| Transformation, Obedience and Prayer |
| Tuesday, 17 April 2007 | |
[This
story is true. It is written in first person from a primary source.
It has been edited from its original but retains the heart of the
original. The names have been changed to protect the privacy of
those involved. My thanks to those involved for sharing their story.
May this story encourage us to continue praying and expecting God to
move beyond our preconceived ideas.]I am a friend of Aimee's. In August I was hanging out with her. She told me she had to leave for her “appointment with God.” Something inside me was curious so when she invited me to come along I did. During our hour, I accepted Christ. And I cannot tell you how life changing the experience has been for me. Since that day, I have returned to the prayer room a few times. And God has truly shown himself to me in huge and marvelous ways. I am a kid who grew up with an abusive father. I believed that I could never experience the love of a father. God has shown me differently. I have felt so loved. and now experience peace everyday knowing that my heavenly Father is with me. I didn't ever think this was something I could feel During one of my visits to the prayer room, I saw a card on the wall asking people to pray for the lost. It was humbling to me to read that because I realized that people I didn't know had been praying for me. I live in a frat house. And while in the prayer room, I couldn't get my frat brothers off my mind. Aimee explained that now that I was a Christian I had been called to seek others out and tell them of the great love I am experiencing. So she prayed that I would have boldness and courage while doing this at school. She quoted Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid for the the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. I repeated this over and over in my head in the upcoming months. At school, I began to pray that all thirty-three of my frat brothers would give their lives to Christ. And one by one, they did! It was crazy-every couple days another guy would come to me and ask me to pray with him or tell me that he had already prayed. Praise God. How exciting it was for me to watch the transformation in my frat house. Once a place all about anything that didn't honor God now we were singing worship songs in our living room. God took over our house and there was no turning back. When we left for Christmas break everyone except Tim had become a Christian. During break, Aimee was house sitting and invited Tim over for dinner, by the end of the night he placed his faith in Christ as his Savior. Thirty-four frat brothers in less than six months. What a mighty God. Little did we know how perfect God's timing was in all of this. Twenty-seven days after Tim placed his faith in Christ, he was involved in a fatal automobile accident and went to be with Jesus. Before he died he had been consumed with the idea that his parents did not believe in Christ. At Tim's funeral, anyone who did not know Christ was invited to put their hope in the God that Tim loved. At his funeral, Tim's parents and fifteen of his high school football teammates decided to trust Christ and follow Him. I believe all of this happened because there were people in the 24-7 prayer room praying for the lost. I praise God for the church and their faithful obedience to God demonstrated through prayer. Thank you for praying for all of us. |