I was at a small group at my Pastors house last Sunday. I was inspired by a video that we watched. The guy on the video was talking about a prayer walk he went on to cirlce an area with prayer. I have been on a walking program to get fit and felt challenged to do this. What I really felt challenged to do was to walk a circle of prayer around the 2 mile radius of my church that we are focusing on reaching out to. Until that path gets figured out, God told me to make my walking route in my neighborhood a prayer walk, so I did. The first time, I prayed for a short while and then listened to the Christian music on my ipod for the rest of the walk. I had run out of things to pray about. I shared with my Pastor that I had prayer walked my neighborhood and he gave me a pamphlet to use to guide me in my prayers. So the next day I took that pamphlet with me on my walk. I took my ipod, too, because I figured I would get through that pamphlet quickly and would listen to music on the rest of the walk. Well, that little pamphlet got me through my enitre walk. My walk lasted 74 minutes! I have never prayed for that long before. That pamphlet really inspired my prayers. There was only one brief moment when I didn't pray because I was being quiet before God to hear the sounds he wanted me to hear. It felt good to pray and spend that much time with God.
Early in my prayer I had prayed for awareness. Specifically to be aware of the people God puts in my path and to not miss out the opportunities he gives me. Well, shortly after I prayed that I met up with a lady who was just coming out of her house with her baby to take a walk of her own. We smiled at each other and she let me walk in front of her. So, we walked like that for a while; her behind me and me praying quietly. I always turn down the courts when I come to them and so when the next one came I turned and when I got back on the original street she was now in front of me. We walked like that through most of the rest of my walk. She just kept turning down the streets that I was already planning to turn down. We came up to the catwalk that I usually walk down and I kind of laughed at myself when she turned down it. I thought to myself that she is going to think I am following her. As I turned on to that catwalk, God put in my mind that she was in my path. It was then that the light bulb went on. She was a person God put in my path and he was not letting me miss this opportunity. So I began to pray for her and her baby. Nothing specific came to mind. I just prayed a blessing on her and for God to reveal himself to her if she did not already know him, so that she could raise that baby to know him. She was still in front of me for a little while longer. Then at a corner she stopped to attend to her baby and I ended up catching up to her. It was then that we exchanged a couple of friendly words and the we went our separate ways. It was just a really cool experience. It was an answer to prayer; an opportunity for me to pray for someone specifically and to show her a little kindness. Beautiful weather, the beautiful sounds of God's creation, over 8,000 steps, an intimate time with God, an answered prayer, an unmissed opportunity; I could not have had a better walk.
Thank you, God!
