Moments of Clarity

The city is a busy place and it is easy to get caught up in the speed of traffic or the length of a food line. Then God, in His awesome timing, brings moments of clarity to remind us to stop and know that He is God and that He is good.
Today was one of those days. It was the first full day of serving with a brand new group. I was excited for what God was going to do. He put a little fire under me this morning and then showed up in awesome ways! This whole day was leading up to the prayer tour and God blessed my group with two really neat moments that helped prepare them.

Moment Number 1:
Joe.
Joe goes to Adult Day Services which is a day center for senior citizens to come and have a safe place to socialize during the day. Our group was hanging out with everyone and pretending like we were musicians as we led a song time. Joe came and sat at my table. He showered me with spit as he told me all sorts of stories that I could only half understand. His words get lost in his mouth and you just can’t understand most of what he says. He tells crazy stories and carries a bag with 9 hand lotions, 11 harmonicas, 6 writing tablets, and 8 packs of gum in it everywhere he goes. He is a little gruff. But every week we bring a group he always wants to pray for them before they leave.
And in the moment that Joe opens his mouth to pray, you can understand every word he says. God blesses us through the prayers of others. He blessed my group today as He showed us His presence through Joe’s moment of clear speech.

Moment Number Two:
My group was circled in a parking lot getting ready to start the prayer tour. The youth in my group were a little hesitant about spending an hour and a half in a prayerful mindset and being asked to pray out loud. So we were praying and I heard a car pull up behind us. As we closed the prayer I turned and saw a lady getting out of her car. She had pulled in just because she saw us praying and said “When I see people praying and holding hands I just have to get some of that love”. She was sad because she had missed it so we invited her over to join our circle and pray some more. Her name was Brenda and she was in town for a conference.

In that moment my group got a clear glimpse of how prayer can affect people. They also got to see what it looked like to yearn for prayer and to love it and our God so much that they desire it.
Colossians 4:2 tells us to “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
We got to see what that looked like today. Two little moments brought clarity to our group to be watchful and persistent in our prayer while being thankful for the blessings and prayers God is doing!
What will your moment of clarity teach you?

-Jody Glazner, CSM Nashville Summer 2009 City Host