A love greater than Jacob's.

"Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise." (James 5:13 ESV)


"Who here enjoys love stories?" I asked the eighteen girls sitting around me.

Within seconds every single hand was in high in the air.

"Me too! Today we are going to talk about one of the greatest love stories of all time. It's about a man named Jacob, and his wife Rachel."

~~~

This was the start of one of my favorite girls clubs so far. Partly because of the story, I don't know of many other Bible stories that move me as much as Jacob's and Rachel's. But mostly it was my favorite because of all the time spent preparing for it. The eagerness to share with the girls. The effort put into planning.

As I read through some stories about famous women in the Bible, women like Esther and Deborah and Abigail, my heart always wandered back to the story of Rachel. There was something about her tale that so captivated my attention, and I couldn't wait until the next club to share it with my girls.

I researched the story, finding some historical contexts and cultural norms that were relevant. I must have read the story twenty or more times. I'm sure I could recite it back to you by heart! And each time I read it I was swept up in the moment Jacob and Rachel met by the well. I was awed by Jacob's resolve to work seven years to marry the woman he loved. Devastated when it was Leah, not Rachel, by his side the morning after the wedding. And moved to tears when he committed to work another seven years for Rachel.

My heart was wrenched by Rachel's barrenness, and her jealousy over her sister's children. And, oh, how I rejoiced when she finally conceived Joseph!

The thing that stuck out to me most about this story was Rachel's attitude. She never stopped loving God. She never stopped trusting Him to answer her prayers. Even when she came to Jacob and said, "give me a child or I shall die!" Even then, when Jacob reprimanded her, she turned to God for comfort.

Prayer.

A valuable lesson. One that Rachel taught us well.

To go along with our Bible lesson, I wanted to do an activity with my girls to remind them the importance of prayer. And with the help of my roommate, we came up with the idea to make prayer jars.

I scrubbed twenty-five jars to remove the labels and make them clean. And as I sat in my bathroom Friday morning, soaking and scrubbing for nearly three hours, I began to practice what I was about to preach. I prayed.

For each jar I scrubbed, I prayed for one girl who would be at girls club the next day.

I prayed that God would open up their hearts, that they wouldn't hear the lesson that I wanted to teach them, that they wouldn't just hear a beautiful story. I prayed that they girls would hear straight from God.

That He would teach them lessons beyond words on a page, beyond words from a twenty-year-old girl.

The more I scrubbed, the more my cuticles began to bleed from the combination of hot water, soap, and stubborn jar labels. And the more thankful I became for this opportunity. For some reason, God has chosen me to pour into the hearts of these girls. I don't know why, and most of the time I feel pretty overwhelmed by it.

But here I am.

And there I was. Sitting in front of eighteen girls, armed with a beautiful love story, and a handful of craft supplies. I felt pretty inadequate. But I forged on. Sharing with them the love of Jacob and Rachel. The victories and heartbreaks that they experienced.

And then we talked about prayer.

We talked about how much Jacob loved Rachel, how he worked fourteen years to marry her. That's a lot of love. And then I told them how God loves them even MORE than Jacob loved Rachel. Now THAT is a lot of love.

I told them how God wants to get to know us, to have us fall more and more in love with Him. And one really important way we can do that is by talking to Him. And not just talking to God, but trusting Him to answer however He sees fit, whenever He sees fit.

I broke out the jars and passed them around along with a handful of magazines and scissors. I told them that we were going to make prayer jars. That way we could remind ourselves everyday how important it is to talk with God.

And, just like these jars, each of our relationships with God is unique.

So each girl decorated her jar with different pictures and words from the magazines that represented themselves. They cut, pieced, and glued them to the jars.

I told them that, while they could do whatever they would like with these jars, I had an idea for them.

I suggested that they write down things that they are praying for on pieces of paper, and drop them in their jar. That way the wouldn't forget to talk with God about those things. And also to put in when God answered those prayers, and how He answered them, so that they could be reminded and encouraged by God' faithfulness.

I told them that in my jar I keep a piece of paper for my brother, who doesn't love Jesus. And I keep a paper that simply says "home", so that I remember to pray for my friends and family back in America.

It's important to remember to praise God in every circumstance. Whether we are caught up in a fairytale, and our lives are blessed, much like Jacob's and Rachel's. Or whether we are devastated by life's struggles, like when Jacob woke up next to Leah, or when Rachel couldn't have children.

I know this is cliché, but it couldn't be more true: God loves us. He wants a relationship with us. He wasn't us to talk with Him, about everything! He wants to hear our hearts. And He wants to answer our prayers.

We need only pray.