Today I woke up at 4:50 am. Right now it’s 6:10 and I’m sitting on metal at the top of an empty water tower, freezing my butt off (who knew it got cold in Africa??), and waiting for the sun to rise.
Why on earth is Lindsay, a truly talented sleep-in-er, awake at such an hour, you may ask? Well my team enjoys doing this thing that we have dubbed “NOP-“ Night of Prayer. Basically, one of us is awake for an hour shift during the night to pray- we try to do it at least once a month. I know it sounds crazy, but there’s something about the dead of night, or morning in my case, that is truly powerful.
I got the lucky shift of 5-6 am! All jokes aside, I was really happy about this assignment because I love watching the sunrise (Madly In Love With You by Sean McConnell, anyone?). Plus it brings me back to the glorious Costco days of waking up at 3 or 4 every morning to get to work and drive a forklift.
By some miracle (God) my team ended up in an elementary school/bible school/compound for two weeks. We don’t have running water or electricity but our host does have mattresses for us! So naturally this month I’ve opted to sleep outside under the stars in a tent with my pad. Because I’m in Ethiopia and God’s creation is freaking beautiful!! Seriously, the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes at 4:50 was a shooting star.
So using my headlamp I groggily made my way inside to boil some well-water for coffee. I positioned myself at the table in front of a big window and looked outside at the night sky. As the ADD girl you know and love, I have to write out a lot of my prayers to stay on track, so I opened my journal and got to work.
Here’s part of my prayer:
“Dear God,
As I sit here in the dead of night, or perhaps morning, the silence overwhelms me. I look up and see the moon, a faint sliver, next to all the stars You breathed into creation and am in awe. Your creation is so beautiful and there’s no striving to be done. They (the stars) just are. They accept what you made them to be, Lord.”
I wrote this in reference to Matthew 6, which says:
“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor real nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (v. 26).
This morning, that is my prayer for each of you. That you would accept who you were made to be: a child of God. Your significance is in this and only this. We don’t need to try to work our way to salvation. It’s a free gift that when we accept consequently transforms our lives on earth. With God we don’t have to strive to live a life of holiness because God dwells inside of us and makes it possible. Then, we just rest in our assurance in Him and work out of an overflow instead of ourselves.
** Mom, Dad, Dani, Tay, Jen, and Lincoln Log- I love you more than you’ll ever know! I posted this after making a drive to the city and will contact you when I can! Miss you lots, enjoy a hot shower for me 😉 **
