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By Posted on Posted in God's presence, hearing God, prayer 1 Comment

I’d like to share with you (in a two-part post) what are probably the two most valuable things I have learned to do in my Christian life.

The two practices that I want to share with you have deepened my relationship with the Lord in ways that I cannot even begin to describe or measure. Overall, the last couple of years have been desert-like for me in many ways. However, God has been determined to get through to me with His love and grace. It’s one thing to understand in my head that He loves me… but it’s completely another to BELIEVE it wholeheartedly, to feel it, taste it, hold on to it when life is thrashing me about.

The two practices I want to share are in fact conduits for God’s love, power, and presence to be poured into my life. There is really no power in the practice itself… but God uses it to reach out and touch me. The first of the two is incorporating visualization into prayer and worship. That might sound kooky… so let me explain.

A couple of years ago, I started having little pictures pop into my head when I would pray. I realized in short order that it was the Lord who was putting these pictures in my mind to show me things. Sometimes they were images of things like waterfalls, ropes in a knot, landscapes, etc. Often they were images of me with Him. Then the pictures started coming in a series… kind of like a movie in my mind. The Lord would often combine the pictures with a message from a friend or a bible verse to confirm that it was indeed Him trying to tell me something. I was concerned that maybe I was losing it!!

These pictures were coming during a time when I was struggling with an issue from my past. A dear friend challenged me one day to ask God where He was at a particularly traumatic time in my life.  I began to ask the Lord to do exactly that. I had no idea that He had been preparing me with these little visions and that He would literally show me where He was.

One night at an intimate mountain retreat, I received an answer. Some amazing women were praying over me, and I saw a series of events unfold in my mind. I saw myself as a child, in an awful situation. Amazingly, I saw Jesus come into this situation and show such tenderness to me. The “vision” was 100 times more powerful than any of the pictures I had seen before. God gave me a new perspective on this piece of my history, a new perspective of Him and His love for me. I was forever changed in that moment.

As time went on, the Lord showed me more. I asked Him where He was during another difficult moment in my life. This answer came in several pieces over maybe a year’s time. Sometimes while I was in prayer or in worship, I would see Jesus walking with me through the most awful seasons of my life. In one particular vision, I saw Him rescue me from a painful situation and whisk me away to the beach. The Lord took me back to that spot in my mind several times to show me more. At one point, I realized that the beach is the place where He wants to meet me. Again and again.

In times of quiet prayer or during worship on Sundays, I close my eyes and imagine myself walking out to the beach. Jesus is always waiting there for me. Sometimes He tells me things. Mostly, He just holds me or sits with me. He has shown me the scars that He bears on His hands, feet, and hairline (from the crown of thorns). In the sky over the crashing waves, He has shown me the glory of the Father. He has walked with me on the sand, carried me on occasion, and washed me in the waves many times.

Yesterday, He showed me something new.  During the worship music at church, I imagined myself on the beach. I ended up standing on a pier with Jesus, watching the howling wind and rolling waves mix with raucous thunder and lightning. In an instant, He scooped me up, carried me out on the water, and suddenly we were beyond all the torrents. Standing on the water, He held me and instructed me to look all around. I became aware of our position… we were in the eye of the storm. I felt complete peace in that moment. I could see the violent stirrings of the storm a mile away on every side. I have never felt so safe. The words we were singing at that moment in church:

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us so….

In the eye of the storm, it was so quiet that I could hear Him say:

I love you. I made you. I know you through and through. I am wrecked with love for you. I can think of nothing else but you. I am with you, watching you, protecting you, fighting for you. I love you.

Visualizations like this one have made my Jesus much more tangible. It has opened the door of my heart for Him to communicate to me more clearly. I find that more of my senses are involved in my prayer or worship time because I literally feel like I am with him in those few special moments. I have learned to relax more, so that He can guide my imagination and show me more. I want more!

I encourage you to give visualization a try. Start by asking the Lord to show you a place where He wants to meet you. Close your eyes, and let Him suggest the place. Let Him suggest the time, the surroundings, and your interactions with Him. Close your eyes and be with Him!

By Posted on Posted in prayer, trusting Him 1 Comment

So much is going on in the lives of people around me. My heart feels heavy for some good friends that are losing their home soon. For a mom friend that is being wounded and rejected by her own child.  For a group of people that are hurt by changes that are meant for good.  For a sweet teacher that flew halfway across the world to be used by God, yet has been attacked by an infection.

In all this, I have been reminded of my own powerlessness. I cannot fix any of these problems. I can’t heal anyone, change anyone’s mind, repair any families. All I can do is pray.

Why do we say it that way? As if prayer is some last resort… some desperate attempt to do good when all of our other efforts have failed?

Prayer is a spark that ignites power! Results! Answers! Healing! Freedom! I have spent so much more time praying this week with all of these issues weighing heavy on me. The more I pray, the lighter I feel. Is it because I have seen results after praying for one week??

Not really. The answers are slow in coming. I feel better because the more I pray about a situation, the more convinced I become that God is listening. He is watching. He is planning. He is preparing His rescue. He is coming!

King David describes the Lord’s response to our prayers in Psalm 18. Allow me to personalize it for you:

6 In your distress you called to the LORD;
You cried to your God for help.
From his temple he hears your voice;
your cry comes before him, into his ears.

7 The earth trembles and quakes,
and the foundations of the mountains shake;
they tremble because he is angry [at your enemies].

8 Smoke rises from his nostrils;
consuming fire comes from his mouth,
burning coals blaze out of it.

9 He will part the heavens and come down;
dark clouds will be under his feet.

10 He will mount the cherubim and fly;
he will soar  on the wings of the wind to save you.

11 He will make darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.

12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds will advance,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.

13 The LORD will thunder from heaven;
the voice of the Most High will resound.

14 He will shoot his arrows and scatter your enemies ,
great bolts of lightning will route them.

15 The valleys of the sea will be exposed
and the foundations of the earth will be laid bare
at the rebuke of the LORD,
at the blast of breath from His nostrils.

16 He will reach down from on high and take hold of you;
he will draw you out of deep waters.

17 He will rescue you from your powerful enemy,
from your foes, who seem too strong for you.

18 They confront you in the day of disaster,
but the LORD is your support.

19 He will bring you out into a spacious place;
he will rescue you because he delights in you.

By Posted on Posted in prayer 4 Comments Tagged with
written prayers inserted at the Wailing Wall
written prayers inserted at the Wailing Wall

Once again, the power of prayer was made clear to me this week.  I visited with a good friend at church, and we chatted about the baby boy in my womb.  She reminded me of the moment when the seed was truly sown for this little boy.  It was a long time ago.

My friend and her husband were traveling to Israel nine years ago.  My husband really wanted to go on this trip, but I was newly pregnant with our second child.  It’s always been a dream of his (and mine) to see the Holy Land, but since he couldn’t go, he asked our friends to do something for him while they were there.  He gave them a slip of paper, and asked them to place it in the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.  On the paper, he had written a prayer… the longing and desire of his heart.

The Wailing Wall received its famous name from the British in 1917.   During their rule in Israel, they witnessed the ongoing presence of Jewish people praying and weeping at the last standing piece of the Temple wall  (built by Herod in 19 BC).   This piece of wall is actually a retaining wall that supported the extended Temple platform that Herod built.   The Jewish people have been visiting the Wailing Wall as a place of prayer since about 400 AD.   They come to mourn the destruction of the Temple and to make requests of the Lord.  They believe that there is something very powerful about the wall.  To them, it’s a holy site where God’s presence once dwelt.  They believe that there is no place on earth closer to God or to heaven.

It has become very common for people who visit the wall to insert their prayers on a piece of paper.  Since my husband couldn’t go to the Holy Land, this was his wish.  To have the prayer of his heart placed inside the Wailing Wall.  What did he write on the paper?  He asked God for a son.

I had completely forgotten about this time in our lives!  It was shortly after our friends’ return from Israel when we discovered that our second child would be another girl.  We were happy to have a healthy child,  but the longing remained in my husband’s heart in the days that led up to our daughter’s birth.

I moved on, became busy with two little girls, and was honestly content with the size of our family.  It wasn’t until 2 years ago when the Lord asked me to have another child that I thought about how much my husband had wanted a son.  Even when I talked with him about the Lord’s apparent plan to give us another baby, it seemed that even my husband had forgotten how much he desired to have a son nine years ago.

But the Lord never forgot.  He heard those prayers.  He knew the longing of my man’s heart.  He waited until the time was right, and brought the answer to prayer.

This time I knew, even before I got pregnant, that this baby would be a boy.  The Lord made it very clear to me that this child was a blessing to my husband, and that it would be a son.  When my friend reminded me this week about the Wailing Wall prayer, I realized once again just how amazing God is and how powerful our prayers are.  Nine years seems like a long time to wait.  My husband had long since left that request at the foot of the Father’s throne.  He trusted God with his heart’s desire. Even when the years went by.  And now here we are, just seven weeks away from meeting our little boy.

This nine year old story is a challenge to you and me today.  What do you need to bring to the Wailing Wall?  What is the desire of your heart?  Write it down, roll it up, and place it in your wailing wall.  In essence, you will be laying it at the foot of His throne.  Let Him take His time.  Let Him shape your dream and your desire.  Let Him answer you when He knows that the timing is perfect.

What have you been waiting for?  Does it seem like it’s too late?  With God, it’s never too late.  My husband will finally experience the joy and desire of his heart at 47 years old!  Don’t let the enemy tell you that it’s over.  Your future is being written by your Loving Father.  Rest in Him, knowing that He has you in His hands.

This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you.”  Isaiah 49:8