American Thanksgiving Day 2012 = The Day Focus Offered Me a Job
I started the following Monday morning at 8:30 am
By noon I had had my first three (ever) anxiety attacks.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW GLAD I AM THAT'S OVER WITH.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So every morning at 9 am, the team at Focus gathers in our staff room on the top floor to pray. People from across Canada call or email their prayer requests to us, and we pray for each one of them.
Every chair in the room has a slip of paper on it with a request or two. After someone has read a page from a devotional, we break into groups of two or three and simultaneously pray out loud for each other and whatever prayer request was on our seat. Yes, it gets noisy in there.
Which is freeing, because no one (except God) (and the person directly beside you) is hearing you pray.
After we're done, folks drop their slips of paper here, on their way out:
That blue recycling box?
Contains a whole lot of cries for help.
That recycling box?
Is a faith box. We drop those slips of paper in there because we know God heard us, and He's already on it.
That blue recycling box?
Is why I love my job.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've heard from a few people who have mentioned that they've printed off the prayer I posted a month ago and are praying it too. So cool.
When I was praying in my truck the other day, (out loud, because it's easier to stay focused that way), and was starting to say those familiar words, I stopped mid-stream and said, "Oh, and by the way, God? Seems like a few folks out there will be contacting You with these exact same words. Hope you don't get sick n tired of hearing them. Hope they make you smile...
I started the following Monday morning at 8:30 am
By noon I had had my first three (ever) anxiety attacks.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW GLAD I AM THAT'S OVER WITH.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So every morning at 9 am, the team at Focus gathers in our staff room on the top floor to pray. People from across Canada call or email their prayer requests to us, and we pray for each one of them.
Every chair in the room has a slip of paper on it with a request or two. After someone has read a page from a devotional, we break into groups of two or three and simultaneously pray out loud for each other and whatever prayer request was on our seat. Yes, it gets noisy in there.
Which is freeing, because no one (except God) (and the person directly beside you) is hearing you pray.
After we're done, folks drop their slips of paper here, on their way out:
That blue recycling box?
Contains a whole lot of cries for help.
That recycling box?
Is a faith box. We drop those slips of paper in there because we know God heard us, and He's already on it.
That blue recycling box?
Is why I love my job.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've heard from a few people who have mentioned that they've printed off the prayer I posted a month ago and are praying it too. So cool.
When I was praying in my truck the other day, (out loud, because it's easier to stay focused that way), and was starting to say those familiar words, I stopped mid-stream and said, "Oh, and by the way, God? Seems like a few folks out there will be contacting You with these exact same words. Hope you don't get sick n tired of hearing them. Hope they make you smile...
God? Please don't get weary.
Could you keep woo-ing the people I care about? Keep loving on them, extravagantly. Keep overwhelming them with your grace and mercy. Keep revealing Yourself to them in intensely personal ways. Keep dazzling them with your creativity. Keep knocking on their hearts' doors; don't stop, OK? Keep guiding them, even if they haven't asked. Keep bringing Your messengers of good news into their lives. Keep using their circumstances to draw them close to you. Speak to them in a language they understand. Yell or whisper. Whatever You think works best.
Keep using all of creation to demonstrate who You are. Open their eyes so they can see. Enable their hearts to respond. And when they say, "Help", please answer in such a way that they know it was You.
Keep standing in front of them and saying to satan - Nope. Not this one. He is mine. I am calling shoddy on this loved one. You cannot have him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three things I'm thankful for:
1. A rich, full, wonderful week.
2. A mostly bright, fun-filled, clear month of November.
3. A less-frantic month ahead at work.
Shalom,
xo
1. A rich, full, wonderful week.
2. A mostly bright, fun-filled, clear month of November.
3. A less-frantic month ahead at work.
Shalom,
xo
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