March 2010
SHAHEENUPDATE Would like a break.... but would love a BREAKTHROUGH!
By Amanda Shaheen
This update is for you who, we have found, really care for us. Some of you we may have met once, others, we have known our entire lifetime. We understand that we could just as easily use facebook, twitter, or email to write you individually. However, we want to offer a more personal touch in updating you about how our lives together, by the will of God, are progressing.
Last week, I had the opportunity to Skype with an old friend who lives outside of London, England. We haven’t seen each other in almost two years, since my last trip over the “pond” to see her, yet with the joys of technology we are able to converse with a click of the mouse. Lauren and I spent the good part of 3 hours catching up with each other. Amidst our story telling and reminiscing, we spent time discussing what God has been teaching us. Lauren, a current student at the London School of Theology, began telling me of the things that God has been speaking to her about, and teaching her. I found as she continued talking...that Lauren was, in fact, being used to teach me. I began to share my heart, the frustrations I felt with current situations in life, including employment opportunities and clarification of
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purpose. I kept saying, “Ugh, Lauren, I just wish I could catch a break. That this would get easier, and that I wouldn’t have to struggle so much with these things.” She smiled, I could tell via our web-cams, and proceeded. “You know. This reminds me of something I’ve heard recently. Something that really convicted me and challenged me to believe. It’s easy for us to think that all we really want is a break, when in actuality, deep down...what we should really crave is a breakthrough. We should want to be at that point where instead of wanting things to get easier, we want God to breakthrough and challenge us, or teach us.” Profound. Sure, I would love to be handed my dream job, or suddenly have clarity on my purpose at this time, BUT...what I am craving....and what I should be praying for is a breakthrough in the communication that God has with me. It almost seems radical..and revolutionary of sorts. I find myself repeating these words throughout my
day, when the monotony sets in. “Don’t pray for a break...pray for a breakthrough, Amanda.” We all have those moments...the moments when the stresses of life, the unknown, the impossible...all seem to be too much. We want that break. Don’t settle for just a break. Seek Him...and wait for the breakthrough.
Lauren and I during her visit to America in 2008.