is still eating at profits and not the way we want to exist, or the way God calls us to exist. We've borrowed the last 3 Februaries to get through winter. And we'll never pay the debt off if we don't draw the line and stop. So this year, I have 1 week left to let sales cover expenses and not borrow again. I'm believing and praying.
3. For wisdom as we walk into opportunities to grow: advertising spend and campaign content, finding people who will come alongside with representing us for commissions that will be committed, skilled and successful.
4. For the 24 artisans that we will hire as we grow and move toward our 30 by 2030. God protect them and prepare their hearts and hands while we work to create their job.

Philippians 4:6 ends by telling us to 'tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.' So I want to end with thanking Him for the call, for the wisdom to come this far, for showing us mercy as we've failed, for the ones who have jobs now, for the wages we are able to transfer to Honduras and the bills we are able to pay. I want to thank Him for letting us all be a part of Alegria, for our customers and store owners and buyers, for the orders that have come in this winter, for the events coming up where I will have the chance to speak and set up a booth of merchandise for sale, and for you, our faithful prayer partners. God is good, and He is always with us.