The Prayer of Jabez- Expand My Borders

"...expand my borders..." 2 Chronicles 4:10

This is the third post in the Jabez series (see here and here for the other two posts). I really love this phrase of the verse. Have you ever considered what your borders are? I am not talking about borders in a negative sense. Think of borders in terms of a fence that is keeping your property contained. If you were a farmer, your fence would contain your home, land, crops, animals. By asking God to expand your borders in this example you are asking God to take what is inside the fence and increase it so much that you have to move your fences out in order to contain the growth happening on the inside of the fence.

Look at everything around you and think about them containing borders. For me, my borders are, but are not limited to:

• family
• home
• influence
• blog
• pantry
• bank account
• Etsy shop

I am going to look at just a few of these items listed and explain what I mean by expanding my borders.

• Family- Right now, a picture of my family looks like this. However, this is not where I want our family to stay in terms of number and who we are. I want God to bless us with at least one maybe two more little gifts (and if He wants to give us an Ana and a Christopher that would be perfect!). I can already see the expansion process happening (not in myself, but in the "fences"). A dear friend has offered to give us a twin-sized bed and on Saturday, we went to pick up a dresser that belonged to Brian's grandparents. So, Addie's big girl room is already being furnished.


• Home- Back when we were living in our first home (lovingly called our "little house"), Brian and I began praying the Prayer of Jabez. Within a year, we owned a 1/2 acre of property, and in another 2 years, we owned the half acre that we now live on. Altogether, for about 6 months, we owned 1 1/4 acres of land and two houses. God saw us through the finances and has provided for us in so many ways. We were able to sell the "little house", which was a financial blessing, and we still have the other 1/2 acre of land as investment property.


• Influence/blog- As a stay-at-home wife and mother, my influence may seem limited and at one time could have been limited to only my family. When I was a teacher, I was able to influence over one hundred children. Because of the internet, God has allowed me to continue reaching out to others for His kingdom through this blog. I am always praying that God allows my influence in my family to always come first (which is why I blog when Addie is napping and when Brian and I are just hanging out in the office together each doing our own thing), and then for Him to allow me to continue to be an influence to others.

These are just a few examples of how I have asked God to expand our borders. I'm sure you can think of the borders in your life and how you want them expanded. Ask God to expand your borders. Be ready to do some work, though. Expanded borders mean more responsibility. Expanded borders mean that God sees that you are being faithful in the little things and is entrusting you with greater things. Are you ready?