Pearls and Dreams

Pearls and DreamsIt is amazing, I sat watching a group of little kids today, practicing a song for a children's choir for the musical ... pray for me, pray for me, though you may never see, how your prayers are answered, heaven heard every word, every word, don't forget to pray for me ... and I think back...

To a church that met in a fairgrounds ...in the mountains. It started out meeting in people's homes, but got to big, and we had to move to the fair grounds. Our Sunday school classroom was the gazebo ... our playground, the picnic grounds. Our Sanctuary was the Cafeteria on the fair grounds. Every week as we walked into church we'd see the big Mariposa Butterfly ... the butterfly ..symbol of new life! Welcome to Mariposa Christian Fellowship!
The unique thing about this church was that I knew that I was prayed for. I knew that I was bathed in prayer. I knew that every problem that I had was covered in prayer. I knew that when something went wrong ... Joan J. Joan S., Diana D. Diana B. Elaine (pastor's wife) Theresa N, Jay, Claudia and any number of other women ... AND THEIR HUSBANDS were going immediately to prayer for me. I can't tell you how many times I would walk into a room with these women with my heart sad, and one of them would grab me and say "what's wrong?" and the answer would be "Let's take it to Jesus in prayer!"
Whenever we met as a group there were 3 things that were guarenteed that were going to happen ... praise and worship ... prayer ... and praying for one another. Children were included in the middle of it. When the adults prayed, the children prayed too.
I think back now, and realized just how many of these women, these Godly women had me covered in prayer ... how many of them daily lifted me before their King ... and encouraged me!

I see the kids coming up now ... some I've watched from infancy, many since toddler hood, and many more since very young school age ...and I realize that I'm getting the privilege of praying for them. Times have changed, we don't 'do church' like churches were done in the 70's. People are busier than they were then. We don't sit around and picnic after church almost every Sunday ... or go to each other's houses all the time.

So, the kids aren't seen and in the middle of everything the way my sister and I were ... we're not in the middle of the ladies Bible studies ... and we don't have the church fellowship times that were so common 30 years ago. But, these kids are so precious to us all ... and I hope they will know, that in the way that will be special to them when they are 41 that they can look back and say ...wow! Look at what our church did for us! Look at how they taught us ... look at what they provided for us ... and look how they bathed us in prayer!

We may never see the results ...but if they are bathed in prayer, they will know it, it will be un-mistakable.