So over the summer we meet with the youth group girls on Tuesday mornings for some Bible study time. One day (probably a couple weeks ago now) we watched a video from Mark Batterson in which he was describing to us the idea of being a "Circle Maker." (He has a book about it, you should check it out.) He shared a personal testimony about how when his church was first getting started and there weren't very many regular attenders He felt the call of God asking Him to walk around his church campus. To do a prayer walk. He ended up not only walking the whole church property, but the entire surrounding neighborhood and then continued onto a good couple of blocks after that, as well. I don't remember all the details very well but he committed to walking that same circle and praying specific things over it and claiming promises for his church for a certain number of days. Now, years later so many of the buildings he walked past or under or around have become vital parts to his now booming church and affiliated ministries. Now with the need for, I believe he said, 7 different campuses! How awesome is that?
(sidenote: did you notice a pattern there? I apparently have an extreme difficulty with paying attention to detail, but I still get the gist of things, right!? Lol)
At the end of the video, he went on to challenge us. To circle promises in God's word and claim them in prayer. Then also to commit to praying for something in the same place, at the same time, every day, for a certain number of days. I thought it was a great idea that day and I was excited to go home and get my prayer walk on. I went home, put my daughter down for her nap and went to a quiet place. Unfortunately, I couldn't really put my finger on anything specific that I wanted to dedicate my prayer time to. Nor could I decide about a specific place or route that I wanted to walk each day. So sadly, after being distracted by Facebook and probably something else, too, most likely pretty and/or shiny, I didn't really give it a whole lot of thought after that.
Prayer walk story part II:
This morning I met a friend at Starbucks, just to chat and catch up. Since we only have 1 vehicle currently and my sweet hubby is at work, I buckled my 1 year old in her stroller and we walked. I didn't really think about much of anything on the way there, besides the fact that the FL summer heat was already kicking my butt, making me sweat profusely because it was so scorching hot outside even though it was not even 10 in the morning yet.
On the way back, however, instead of going my normal route which would have taken only about 5 mins or so to be back home out of the now nearing 11am full-blown sun I decided to go a different way. I took the long way. What started it was my attraction to this particular side street. It was shaded with lots of big oak trees and just looked really inviting. I'm still not quite sure what exactly it was, but something told me to walk down this road. So I did. Even though it was not only off my normal course but would add an extra solid 10-15 mins to our trek home.
During our extra long walk we past some men working, a couple people biking, lots of houses, and a middle school. About half way down the road that tempted me with it's luscious shade trees, I wondered what the heck I was doing. If I should just turn around and go back the way I came because it would probably still end up being faster than circling all the way around like I would have to continuing this way. Then all of a sudden it hit me, DUH! I'm doing a prayer walk. Only I was forgetting to do the most important part; pray! So I started to pray about anything and everything and we continued on our walk. We ended up completely circling that middle school (of which I know nothing about, BTW). We came up on the left side of it, then walked right out in front of it, then circled back down around the right side to head towards home. I'm pretty certain there is a reason, a very specific reason, in fact, (of which I am currently unaware) for that.
So I did a prayer walk today, and it was kind of an accident. From what I know about God though, and the way He works, it really wasn't an accident at all. I have no earthly idea what will come of it, but I am claiming the promise that something will. There are no accidents with God. Nothing is just a coincidence. It all ends up coming together, even if just as the tiniest little piece of the puzzle of His big picture plan. I can't wait to see what He has in store. Specifically, for this area that I have "circled" and am now committing to walk regularly and pray specific things for and over, as I am led by His spirit to do so in these next 30 days. (too bad I didn't subconsciously commit to doing a prayer walk during a cooler part of the day, eyy!?;)
The prayer walk route I will be making for the next 30 days at about 10:30 am. Originally it started out a little bit smaller, but God and I decided to broaden the spectrum a tad bit, to make it a little more geometrical. Now it's a non-rounded, pentagon of a "circle." :)
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