During May we’re focusing on hoping in God to complete. Please see the Monthly Prayer Focus page to read our strategic prayer request for this month.

By Lindy Pate

I’ve had “blog post about hope” on a sticky note reminding me to write this article for weeks. And I’ve been hoping for hope, waiting for hope. And I still have only a glimmer of hope in finishing. At times it is more than a glimmer, but then situations and circumstances dim that hope.

You see, I’m in the thick of the battle helping the Mborena Kam finish their New Testament this year. Finishing is tough. It is an intense push to the finish line. The results of finishing will hopefully have an eternal impact. That is why finishing is a strategic prayer request. But for God’s grace… without the prayers of the saints… it would not happen.

2 Corinthians 1:8-11 says, “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.:993/fetch%3EUID%3E/INBOX%3E365#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1">”

Some days I’m under great pressure, far beyond my ability to endure. I despair. It is nice to know that I am not alone in this experience. How is it that Paul sets his hope on God? God raised the dead. They are praying for him.

I am not alone. In this battle, I have experienced the power of the Holy Spirit, the power that raised Christ from the dead. People are praying.

Paul goes on to say that he does not lose heart because they have this ministry by the mercy of God and proceeds to talk about clay jars.

I’m a cracked pot, safe in the Potter’s hands. The Potter has plenty of pots on the shelf and he will make sure that what needs to be contained will be contained. He will make sure that what needs to be finished will be, as you help with your prayers.

Lindy serves as a Bible translator.