"If you want big things, pay a big price"

Someone once challenged me with this phrase, talking about our work and relating the price to prayer. Many times we focus on the work and we go go go and we forget to stop and ask God if that is really what He wants, if it is really in His plan, if it is really what He has called us to do. God is in the details, for each encounter we have, each visit to the slums, to the prisons, to the streets, we need to seek God's direction. We need to go 'out' emptied of who we are and filled only by Him. This is what makes the difference. 

This boy is nearly finished his prison sentence and is seeking God

Chatting with Raquel, 7 months pregnant

On the streets

So, with this phrase in mind we are changing our weekly schedule to focus on prayer. But we needed a special place to do this! I had felt on my heart that we needed a space in the house focused on prayer... what many call 'A Prayer Room.' The Restoration House is a large house with many rooms, so in January we started to plan. We received a huge donation for this project which we are soooo thankful for, without it the room would not have been half of what it is today. 

We got to work, painting, decorating, making furniture and buying curtains etc. Turning an old bedroom into a beautiful prayer room. This room is now used each morning for intercession, every Monday for prayer and seeking God for the week, groups prayer times, when the boys are with us, and individually also. It is a BLESSING to have such a room to focus, to pray, to seek etc.

                 

  

"Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that God can heal you. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." James 5:16

In our times together in the prayer room we have seen fruits in our personal lives and our relationships together as a team as we confess our sins to one another, as we seek to be righteous together and as we share our weaknesses and struggles. This has created unity in our team (although of only 3 people), a strong and united team so when we 'go out' we are 'together.' This has made such a difference in how we relate to each other and how we approach the ones we work with. . YWAM's theme is "To know God and make Him known." The first focus is our relationship with Him, and only when we are 'walking well' with Him will we be effective to be used by him, be able to 'make him known.' 

So that's our focus, to spend more time seeking. And as we see the fruit of this in ourselves and our team, we wait to see what else God will do. We are excited to know that as we seek His heart we will see 'big things!'