Saturday morning started out with me drinking coffee and mentally preparing to spend a week with high schoolers. As I drove to St. Louis, I had some much needed God and I time. The K Love radio station was spot on and I soon found myself in tears listening to the song “By your side” by Tenth Avenue North. The words just hit me. Hard.
‘Cause I’ll be by your side wherever you fall
In the dead of night whenever you call
And please don’t fight these hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Lately I feel like I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. There’s work, support raising, church, summer activities, seeing family, vacation, laundry, packing, and I’ve neglected time with God. I’d say prayers and read scripture, but it wasn’t effecting me and I wasn’t pursing it with everything I’ve got. The words of this song definitely hit home and reminded me that He is still there, and I shouldn’t be fighting His hands that are holding me.
This last week was amazing, and I needed it more than I ever thought I would. I got the privilege to spend an entire week submerged in a motivating Christian environment. We took the opportunities we had to serve, pray, listen, and get to know our brothers and sisters more.
Monday, my group planted flowers and plants at Ms. Nadene’s house. We walked up to her front door and she greeted each one of us with a hug. She said the first thing we do is pray. Ms. Nadene prayed for our crew and all of the other crews spread out over north St. Louis. After she was finished, she said, “Alright, now who’s going to pray for me?” Her boldness took me by surprise, but thinking back on it now, I wish I had that courage to bluntly ask others to pray for me.
Tuesday night we went to a prayers service at the church we were staying at. We prayed individually for about an hour and then a few people shared what was on their life. There were two pastors that came with different YouthWorks groups, and they both shared a message. I’ve never prayed for an hour and then listened to two sermons, but man did I need it. The whole service was a little over two hours, but I don’t think anyone noticed until after. It was a very interactive church, and the pastor would often say, “Say yes to Jesus,” and we would all shout praises.
Getting to know Ms. Nadene more, I found out she is a faithful prayer. I asked her how much she prays and she gave me a schedule to begin with. At 5:30 am she gets on the telephone, calls her ladies, and prays for a half an hour. At 6:00 she calls her other group and prays until about 7:00, but she has to be done at 7:30 because that’s when she gets together with others to pray some more. At 8:30 she is done praying scheduled prayer for the morning. “I’ve got the morning covered” is how she responded when I was taking it all in. There are also prayer services Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday at the church that she tries to go to. And all of this doesn’t even include the spontaneous prayers throughout the day.
Prayer changes things. It’s an amazing feeling sitting there praying for an hour and just talking to God. It is also powerful to have people praying for you. Our culture is so caught up in being busy 24/7, but taking time to pray and talk to our Father is important. This week I realized how much I underestimate prayer.
Needless to say, these few days spent in St. Louis were amazing and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to spend it intentionally looking at how God is working through our teens and our world.
Life Update:
I MET MY FIRST GOAL OF $5,000!!! THANK YOU!
I will be doing a fundraiser in Mason City soon, stay tuned…
I still have T-shirts for sale!
I have a few more weeks left here in Columbia, Mo. I will be moving home the last week of July and will be there until I launch in October. Please let me know if you’d like to get coffee or meet up to talk more about what God is doing in my life!
41 days until Training Camp! 93 Days until Launch!
