Happy New Year friends!! I hope you guys are having a nice start to 2019. New year new you, right?
Well, that actually happened to me this year. My squad decided to ring in the New Year by having 24 hours of prayer. We started at 11pm on December 31st with remembering 2018 and speaking out prayers for 2019. Then at midnight we shook up some sprite and exploded into the new year (it was awesome). After that we had an awesome Jesus dance party and continued to ask God about what was coming in 2019.
The idea of the 24 prayer was that each person on the squad would take at least one hour to pray and intercede to God. I planned on taking the 5am to 6am shift, mostly because I wanted to watch the first 2019 sun rise. What ended up happening was the most incredible night of my life, because I stayed up all night praising the Lord.
I began 2019 by journaling as I prayed, and the Lord gave me a word for the year. I wasn’t asking for one, but I guess He thought I needed one anyways. My word is “abundance”, as in living in the abundance of God. This year God is calling me to abound in Him, to stop focusing on what I do and everyone around me and just live a life for Jesus. Additionally He’s called me to abound in dancing, and I love to dance so I was pretty excited. God has already spoken a lot into “abundance” and I can’t wait to learn what He says next.
The night continued on with continuous worship music playing and people slowly heading off to bed. I was ready to stay up all night from the beginning, but there was a moment when I almost fell asleep as I drank another cup of coffee (it should be noted that Ethiopian coffee is about as strong as straight espresso). And then I saw the stars.
In my Christmas blog I mentioned how beautiful the stars are here. I guess that’s what happens when you live in the middle of nowhere. There may not be any WiFi nearby, but the stars can take your breath away. Definitely worth it. Anyways, I walked outside and onto my favorite spot on the property, the cement porch. Aside from some flower pots there’s nothing there- not even chairs. I was alone under the night sky, but I could still hear the worship music inside. The song “Break Every Chain” or “There is Power in the Name of Jesus” (I cant look up the real name right now) was playing. In the presence of God alone I began to dance and sing for the Lord, thanking Him for where He’s brought me and looking expectant as what He’s gonna do this year. For the first time in so long I was truly free to just be who God made me to be. There was no one around to make me feel ashamed because in the eyes of God I had no shame.
I stayed out there dancing for a few songs before it got too cold. I spent some time talking to people and sitting on the couch with more coffee. There were some songs I didn’t know, so I would sit and enjoy the atmosphere of people around me. If a song was playing that I knew well, then I would get up and dance and praise the Lord. With each passing hour more and more people were going to bed, and with each passing hour I was drinking more and more coffee. It was around 3 am when I just lost my mind for Jesus. I began to dance to every song for the Lord and sing praise (even if they weren’t the words to the song). A few of us were still left up, so we all let loose and danced for Jesus together. I was dancing in my sleeping bag and I didn’t care, no one cared. We just loved the Lord.
The song “So Will I (100 Billion)” came on, and I encouraged everyone to go out and see the stars. Six of us went out on the cement porch and worshipped the Lord under the stars, singing as loud and dancing as crazily as we pleased. It was a beautiful experience with Jesus. Even when we got cold and went back inside I still kept dancing for the Lord and praising His name. By this point I knew I couldn’t journal or read properly, and if I sat still to pray I’d probably fall asleep. All I wanted to do was dance for Jesus, so that what I did until the morning light.
At around 5:30am the sky began to lighted up in the east, so at 6:15am “team no sleep” (all five of us) went out to watch the sun rise. We stood around a bonfire, singing more worship songs and talking about how the Lord showed up last night. Then, we went back up onto the cement porch and worshipped God as the sun peaked over the distant mountains. I was exhausted but so in awe of the Lord. It didn’t matter that I didn’t sleep, because God sustained me to the morning light.
My squad mate Brendan said that if you stay up all night, a part of your personality is permanently changed. I don’t know if that happens to everyone, but I know it happened to me. Ever since January 1st, 2019 I stopped caring what people thought of me. I began to dance in the kitchen, whether I was doing dishes or waiting for more coffee. My anxiety doesn’t stop me from talking to people or getting things done. I choose to love and serve those around me as often as I can, even when it isn’t convenient, and I seek the Lord to sustain me in every area of my life.
The 24 hours of prayer went until 11pm on January 1st. I continued to encounter the Lord is cool ways throughout the day (especially when I took a nap), but my favorite part was dancing for Jesus. 2019 had just begun and I was already abounding in dancing for the Lord. I don’t know what’s coming in 2019, but I’m excited to see where Jesus shows up next. What I do know is that there’s no better way to welcome a new year than by worshipping the Lord, and that overnight praise and prayer is a powerful way to see God move.
~CLS
