Revelatory Understanding of Prayer Coverage
 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.  Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light…                                                                                                                                                     Colossians 1:10-12

Mark’s brothers left the family company due to irreconcilable differences in management and started their own competitive electrical companies.  Mark and I, and his parents were left with a huge business debt.  Life continued to be very difficult.

Mark was asked to serve on a team to lead the next spiritual retreat weekend.  This involves months of team meetings and a weekend Thursday night through a Sunday night at a retreat center nearby.  It was always a growing, deepening spiritual experience for anyone who participated.  I enjoyed serving on teams more than my original weekend, which is saying a lot!  It is such a blessing to watch others experience God’s love as you did!
Serving is voluntary, labor intensive, and requires sacrifice from the spouse at home.  Everything is done for the glory of God and as well as time and energy allows.  There is always a 72 hour prayer vigil for every hour of the weekend.  There is a prayer chapel manned the entire time by at least two people and an ordained minister stays with the group at the retreat location.

 We learned prayer is the engine or strength of any ministry.  We believed that it was what made the retreats so spiritually powerful.  Over the years we participated in almost every capacity in serving and watched immediate answer to prayer.  There were salvations, healing, deliverance, and flat out miracles! 

Prayer: Thank you Lord for growing our faith through the experience of answered prayer!

Thought: Does recognition of and participation in prayer protect events from the evil one and invite the power of the Holy Spirit?  I would lovingly challenge any Christian to participate in such an event and not experience the awesome power of the Triune Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) through prayer.

A Secondary Cloud on the Horizon

 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.                                                       James 1:3-4

 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.                     Galatians 5:22

It was the school year of 1991-92 and the boys were, for the second and last time in their lives, on the same campus for the whole year.  Bobby was in the fifth grade and Jonathan in the second.  Jonathan’s teacher was young, pretty, kind, and compassionate but she didn’t have a clue about how to manage him.  The only suggestion we got from the school staff was to increase his Ritalin and we did over the year until he was lethargic and spacey and that was unacceptable to me.  It never resolved his inability to sit still or stay on task.

At Christmas, we still tried to maintain the allusion of Santa Clause with half-eaten cookies, sooty boot prints, and this year, red flannel bags filled with unwrapped presents.  Little did we know Bobby had already spilled the beans to Jonathan but they went along with it for one more year. 

Jonathan appeared to be developing a new idiosyncrasy that I had not seen before.  He didn’t want anyone, including me to kiss, hug, or even touch him.  He seemed very irritated and confused about this but extremely adamant.  At one point he put the red flannel bag over his head and asked for a hug and that was the only way anyone could touch him.  I called him the little red monster that needed a hug.  It broke my heart but at least I could show him some much needed affection.  We were mystified at this behavior.  I wept many tears and asked the Lord what this could be. 

  Prayer: Jesus this breaks my heart and lets me know how you hurt when we refuse your love.

Thought: Once again the only answer to our pain and the only way to regain any peace was to turn to the Father. Trust the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to get through each day.  Wake up each morning with prayer and end each night in peace.