At this week's Wednesday night prayer meeting, my pastor, Bro. Rodney, stressed the importance of prayer in our daily lives. As he noted, we often say, "There is power in prayer," but in reality, there is POWER in the One we Pray to. I loved the service, in which we matched the first letter of each day of the week with a corresponding subject to pray for. ie Monday – Missions; Tuesday – Tasks; Wednesday – Workers; Thursday – Thanks; Friday – Friends and Family; Saturday – Sinners; Sunday – Saints.
I'm glad God has used this message to challenge me (and my fellow Church members) to step up our prayer lives. If you feel compelled, please join this effort, and lets watch what God does when we Pray, Petition and Praise as often as we can!
As the list indicates, Thursday is the day for prayers of Thanks. We all have much to be thankful for, and yesterday, I was particularly thankful for Traveling Mercies, Friends who welcome my visits, Family who support my desires to see the world, people who receive proper training for their jobs which help keep you and I safe and comfortable, the protection of God over children, and His Grace!
Here are some images from the day:
One of my favorite ways to view the world is from the window of an airplane! It puts into perspective just how small we really are in the grand scheme of things, and yet, God still chooses each of us to carry out His tasks. He doesn't NEED us; He WANTS us. How cool is that?
The Washington Monument. My flight connected in Washington, D.C. on what happened to be a fairly monumental date for political America. I'm very thankful to live in this country, but I truly believe that prayer is HIGHLY in order for our leadership, each and every day!
I'm always amazed at how many people travel all across the world on a daily basis. I'm glad Someone is looking out for all of us as we go along.
I have NO idea how these guys know which way to wave those orange things, or how the Pilots know to read these signals in order to steer or park a plane just so, but I'm incredibly thankful for their training!!!
I've had enough opportunity to travel that I apparently look confident in my navigational abilities. I was able to help some Canadain tourists out by explaining how to get into Manhattan from the airport. Love this life!
Grand Central Station – A "melting pot" in its own right! Ever thankful for the people I get to meet and interact with, like the guy in the photo below this one!
Hate that I didn't catch this guy's name, but never-the-less… The first thing I noticed about him was his shoes. (Bright colors are my weakness!) He and I struck up a conversation about running and sports, which led to talking about his 1.5 yr old son (also on the train) who won't ever be able to play strenuous or contact sports because of a rare heart condition he was born with. He explained that his son doesn't have the left ventricle of his heart, so blood can't pump fast enough to keep up with the stamina needed for running at length or over-exerting, and that after two surgeries already, any major blow to his chest could damage the re-routing work doctors have done. We talked about how there were millions of other ways his son could still enjoy and lead a normal life, and as He said, as parents they are just thankful to have him and thankful to God for taking care of him. In turn, he noticed my "Bellview Baptist Church Youth Group" t-shirt and from there we got to talking about my soon-coming departure for The World Race. He'd done some international traveling for work, so he gave me some great tips, and best of all, he offered to be praying for me and the mission effort. Likewise, I agreed to pray for his son's upcoming third surgery in as many years, and I hope you'll join me in keeping this precious boy and his parents in your prayers, as well.
FINALLY made it to Charlee's! Among plenty of other attributes, I'm awfully thankful that she's one heck of a cook, cause after a long day in transit, I was starving! I'm likewise thankful that she's lived in plenty of international places and has managed to pick up some easy cooking tips that she's sharing with me to help keep me and my World Race teammates fueled! This could get interesting… 😉
That's a wrap for Day 1. Look for Friday's photoblog to come, soon!
Be Blessed,
Ashlee
