12th September

So today, as cautioned, my woodland walk was off limits due to excessive wind and the alternatives don’t really do it for me at the moment so I stayed in. I could have walked from home as I live in a nice ‘leafy’ suburb with open countryside barely a ten minute walk away. And the local park has it’s own ancient woodland a similar distance from my house. But there’s something about being where the Lord wants me to be, and that’s at Kedleston Hall walking around the woodland trail there. I can’t explain it any better than that, as the walk is very repetitive after visiting almost every day for a couple of months. But it’s never boring… I love it.

I did make it to the 7am church prayer meeting this morning and it was great. I only managed a couple of days last week before succumbing to a mixture of exhaustion and grief. The church only programmed this as a single week of prayer, though they were intending to add a regular early Wednesday morning meeting to the other normal weekly prayer events. But it seems to have become rather exciting, so we’re going for a second week and see what happens then. I love corporate prayer meetings as the spiritual dynamic is so encouraging and I long for a breakthrough in prayer, as a local church, so that the presence of God would move amongst us without hindrance. Over the years I’ve visited all manner of churches where the presence of God is manifest in a special way, and I’m convinced it’s the foundation of prayer that releases the Lord to touch our lives with his mercy and grace. One special meeting I enjoyed was at Times Square Church in New York and although the worship was very different culturally, I was really challenged by observing and participating in the extended open prayer time before the meeting. The resultant service was amazing and powerfully blessed with the presence of the Lord. And at a number of other church meetings in the UK I’ve witnessed exactly the same result from prayer… it works. I don’t know why I don’t do more of it.

And now I’m thinking about where the Lord wants me to be… step by step day by day. My whole future is like an empty book and I need to start writing some new pages. Every dream, every hope I’ve ever had included Jane by my side, supporting and encouraging me. I reckon now is the time to begin to grow in my ability to hear God for myself and I have to trust him more than ever before.

Isaiah 30:21 ‘Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (NIV)