Joy and exhaustion. Gratitude and grief. And for many of us, nothing surfaces all of that quite like a holiday get-together. One dinner table can hold decades of history, old wounds, unspoken tension, laughter, and love all at once.
This is likely very much the case for what we discover in Genesis 16, and why it feels so close to home for some, if not all of us at some point in our family story.
It’s a story most families would hide, not highlight. A couple worn down by waiting. A decision born out of fear. A servant pushed aside. A wilderness. A breaking point.
And right there, in all this abyss of dysfunction and brokenness, God steps in.
Not because anyone is good, deserves to be rescued, or earned His attention, but because that is who He is.
The God who sees and finds people on the run.
The God who speaks a name when others withhold it.
The God who hears pain we can’t articulate.
The God who redeems what we cannot repair.
Hagar’s story holds a quiet, unfortunate truth: sometimes God’s people cause the deepest wounds in our lives.
Sometimes we’re the ones who drive others into the wilderness of pain. Sometimes we’re the ones running. Yet even then, God moves toward broken people with a plan, promise, and the protection of His presence to bring us right back home to Him, right where we belong.
This is the gospel inside the messy middle of life and family:
When we couldn’t reach for Him, He reached for us. When we were far away, He came close. When sin tangled us up, He stepped in to save.
And guess what? Just like He did then, He still does now and will forevermore.
So as we gather on Zoom at 7 pm to pray, let’s respond bringing the following to the One who sees and knows all:
Name where you feel unseen and ask Him to meet you.
Name the place where your choices have created a wilderness and hand it back to Him.
Name someone who needs to know they are seen by God and lift them before Him.
In addition, let’s pray the following:
- God to meet those who feel ignored or overlooked and help them know He truly sees them.
- God to step into our family wounds and begin real healing where tension runs deep.
- For patience, hope, and the strength to stop forcing our own solutions when God’s timing is not ours.
- God to heal wounds caused by Christians and show He is not the same as those who failed us.
- For honesty, repentance, and the courage to apologize, ask for forgiveness, and make things right where we’ve caused harm.
- Anyone tempted to return to unhealthy patterns would meet God in the “desert” and to embrace God’s way forward.
- God would steady anxious, overwhelmed hearts with clear steps and quiet peace.
- The curious, skeptical, and weary would encounter the God who sees, hears, and welcomes honest questions.
- Mosaic would be a community where people are not discarded but loved, seen, named, valued, and protected.
God Bless,
Pastor Alvin & Mallary Brown
alvin@makingamosaic.com :: mallary@makingamosaic.com
P.S. Is there something specific you need prayer for this week? Just reply—we’d be honored to stand with you.
General Prayer Requests & Updates
For evangelism to flourish so communities and campuses in the greater Fort Worth area will be reached, and the lost will see and experience the love of Christ and be drawn to his kingdom.
For signs and wonders to follow the preaching of His Word.
For team unity and laborers to help carry the load.
For finances and provisions.
For fully funded campus missionaries (2 per campus) to help reach the next generation — Texas Christian University (TCU), Tarrant County College (TCC), Texas Wesleyan University (TWU) and Tarleton State University – Fort Worth (TSU), University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), and Dallas Baptist University (DBU).
Alvin Brown, the Lead Pastor of Mosaic Church Fort Worth, brings over a decade of pastoral ministry experience and more than 20 years of operational and technical leadership expertise. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Telecommunications Management from DeVry University and an MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management. He enjoys spending quality time with his wife, Mallary, and their three children and contributing as a writer to various media outlets.
