October 13th-14th
Prayer. Its power goes further than we as humans can even imagine. I have never been skeptical of prayer, I truly just haven’t seen effects of prayer, until the other day. I am not going to sugar coat anything in this blog. A little over a week ago, Ecuador was in shambles and its people were hurting. As I stated in my last blog, we were tucked away in the mountains far from any harm or danger. However, that was not the case for many of the people of this country. Police were getting brutally attacked and riots filled the streets. The reason for the uprising was because the president decided he was going to raise gas prices due to a deal he signed with other countries to get Ecuador out of debt. The people of Ecuador didn’t agree with the gas prices being raised. This is what lead to intense social and economic unrest here. In the process of all that was happening, a few souls lost their lives and many were hurt. We saw pictures of places we had been too just weeks prior in ruins, dropping many of us to our knees. It broke many of our hearts and our leader Emily proposed a challenge for us. She challenged us to 24hrs of prayer. As a squad we decided that we would spend twenty four hours in prayer for the people of this country and each individual affected by the danger. We began praying at 9am on October 13th. At 3pm on October 13th, the leaders of the riots and the President of Ecuador began a settlement meeting. At that very moment I was at Gina and Dan’s house playing Wii, we stopped and prayed. We prayed for the leaders and the president, asking God to bring peace to this situation. We also prayed for protection for those who didn’t know God. May he put a hand around those who were lost. As the day went along, each person took their hour and poured out their heart to God. Some turned to worship and art, others took to paper and verbal petitions with God. Around 8:30pm, the leaders and the president came to a peaceful settlement. Hallelujah! I just happened to be asleep when this settlement was agreed upon, because my time to pray was at 3am. I woke up to the amazing news! I thanked God and praised him!! My parents called me and decided that they were going to pray alongside me at 3am, which was 4AM their time. On top of them praying with me early on a Monday morning, it was the morning of their anniversary! Literally, beyond thankful for my parents! My prayer and journaling changed, it changed from a prayer of peace to a prayer of restoration. My prayer was for God to restore peace, and restore his presence upon the broken city. It was an incredible time of God revealing himself to me. He reminded me that through prayer he can restore and he can mend. He taught me that intercession is necessary and powerful! He also taught me that he protects and provides! He protected all the lost sheep and all those already in his flock! Thankful is an understatement when I take a glance back at what he did! He took a city in shambles and put it to rest. If my God has the power to calm a city with over 3 million people, what else can he do?? The answer, he can do it all! The same God that rose Jesus from the dead, trampled Goliath, raised Lazarus from the dead, and walked on water is in the here and now! He is not dead, he is alive and heard our prayers! He heard our intercessions for the people of Ecuador and he moved! My prayer is for God to continue to use and work through us! For Him to use us a vessels for his glory! To God be the glory, ALWAYS!
Thank you for taking the time to read this! May God be the glory and may he be praised in times like these! Thank you for prayers of safe travel! It is my pleasure to tell you we are in Peru!! We arrived last night around 7pm!! I ask for prayer for the country of Ecuador, for God to restore the country. For God to bring his presence to the people! I ask for prayer for Dunamis and the girls they pour into daily. I ask for prayer for Gina, Dan, and Savannah that they continue to minister well to the girls as well as each team that comes to serve! I also ask for prayer for Camp Hope and that they continue to bless each child of God!! I also ask for continued prayer for Pan de Vida and the work they are doing there. Thank you and God Bless.
