Two or more at Lent

I have noticed that many, as in people, are writing insightful pieces having to do with prayer and Lent. In the past, I have always tried to put together a plan to pray, fast, and hopefuly enter the Easter season closer to God and with a little more spiritual growth than the last year. And I, like most of you, have struggled with the praying, fasting and reflecting. Over the course of my adult life, I have read many articles in books, blogs, church bulletins and newsletters that have all sorts of great thoughts and approaches to having deeper and more committed prayer time. And I, like most of you, have struggled with finding time (and being able to concentrate) on my prayers. And, even with the best intentions, Friday after Friday seem to spring up on me and I haven't done a whole lot of meaningful prayer.





I don't have any insightful thoughts or mind-altering tidbits...I just have some testimony from the past couple years. If you don't know already the past three years have been altering for me. My daughter was hit head-on by a pickup truck in the spring of 2007. They fire dept. had to cut her out of her car with the jaw-of-life. She suffered a major bone break in her foot..her foot will always hamper her. Three months later, she was taken into emergence surgery for some tumor like growths that caused her ovaries to twist. She was experiencing pain and nausea since the accident so the doctors misdiagnosed her, changing her medications and such, thus missing these fast growing tumors until they had become life threatening. Then six months later, she was in an accident on a country road, late at night, and thrown from a big truck. A deer ran out in front her boyfriend's pick-up truck and he lost control. She was thrown from the truck, covered in a six-foot ditch by trees, had to be helicoptered to a trauma hospital, endured 7 + hours of surgery with nine teams of doctors, and wasn't expected to live. We spent months in the hospital, then rehab, then home and during this recovery my husband lost his job twice, of course losing health benefits. Oh, and did I tell you that around the same time as my daughter's first accident, I was having ALOT of migraines and due to that I burned up all the serotonin in my body. The result of that was a loss of energy, memory...mainly you can't function until you build back the serotonin..(you can read more on the post "Suffering but not Separated" March 19,2008). And how is all this related to Lent..to prayer?! I will tell you.



I had always tried to be faithful to having a personal prayer time in the mornings which was good. But, God showed me GREAT! Right after my daughter's first accident, a good friend started coming over to my house and we started praying TOGETHER. "Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray.." 2 Chronicles 6:21. We would first talk about what prayer needs were on our hearts focusing on our children and husbands. Next, we would open our bibles and the Lord would show us a scripture. Then we would begin to pray...starting with acknowledgment of God's power and reign over us, moving into a time of thanking Him and recounting our blessings and following that with a time of confession. The last part was giving God our petitions. Here is the testimony...the walls of this house shook with the presence of our Almighty. "And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness" Acts 4:31. It wasn't because of the lists of requests, it wasn't because of the order of prayer, it wasn't about the scripture, though all played a part. This house shook because there was more than one of us! Even though we had requests that we intended to bring to the Lord, when we started praying the Holy Spirit took over and spoke for us and through us. It was never my words that acknowledged the almighty power of God, it was the Holy Spirit through me. It was never my words that thanked my Father for all the blessings poured down upon me, it was the Holy Spirit speaking through me..speaking what was deep in my heart. The confessions were not me or my prayer partner, they were the Holy Spirit looking deep into my heart and bringing all into the light. And the requests...I stopped writing them down...the Holy Spirit knew what needed to be petitioned and those are the requests that tumbled from my lips. These prayer sessions were deep, powerful, real, and beyond me. "We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express". Romans 8:26



God made himself present to me and my partner in a life changing way. He built my faith, illuminate my failings, bathed me in forgiveness and poured out his mercy. I truly believe that the night my daughter lay fighting for life in that ditch, there was a spiritual war taking place. And due to the prayers that had been prayed by "TWO OR MORE" she is here today, walking, talking, working, playing, living life! Then again, last fall, another friend and I started doing the same..praying several times a week. Again, my house shook from top to bottom. At times, we would be praying over an hour and not even realize how much time had passed. We would weep and laugh, become bold and authoritative, pour out our hearts and hear the Lord give us words of direction, encouragement, and love. He showed us the power in "TWO OR MORE" gathered together to pray. During these months of prayer with a partner, I have seen so much happen in both our lives and seen much of God's power at work. God has shown me that there is something special in praying with someone. God has blessed my partners, the people we have prayed for, and myself.

So, maybe this Lent, you will call a sibling, a friend, a neighbor and step out together in prayer to see what new heights the Lord can stretch you to!