It is a new year! But what is so awesome is it is another year to serve my Lord. I am so excited to see where the Lord takes me this year. The best thing about serving the Lord is you do not have to wait until the new year, you can start any day, anytime. God makes all things new so even if this is July 23rd, you can start off new serving the One who created you, who loves you, who has thoughts about you, so many that that the sum of them far out number the grains of sand. The One who you are His masterpiece, created anew in Christ Jesus, created for a purpose that He planned for YOU before you were born.
Last year during the 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, I started to write things down in a journal. The fast was a brand new experience in my Christian walk and let me tell you so was keeping a journal. When I was little, I always wanted to be one of those girls who had pretty little diaries with a lock and key, hidden (not-so-hidden under my pillow) so that no one could read my most inner thoughts. Locking it was not a problem, there were no juicy pieces of information, just blank page after another. I quickly learned that I do not like to write nor read that much. I am much more of a math person. I like puzzles, figuring out things and NOT recording the results.
During that first fast, I quickly begin to realize that when you give up TV and meals, there is a lot of time in the day and night, especially night. I went through my planned prayer times and started to read my bible more than just a quick verse or daily devotional. As I denied my flesh, my spirit began to grow. I started to read my Bible more and more. It made such beautiful sense, like pieces of a puzzle all coming together. I prayed more and more, sometimes for people and things when I did not even understand why. It was an awesome experience and I wanted to write it all down so that I did not forget what the Lord had done. I wrote down my prayer requests and checked off when they were answered. I continued to pray for the yet-to-be answered prayers throughout the year. I wrote verses. I wrote down people who God placed on my heart. I wrote down requests, revelations, and rhema moments.
What was so awesome about the experience is I now have this wonderful journal about how faithful and true our heavenly Father is. I looked at it so many times this year when I was discouraged and afraid that my yet-to-be answered prayers were going to become unanswered prayers. I would look back at the ones that were answered and I would look back to all of the other answered prayers over my life. I would reflect upon my blessings. I would read God's word and His promises. It was a true faith builder.
So here we are again, 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting 2011. I am excited about what the Lord is going to do. I decided to keep a blog for the things I want to share and a journal for myself. Will I do this everyday? Will I keep this up? I do not know, I just know God is good and He loves me. My prayer for you this season is that you come to know that too!!
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