With almost 4,000 miles on my husband’s bicycle tires and our travel trailer, we ended our trip across America in Oregon in September. I want to thank everyone who prayed with me along the way and give you our final update.

Trip Phases

As a reminder, we started our trip in Florida back in April (2017). We split it into three phases: Phase 1 Florida to Indiana. Phase 2: Indiana to Yellowstone. Phase 3: Yellowstone to Oregon. We ended Phase 1 in our hometown of Westfield, Indiana at the end of May, and then took a 3-week “break” to visit my parents, work on our gardens,  throw a baby shower for my daughter and a wedding shower for a soon-to-be-niece, and prepare our beehive for the summer months. It was a busy couple of weeks!

We then took off on June 6 and headed west toward Yellowstone. We arrived there the week of July 6 and stayed through July 11. At that point we headed home to wait on the arrival of our first grandchild due in about 2 weeks. Shortly after we arrived home, my mother’s health rapidly deteriorated and she passed away a day later. It was such a God thing that I was home and able to quickly get there. Her final hours were spent with my dad, all my sisters, and I gathered around her bedside singing and praying her to heaven. It was a beautiful time.

The Juxtaposition of Life and Death

Two weeks later our daughter and son-in-law welcomed into the world our first grandchild, a beautiful baby boy. It was indeed a juxtaposition of life and death, sadness and joy. We say that Great-grandma got to see him first. They met in passing, one coming into this life and the other leaving.

Phase 3

After spending a few weeks enjoying our sweet new arrival, we drove back out to Yellowstone where we resumed our final phase. Throughout the entire trip, every day while I was driving for about 60-80 miles (I only drove as far as my husband could ride his bicycle each day), I would pray for our nation. I prayed for forgiveness, revival, salvation, whatever requests God laid on my heart.

I can’t thank you enough for praying with me. Honestly, I felt like it got harder to pray the closer we were to finishing. I thank God that He gave me the persistence to finish! And I thank you for taking the prayer journey with me. I don’t know what our prayers accomplished on this journey, but God does.

Forest Fires Change our Plans

We had planned on making Portland, Oregon, our ending place, but when we arrived in Bend, Oregon, we were surrounded by forest fires. It was truly terrible. As I drove into Bend, the smoke settled in around me. All the roads to Portland were blocked by fires. After researching alternate routes (there were none that weren’t on fire), we had to call it and head back home. The news was advising people to stay indoors, and even inside our camper with the AC running, we could barely breathe for the smoke. It was dangerous for Mark to be outside riding in it as he had been doing for the last two days.

It was difficult to not be able to make it to Portland (and see my niece who lives there), but the decision was out of our hands at that point. We had an incredible trip, and I am so happy that you helped me pray across the entire country! We did it. THANK YOU!

I’ll leave you with our video we put up on our Kick Up Some Dust website explaining our decision to head home.

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I am glad to be back on the road again as Mark and I start our last phase of our Kick Up Some Dust trip: Thermopolis, Wyoming, to Portland, Oregon.

We took one month off to be home for the birth of our first grandchild. Our grandson is

such a joy, and we were so happy to be there for his birth! I think you can tell by the looks on our faces!

During that month off, we also suffered the loss of my mother. She had been sick for several years, but we are so thankful for the Lord’s timing on her home going. Mark and I had just arrived home and were able to have some time with her and my family.

Where Are We Now?

As I write this we are in Cody, Wyoming, getting ready to head into YellowStone National Park and on west. So for the next several days, please focus your prayers on this area of the country. I will be off the grid as most of Yellowstone does not have connectivity, but I will repost in about one week as I have the opportunity.

How To Pray

1. As always, however the Spirit leads you.
2. Repentance of our nation for sin
3. Revival to start
4. Protection of our natural resources
5. For our Congress to unify and start working together
6. Healing and protection from terrorism

Thank you, mighty prayer warriors, for your faithful intercession! I can not do this without you.

Pray on,

Welcome to Week 7 of Prayer Across America. Thank you for joining me as I pray across our great country. This week we started in Kearny, Nebraska and by the end of the week, we’ll be in Casper, Wyoming! I’ve started recording a short video each week, so here is the one for Week 7.

Here are some of the ways I have been praying this week:

1. For President Trump, our senators, and representatives
2. For the cities I drive through
3. For the schools, including teachers, students, staff, the school board, and curriculum
4. For revival
5. In two of the cities I’ve driven by, I’ve been impressed to pray for 10 new souls to be surrendered to Jesus this week
6. For the farmers of Nebraska

Also, so far this week, God has opened up the opportunity to pray with a person, one-on-one. That always blesses my heart.

Thank you for your prayers. Please feel free to add them in the comment section below.

Pray on!

Welcome back to Week 6!  If you are new to Prayer Across America, read this post first.

A few words of explanation are in order. This is actually our 8th week on the road. Due to visiting relatives in St. Louis and having guests with us, I didn’t get up a post sooner but was still praying as I drove. So to catch everyone up, Mark and I left from our break in Indianapolis on June 6 and have been through Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. We just crossed in to Kansas yesterday, so keep these states in your prayers this week.

What to Pray About

Here are some suggested topics of prayer for this week, and of course pray as the Lord directs you.

• Heat wave. Much of the nation is sweltering in a heat wave, and we have been dealing with it ourselves. We are changing our planned course of riding/RVing and heading north into Nebraska and on to Portland instead of through Denver to try and reach some cooler temperatures. California and Arizona are supposed to be well over 100 degrees this upcoming week.
• School is out. With most schools now out for the summer, we can focus some prayers on safety for children and teenagers, that they will have worthwhile activities and jobs for the summer, and for family time together.
• Unity. Please spend some time praying that our country unifies and stops the hate-filled speech.
• Revival. Pray that revival sweeps through our country.
  

  Missouri sunset and Kansas wildflowers

Feel free to add your prayers below and any prayer other prayer topics you would like to mention.

Pray on!

Welcome to Week 5 of Prayer Across America. If this is your first time joining us, you can read the introduction to understand the basics of what we are doing.

I am excited because as of this week, Mark has biked and I have driven the trailer 1100 miles, and we have traveled/prayed through Kentucky and are back in our home state of Indiana! We will actually be home on Friday for a two-week break before hitting the trail again on June 5 headed toward Denver. You can follow our progress and read stories about our trip at KickUpSomeDust.com.

Praying During Week 5

What’s on my heart this week to pray about? 

1. Our schools. Let’s pray for God-honoring agendas, curriculum, and staff. The hearts and minds of our children are what’s at stake. As parents and concerned citizens, we need to pray for our schools and pay attention. We need to call and let our voices be heard when an agenda is being pushed that is harmful to our kids.
2. Repentance. As a nation, we need to repent of pride and the sin that is dragging us down and away from God. Abortion is heavy on my heart.
3. Revival. As I drive each day, I pray for individual hearts because that’s where revival starts. We need it to sweep across America.
4. Delphi, Indiana. The murder of two best friends, 13-year-old Abby Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German back in February, remains unsolved. This tragedy occurred on a walking trail during the day. The girls went missing and their bodies were found the next day. Pray that the murderer will be found and brought to justice.
5. Your Prayers. Please add anything God lays on your own heart too!

As always, please add your prayers to the comment section below. Thanks so much for joining us as we pray across America!

Beautiful Kentucky wildflowers.

Hello everyone!

Here we are entering our fourth week of traveling across the country. Mark and I started in Bonita Springs, Florida (I’m pulling the travel trailer and he is riding his bike), and right now we are in Huntsville, Alabama. Tomorrow we will be entering the great state of Tennessee, so we are excited to get another state ticked off our list! So far we have travelled 750 miles! As I drive the trailer, I pray each day. I am thankful for those who are praying along with me. Feel free to share this post with anyone who you think might be interested in praying for America.

Prayer Requests for Week 4

• Pray for Tennessee teen Elizabeth Thomas who was abducted by her teacher and was missing for a month. She has been found and the teacher arrested. It sounds as if her family life was already chaotic before she was kidnapped.
• Pray for revival in Tennessee and in the U.S. in general.
• Pray for reconciliation in families.
• And of course, pray as the Lord leads you, and please post your prayers in the comment section as you feel led.

Faith-Friendly State

Church spire

I would like to add that as we have traveled through Alabama, I have been encouraged by the displays of faith I see in this state. Churches are everywhere! I see scripture posted in public places. It’s not unusual to see many churches in the areas we travel though, their beautiful spires rising above the trees, often three or four of them very close together, like the one in the picture below.

I’ve enjoyed the churches I’ve visited while we’ve been here. Here are some pictures I’ve captured that reflect a bit of the faith culture I’ve witnessed thus far.

Pray on!

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