Prayer Overnight

Well, my time at Rockbridge was halfway what I expected, and then so much more. When they call it "Prayer Overnight", they mean over night haha. We got there about 2:30ish, and we got our stuff packed in, and all that good junk, then we headed over to the clubroom for one of the best times of worship I think I've ever been apart of.

I can't remember a lot of the songs that we sang, but I know that they all touched my heart in some way. The singer, I believe it may have been Cliff Wright, but I may be mistaken, was asking us to take our minds off of everything else. Asking us to take our minds off of school, girls, whatever our minds were locked on that took them away from God, and all His glory. Something then happened in me that has never happened before in my life. I am glad to say it was the best feeling ever.

This was the first time that I ever felt as if God was literally standing right beside me as we were singing these songs to Him. The very first time I actually felt like everything in the world was perfectly right, and that nothing was going to tear me down ever again. It felt as if God's love was so great that I would be crushed by it. My mind truly was off of everything else. My one and only focus was God, and His everlasting love. I have said Rockbridge felt like home before, but this time, it really did. I felt as if I was at home, with my brothers, my sisters, and my Father.

We sang like 5 songs, which was literally the best thing ever because I loved every single one, though I don't remember a lot of them now. The one song that is sticking in my head, because we probably sang it three times, is Be Thou My Vision. I learned that this song actually is formed to be a prayer. The first time we sang it, I, for the first time in my life, sang the song like a prayer, eyes closed and all. There was a great feeling welling up inside me, and I can't explain what it was, but even though we were fasting, I felt as if I had just gotten done binging at Golden Corral. I felt completely filled up. To me, this brought new meaning to the verses in the Bible when Jesus is talking to a woman at a well. He says, "Anyone who drinks from this well will thirst again. But he who drink from the water I give them, will never thirst again. In fact, it will be as if a spring of water was welling up inside them".

We started praying a few minutes later, just proclaiming to God how great He is, how awesome He is, and just everything that describes who He really is. Never before have I heard so many teenage believers proclaim the things I heard about God. These kids were truly in love with the Lord. We prayed for many different things. Confession of sins, asking forgiveness, giving to Him what is on our hearts, the whole nine yards. It was one of the best times.

One thing that was out of the ordinary was when we went to pray for a different area, and their YoungLife impact there. My first thought, "How do I pray for someone I don't know?" The answer came shortly thereafter. The answer to that question is, the same way you pray for someone you know. The only thing that changes is you don't know them. They're still your brothers and sisters in Christ. We also got to pray for specific schools, and people, and YoungLife there. This was great. We prayed for Lexington. I specifically got to pray for a guy named Mike, and Rockbridge High, Lylburn Middle, and Maury River Middle schools.

Then we went and we prayed for this kids that were going to Rockbridge for Summer camp. That every inch of that camp would just be a factor in changing their lives for eternity. This was great, because I don't even know anyone who is going to that camp in Summer, so I just prayed for about 10,000 kids that I don't know.

We also prayed for Justin and Libby Ryder. Libby for healing, for she has cancer, and we just want her to be healed by God's loving touch, and Justin and Libby, that God would continually bring them closer to Himself. This was great, because I had heard many stories about them, but never before had I ever seen them. Next thing I know, Justin is standing just 30 feet away asking us to pray for them.

Another person we prayed for was Liberty Fetzer's friend Cameron. She has the same disease that Hellen Keller did, though I haven't the slightest idea what that is called. It makes you go blind and deaf at the same time. Which, in the world, is one of the hardest handicaps to deal with if you ask me. I don't know from experience, but I'm imagining if I couldn't see or hear. Seems pretty hard, don't it?

There was also this segment where we looked to the people beside us, and prayed for them. First to the right, so I prayed for my great friend, Zackary ;). Then to the left, which was.......There was no one sitting to my left, so I turned around and prayed for this girl who was sitting behind me from Fredicksburg. I must say, after just one day, I have gone from zero to pro at praying for people I don't even know.

We also prayed for......Pretty much everything else under the sun. This total non-stop prayer was so great, I was really sad it had to end.

We then took a break. Zack and I went walking around, and talking about what our favorite part of the time was, what the most important thing in going into the battle against sin with our brothers and sisters is, and many other things. He and I both can say we've learned just how powerful prayer really is, and that it DOES work wonders in the world.

The next thing I can remember from this time at Rockbridge is hearing that even before everyone in the room gave their lives to Christ, someone was praying for them. Someone was praying for me. I was reminded of that right away. Adam, and Zack both had told me they were praying for me. I don't know how I possibly forgot that.

What's next? What's next? What's next? Praying for the schools, the students, and the faculty. We went through Yearbooks, and prayed for each, and every soul in them. Be that they would come to know Him, that they would keep running a million miles an hour after Him. Everything that we could think that would help the school. It was great.

After praying, and praying, and praying, and praying, we went back to the cabin to get some sleep if at all possible. Won't get into that though. Trust me, you don't wanna know....

Of course another great thing  was getting to see my freshman in college friends like Adam, Dan, Tim, Quentin, Kayla, Caroline, Landon, and Ashley. I loved getting to see them again, even though I pretty much see Landon all the time anyway haha. I love these guys and girls, and it's such a great blessing just to know them, and getting to go through life with them.

This is probably my favorite weekend since Work Crew, actually, no probably, it IS my favorite weekend since Work Crew I have learned so much from this one weekend, and I just feel more on fire for Christ than I have ever felt before. Can't wait to see where I go after this.

Here's to Christ


I love you guys
TJ

"Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. Naught be all else to me, Save that thou art. Thou my best thought by day or by night. Waking or sleeping thy presence, my light"