I was flipping through a note book of mine the other day and came across two pages scribbled with purple ink I written late one night in Kansas City, Missouri. I'd forgotten about them until now. I do have a journal that I am trying to be more faithful in using, but for whatever reason a couple sheets of college ruled paper seemed to suit me better this night. We spent four nights in KC, three of which I felt led to spend in the IHOP prayer room. For three nights I laid down something very dear to me, my sleep, and picked up something very dear to the Lord, spending intentional time in His presence. I've been wanting to develop in the area of perseverance and this was a great way for me to start. Here are some of my thoughts from night two.
Practicing Perseverance
“It is by the grace of God that I got through this last hour. 3:06 am on what is now Thursday, March 10th. This is the second night, of what I feel will be three nights, in the prayer room at IHOP Kansas City. Last night Haley and I were in here from 8:45 pm to 5 am. It started as somewhat of a joke, “We should just go to the prayer room and stay there all night!” [We had a meeting with a man, Bob Hartley, the following morning at 6:45 am, which is pretty early, and decided we should just pull an all nighter than go...].
I had planned to sleep in the afternoon to prepare for night two. Unfortunately, for a few different reasons, that didn’t go quite as expected. A 45 minute nap was all I managed to get in before more meetings and round two. It wasn’t until 10:45 pm that I got in here. But oh man was I feeling it by 1 am. “There is no way I can make it to 5 am.” Somehow, between a few bathroom runs, an outing outside in 35 degree weather, and eating an apple in an attempt to shake the sleepiness off of me, I made it to 2 am. Truth be known I dozed off a few times along the way... Not sure what that looked like, but hopefully I managed to keep my saliva in this time as opposed to other times when I apparently felt the need to share it with the rest of the world around me.
After waking up for the 5th or 6th time I was feeling pretty defeated and convinced I could not make it through the next two hours. “Just go back, get a couple of extra sleep and go at it again tomorrow night.” As I continued to wrestle with what to do I heard to word “perseverance” leave the lips of one of the singers, followed closely by “Grace to follow through... when I set my heart to obey, meet me with grace” and “helper, help me.” Haha, at first I thought “helper” was “help her” and then I was really about to explode. It may not have been “help her” but it did help me.
The time is now 4:21 and I am reminded of God’s extravagant love and the worthiness of the lamb that was slain. After this, I am beginning to believe more and more that if God calls you to do something He will give you the grace to do it. It may not be easy, but He will make a way. He is a gentle helper who cares more about my cause than I do.”
Those three days were pretty amazing, and tiring ;) But so good. If you’re unfamiliar with IHOP or their 24/7 prayer room (IHOP = International House of Prayer, not pancakes;) you can check out their online live stream that runs all day every day at: (http://www.ihop.org/Articles/1000058181/The_Prayer_Room.aspx ).
*** Also, if you want to hear more about this week in Kansas City you can follow this link have a listen to me share more about it. It was definitely a highlight week for me with too much to fit into one blog. The video’s a little long but it’s a cool way for me to literally tell you about what God did that week. So, for whoever’s interested here’s the link :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVFhxY8pZ_c If you watch it, thanks :) if you don’t, hey, it's ok! :)
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