short meditations on scripture intersecting life

Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. Daniel 10:12-13

Prayer is powerful.

It changes situations, people, and events. Daniel was one of the most faithful pray-ers in the Bible. We can take away much from his example. And we can get a bit of a behind-the-sceneslook as to what goes on when we pray.

Let’s dive into these two verses to see how they can impact our prayers today!

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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!

Thank you for joining us for Reflections, short meditations on scripture intersecting life.

But I will gather together the remnant of my flock from the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their own sheepfold, and they will be fruitful and increase in number. Jeremiah 23:3

Show Notes

Some of you may know that I am on a cross-country journey with my husband. He is riding his bicycle, and I am pulling the travel trailer. One of the things God put in my mind to do on this trip is to pray for our country while I’m driving. So I started Prayer Across America. Check it out if you’d like to join me in praying.

Well, this week I was feeling a bit discouraged (read that as sorry for myself) as if I was the only one praying for our great nation ever. God used a few things to encourage me, including the above verse. Listen in to the podcast to hear the rest of the story. Just click on the arrow below. You can also subscribe on iTunes.

Thanks for listening and …

Pray on!

Here is a link to the Eric Metaxas show episode with Ken Fish.

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Welcome back to week 3! In case you’re wondering what this is all about, check out my initial post for information. I’d love to have you join us in praying for America.

Alabama

This week finds us in Alabama. As I was driving to Wind Creek State Park in Alexander City, Alabama, yesterday, I was singing the words to the song: “It’s burning in my soul,” and “Lord, let Your fire fall down!” I found myself praying for revival and for God’s word to penetrate our souls.

I was encouraged because I kept seeing scripture references on the country roads. Yes! God’s word is alive and active.

Add your Prayers

This week feel free to add whatever prayers God is directing you to pray for Alabama and the U.S. in general to the comments below.

Drive-through prayer line

I’ll leave you with this picture that Mark took of a drive-through prayer spot he found at someone’s house while biking past last week. He stopped and prayed on his bike.

Pray on!