Prayer....

Prayer is a funny thing. I guess not prayer itself but what the enemy does to try to stop you from praying. Yesterday I decided to dedicate the day to prayer and fasting. It turned out to be mostly fasting.

The day started like this. I slept in. Then thought oh I should study Kiswahili just for a bit. Hey I have been studying maybe I will play the game on my phone just till 12:30 so only for like a half hour.

Go in room to pray, well it's only 12:47 I could play just a bit longer. NO, NO I want to pray. Maybe I would do better back outside. AH that's better. I think I will worship a bit first (not a bad thing by the way). 12:52 que phone. Christina is at a kids camp and wants me to come out with Beatrice while she teaches the kids. Sure that would be great. She calls back and it is all set up. Beatrice will pick me up at 1:45. It is now 1:06. Crap. Not literally more like oh crap I only have 40 minutes. Pee. Literally. Go get cloths from the line. Fold cloths talk to Bariki who encourages me to stay home. Telling me if i set aside a day for prayer I should follow through with my plan.

Good idea. 1:29 call Beartrice and Christina to tell them I have changed my mind. Change back into lounging cloths and finally settle down to pray. On the way back inside to pray I make the mistake of glancing in the mirror. "Man, my eyebrows are out of control!" "Is that a white hair in my eyebrow?" Wow I am either getting older or I am really stressed out. Probably both. hahahah." "That pimple is huge, but Bariki did not have to point it out yesterday, Uh I know it's huge."

Okay gotta pray, I'll sit down on the bed. I fold my hands and start to pr... "Uhm my hands look exactly like my mom's and mu aunt's." "I really gotta trim my nails." What's that red dot on my wrist?" "oh great now it's itchy." "I wonder how long it would take me to pull out all my leg hairs one by one?"

FOCUS!!! I'll sing a bit to get focused. 2:12 I am ready to pray now. 2:20 prayed and brushed my teeth. "There that feels better." Pray, pray, pray, please Lord help me pra... "Hey look Mount Kilimanjaor is not covered in clouds. I should go take a picture." 2:38. Talk to BAriki about the pictures I just took. Pee. Okay now it is time. Holy Spirit please help me focus on prayer.

Just breath. Breath in "Abba." Breath out, "I belong to you." Calm my mind. "Abba, I belong to you." "Jesus blood, never fails me." Then I prayed for like a half hour till I had a 20 minute nap. From that very true and detailed account of my day of prayer you are able to see how powerful it is. How effective prayer is for changing things and how the spirit is willing bu thew flesh is weak. Also you are able to see how much the enemy hates it when we pray. So he decides he will give us a temporary case of attention defiecit disorder.

More stupid then any of that is that I knew what was going on and couldn't or more likely didn't stop it. I cheated myself and I cheated God. Betcha He was looking forward to some Father-daughter time. Don't think He doesn't look forward to spending time with all of His children.

So if you learn anything from my story learn that prayer is powerful, effective and a beautiful way to communitcate with your Dad upstairs. The enemy knows this better then we do sometimes and will do to stop us. Seriously like I would ever pull out my leg hairs one by one.