ElizabethStorytime!
I was at yet another campus community event, feeling completely immersed by the worship that was being sung. As I sang, I felt God compelling me to my knees. This was not an odd experience, as God has often led me to the floor of church or place of worship and prompted me to pray to Him. I think that prayer can be so much more powerful when it is surrounded by likeminded believers singing the praises of their Heavenly Father. On this particular day, I had made some heavy life decisions and was feeling a bit overwhelmed. I was doubting myself, doubting the path that I was on, and doubting if I had in fact made the right decisions. It was at that moment that I knew I needed to pray. I got on my knees in the middle of thousands of singing students and poured out my heart to God.
I told him about my anxieties and told Him what I was feeling. I then immediately felt led to start rebuking the devil for putting those thoughts into my head. Doubt and fear do not come from God, therefore, those feelings were only coming from a bad place. I started saying how God has my back, how He would never leave me, how He has never failed me, and so much more. The Holy Spirit just kept praying through me.
I found myself saying over and over again “You will never let me stumble lest my foot hit a stone.” And the more I said it, the more assured I got. I found myself thinking, even if I made a mistake, even if somehow I fail from the decisions that I made, He will never leave me in the pit. There is no hole too deep that He cannot pick me out of.
After this time with God, I slowly stood up, smiling and feeling as though I had won a small spiritual battle (by “I” I mean God of course 🙂 ). Mere seconds after I stood up, a friend of mine who was sitting behind me reached out and placed her hand on my shoulder. I turned around and she smiled at me. This might be wishful thinking, but I believe that that small gesture was God telling me “I, do, indeed, have your back. I will not let you stumble.” It was a little affirmation telling me that I had done some good just then.
The moral of the story is this: Listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, allow the Holy Spirit to move in your prayers, and pray in the presence of other believers when you can. God works in the most amazing of ways, but we have to be willing to bend to His whims.
