I mentioned a few weeks ago that my blog fast that I’m doing is actually a part of a church-wide period of fasting and prayer. (And, in case you missed that post and are wondering why I’m writing here if I’m fasting from blogging…long story short, I’m fasting from reading other people’s blogs, because that’s become a hugely time-consuming thing for me. You can read more about it all here.) God has led our church community to a very exciting place, and as a way of learning about sacrifice and preparing ourselves for obedience, we’re all fasting from something for a period of 21 days. It has been extremely challenging. I can’t emphasize that enough. I feel completely disconnected from everyone and long to read what’s been going on with you. Soon.
In any case, this has been a powerful time for me, and I’ve been experiencing God in ways I hadn’t experienced Him in a long time. I think it mainly comes from clearing out my schedule and again making Him more of a priority, but a lot of it, too, has to do with intentional things our community is doing to focus and pray.
This week, for example, we have all been encouraged to take individual prayer journeys throughout the city. Our pastor made a CD for us to use as a guide, and we were asked to listen to the CD while driving around the area where we live, praying for the people who live, work, and shop there. It was a pretty powerful experience, and one I hope to remind myself to do more often. It was a wonderful way to look at the world; asking God to grow love for specific people in my heart as I drove through their neighborhoods, parked in their school parking lots, and passed their churches was somehow more meaningful than simply asking God to teach me to love people in general. I’m really hoping that I can work on changing the way I think, so that I will remember to pray for my community in a more real and genuine way in the future. It’s important. If I’m wondering why I’m not driven to reach out to people, it’s probably because I don’t love them and care about them the way that I should. And if I’m not loving them like I should, it’s probably because I’m not in touch with the Lord about them and am not seeking to make my heart like His heart for the people I see every day.
1 of your thoughts:
Pray for Noelle while you're at it. She's got her first sniffles and it makes me sick with worry. I hate seeing her suffer! No fever, though so I'm not worried it's the flu--besides I got both vaccines so she should get immunity to them herself soon. But still... my tiny little precious is sick! It makes me want to cry.
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