So embarrassing… Ever been there, too?

I was sooo embarrassed…

…when I had the chance to help lead a church service in Africa with my dad. At the very end, he joyfully grabbed the mic and said, “Now we’re going to pray for all of you—Déborah will pray for the women, and I’ll pray for the men!”

I was mortified. We were in Burkina Faso—and that meant I had to pray in French, which I really struggled with at the time. Embarrassed because I wasn’t praying for ten women, but for hundreds. Embarrassed because I had two or three well-known pastors standing beside me for security, and I ended up praying the exact same thing over every single woman… because I literally couldn’t come up with anything else to say! Haha. 😂

And the whole time, one thought kept repeating in my mind: “What must they be thinking of me?”That self-doubt clung to every prayer I spoke: “Wouldn’t it make more sense for someone else to pray for the women?”

But while I was caught up in my own “What are they thinking of me?” God was gently nudging my heart: “Hey… are you seeing Me?”

Right there—in the middle of the crowd. Right there—at your workplace. Right there—in your small group or church. While you’re trying so hard to “pray the right way” in front of others, God just wants your eyes fixed on Him. It’s not your fancy words He’s after. It’s your heart. ❤️

And Jesus confirms this in Matthew 6: “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them…” (Matthew 6:5 NLT)

In that moment, it didn’t matter what those pastors thought of me or how simple my words were. What mattered was that I prayed with faith—believing that God could use even my broken French to do something miraculous in the lives of these women, many of them carrying babies on their backs.

Because it’s not powerful words that bring the miracle—it’s your all-powerful God. 🤩

You can come just as you are. You can pray just as you are. With simple words. Even in broken English.

Don’t be ashamed of your words when all God wants is your heart.

You are a miracle!

Déborah