7 Ways to Pray for Your Summer

This week, pray for your summer – whether or not YouthWorks is a part of it. Here are 7 specific ways you can be praying for the summer months:

1. Pray for space. So much can happen when we find the margin to breathe and be and become. Pray that God would help you find the room in your schedule to step back and recharge. Then lean into that prayer with the decisions you make and the activities you commit to.
2. Pray for a deeper understanding of God’s love for you. Because it all starts with God’s love for you. God’s love fuels your love. In fact, “we love because God first loved us” (1 John 4:19)! Pray for a fuller recognition of God’s deep love for you.
3. Pray to see others with the eyes of Jesus. Jesus recognizes our brokenness, but sees through it to people who God created as good and worthwhile and desirable. Pray that God would allow you to see others as God perceives you.
4. Pray for deepened relationships. We were made for community, so whether it’s with your family or friends or youth group or even with the strangers God puts in your path, pray that God would work in your relationships this summer.
5. Pray for opportunities to be servant-hearted. Jesus gave us the ultimate example of how to serve and love others. Ask God to allow you to be a better follower of Jesus in the way you cheerfully and lovingly serve others on a daily basis.
6. Pray to be a learner and listener. Everyone has something to offer. Everyone has gifts to bring to the table. When you interact with others, you can show your respect and value for their unique personhood by taking the posture of a listener and learner. Ask God for the self-awareness and patience to slow down and see the value in others.
7. Pray for what’s next. God is constantly drawing Jesus-followers forward into the Kingdom work that is happening all around us. What might God be inviting you into in this next season? Ask God to give you courage and tenacity to eagerly step into what’s next.

Here are 7 ways you can be praying for YouthWorks, communities, Summer Staff, and churches.

Sam Townsend helps write training, programming and marketing materials for YouthWorks mission trips. When he isn’t hanging around teenagers at church, he is generally looking for a good conversation and a hole-in-the-wall restaurant to have it in. Sam still considers his first couple summers working for YouthWorks in Virginia and Pennsylvania communities some of the most transformative times of his life.