What did I learn from studying Genesis this year? God is timeless in his mercy, promises and love. And often it is the ‘doe doe’s’ he uses to get the job done because then no one can argue that God’s hand was in the ‘doing’. 😉
This morning we ended our Cornerstone Scripture Bible Study of Genesis with Mass and then a brunch and social afterward. We all had the opportunity to stand and express what we received from the lesson and it was beautiful to hear the stories of how the Word of God came alive in so many lives, reaching beyond the study to touch families and give hope to the hopeless.
Next year we study the book of ACTS and being that my life tends to revolve around whichever book we are studying I am anxious for what is sure to be a productive year! 😉
Directly after the social I drove 30 miles west and joined a Houston wide prayer gathering of ministries and programs who in one capacity or another work to help victims of human trafficking. I’ve been to a smaller prayer gathering a few months back but this is the quarterly gathering where we come from all over the Houston area. Before we were led into praise and worship to gear our minds and hearts into prayer we announced who we were, what our organization or ministry was and our prayer intentions. Boundless Mercy is the name of the organization that leads the prayer gatherings. Out of curiosity they wanted to see who was represented and in what area of Houston.
They drew this ‘wheel’ marking each of our organizations in the North, South, East, West region of Houston as the ‘spoke’ of the wheel with Christ as our center. As you can see we had a strong representation of many groups who are dedicated to saving these women from this evil machine. What we noticed, however, was the obvious gap in the southeast region of Houston that wasn’t represented today. I’m sure there are plenty of organizations in that area that were simply not aware of the prayer gathering or able to make it but it is still something to keep in prayer being that is the region with the most men’s clubs and such on HWY 45 south, etc.
Once we were all given the opportunity to voice the prayer needs for each of our organizations we were led into praise and worship. In this room were people from all over Houston, many different denominations represented but with all the same purpose – to join together in prayer and ask for His intercession in what He has called each one of us to do so that His loved ones might be rescued.
It was breathtaking, exhilarating and humbling. After 30 minutes of praise and worship we went directly into prayer with everyone voicing whatever prayer came to the heart, keeping in mind also the prayer intentions mentioned earlier. For an hour we were renewed in strength and vigor and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We prayed for everyone – the victims, the perpetrators, the advocates, the clientel… everyone. It was a communion of saints coming together to intercess.
The groups represented were: Redeemed Ministry, Harris County Youth, Restore Her (Safe House), Power of Grace, Somebody Cares, Judy’s House and Hopeful Hearts Ministry.
I hated to leave but I had to rush out to get back to Kingwood and back to the life of ‘mom’ getting kids to baseball, piano and drama rehearsal. In the few seconds I had from juggling one kid from here to there I happened to notice our flowers that came in bloom today along the backside of our garage. I was in a hurry but after the day of blessings through prayer something in me said, STOP AND RECOGNIZE THE BEAUTY BEFORE YOU. I had to take a picture.
There is a lot of ‘ugly’ in this world but God is victorious, he is timeless, and we need to be reminded of his promises whether it is through his Word or by stopping and recognizing the beauty of a flower in bloom.
Blessings
Shannon