The Prayer That Changed Our Direction
For ten years, we attended a Christian church that we truly loved. Around our ninth year, we found ourselves deeply involved—serving in multiple ministries and leading or facilitating various groups. We were busy, fulfilled in many ways, and surrounded by a beautiful community.
Something Was Missing
But amid all the serving, we realized something important: we hadn’t actually sat down to receive the Word ourselves in quite some time. Most of our spiritual nourishment happened in between church responsibilities, work, and family life.
It was still a beautiful season, and our gratitude for that church never disappeared. Yet I began to pray for more—not more ministry, but space to listen and grow more deeply. I sensed that something in our family’s journey was beginning to change.
A Prayer We Kept Returning To
One day, I told my husband, “I think we need to pray about whether we’re supposed to stay at this church.” He immediately replied, “No—I’m not ready to pray about that.”
What I didn’t know was that something had already begun stirring in him, too. He sensed that if he prayed, the answer might lead us to step down—and he wasn’t ready for that possibility yet.
So I kept praying. A few months passed. Every so often, I’d ask, “Have you prayed yet?” And each time, his answer was, “Not yet.”
Until one day, he finally did.
One Word Changed Our Direction
I asked him, “What did you sense the Lord saying?” And he answered with one word: “Roots.”
“Roots?” I asked, surprised. “What does that mean?”
He said, “I think God wants us to learn about the roots of Christianity.”
At first, we did not fully understand what that meant. Over time, we came to see it as an invitation to learn more about the Jewish context of early Christianity—the world in which Jesus and his earliest followers lived. It did not mean treating Judaism as merely a historical backdrop to Christianity, or assuming that its sacred traditions belonged to us. Judaism is a living faith, and we wanted to approach what we were learning with humility, gratitude, and respect.
I still didn’t know where this word would lead, but I felt peace. We believed we had received an invitation to take the next step, and that step would begin a journey we never expected.
What came next changed everything. We had no idea how deep this journey of learning would go…
Have you ever felt like something was missing, even while doing all the right things?
Continue the Journey
