But Here I Go

When I am following you, God, I feel a bit lost most of the time. But that makes sense. I am not leading you. You are leading me.

If I want complete certainty, I cannot expect to be led by your Spirit. I cannot know what will happen next, nor demand control. And I know that following you is the only way I can make a great and beautiful difference in the world.

I cannot control what happens outside, but by your grace I can increasingly know myself. Help me to master who I am and how I give meaning to actions and events around me. May my wealth, power, and wisdom enable others to achieve extraordinary success. I know I can give freely of myself because in the economy of the Spirit, you always replenish my jar of oil.

I know when I am listening to you because your Spirit encourages me, points to the truth, lets me decide, and holds me accountable. And somehow you always make it work out. You provide the necessary resources: wisdom, strength, time, helpers, money, skills, and all the unanticipated things that I never could have planned for anyway. More wonderfully, you redeem my mistakes. You weave beauty out of my broken, mixed-up threads, not for my reputation or ego, but for the common good....

Is there anything else you want to tell me? It is time to act. I hope this is right for everyone involved. Now it is all up to you.

I am not sure what to do, God, but here I go. Please make it all work out right.

(a prayer by Richard Kriegbaum, from Leadership Prayers, pp. 26-27)