For a long time it had been on my heart to begin a prayer group in the 50-apartment building where I live. I had a lot of reservations about it - I don't have "people skills" for one. It all depended on what I focused on. If I focused on my inabilities, forget it, it's not going to happen. But if I focused on the need for people to come to know the Lord, it HAS to happen. Nevertheless, I put it in the Lord's hands, because I was too fearful to step out on my own.
Friday afternoon, several of us were downstairs in the community room to hear Evelyn's music rehearsal. She does the music at her church, and also ministers music in several nursing homes. She and her sister and brother-in-law rehearse on Friday afternoons and anyone who wants to is invited to listen.
Anyway, there were four of us just sitting there chatting afterward, and one of them voiced a concern about a neighbor who is having a medical problem. Realizing that the four of us are believers, and that we were alone in the community room (an unlikely factor in itself) we began to pray for this neighbor. Someone asked if this neighbor would be open to us going to her apartment to pray directly with her, and the friend said she thought that would be ok. So we went upstairs, and the friend went in and asked her if she'd like that. She was having dinner so we told her we'd wait in the apartment of one of us who lived close by. After a few minutes, the lady with the ailment came to Sandy's apartment and we prayed for her.
Then something happened. It wasn't anything we saw or heard, but an awe descended upon us and we began to pray for each other. There was like an electricity in the room, except that it was something reverent, something quiet and peaceful, an awareness that the Lord was among us.
We began to share and it became apparent that several of us had had an inner desire to have a prayer group here. None of us knew exactly how to start one, and all were a bit timid. Then suddenly I remembered -- my morning prayers!!!!! This was the day after Thanksgiving and on another day after Thanksgiving, 33 years ago, I was born-again. In my morning prayers of today I had asked the Lord for a birthday gift. Now that's not something I ordinarily would ask the Lord, except that for the first few years after I was born-again, He always gave me a birthday gift. Later, I didn't see them so much, probably because I was growing up in the Lord and didn't really need such acknowledgements anymore. But this year, I asked him for a birthday gift. And this is what happened on my birthday - the birth of a prayer fellowship right here in the place where I live. And I imagine that there could be no greater birthday gift than this!
Today is Wednesday and we had our first regularly-scheduled meeting, and it was wonderful. We prayed, we sang, and we shared, and it was so heartwarming and encouraging that I thought I'd start a new blog to share things like this.
I used to keep a journal, but as the years went on I kind of let it go. It's time to take it up again and remember all the things the Lord does among us. Praise the Name of our wonderful God who continuously encourages us with manifestations of his love and his personal involvement in our lives!
