Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Here In Your Presence...

From the back:
Ms Robin, Kyilee, Rashonica
Arbrianna, KeKe

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these."
~Matthew 19:14

Sunday night (3/8), Robin (my Urban LifeGroup co-leader) and I had a sleepover for 4 of the girls in our LifeGroup.

We picked them up around 4:30, came back to our house (since everyone was gone for the week). I started dinner (chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes w/ gravy, corn and mac and cheese) while Robin and the girls played tag in the backyard, and Spooky sat by my feet wondering what in the world was going on, and why we had been invaded! :D Lol

We ate dinner, then went outside. We gave Spooky a bath and brushed his teeth (Cause they really wanted to brush him, dry him off and play with him :) ), and played tag a while longer, blew some bubbles, and roasted marshmallows (with wire hangers and lighters...lol).

After all that, we came in, got into our pajamas, and settled in the living room to watch High School Musical 3. Robin had been feeling kind of out of it all afternoon, and said that she had been incredibly tired and drained all day long - she had even slept 14 hours straight from Saturday night to Sunday!!!

As the movie finished and we got up to begin preparing for bed, Robin grabbed my hand and asked me if I would please pray for her. Of course I said yes, and gathered the girls around her, explaining that we were going to pray for Ms Robin. They gathered close and laid their heads over on her. I began praying, and as I started praying, and asking the Spirit to fall, I felt His presence stronger than I ever have in my life up to this point! I was in the moment and the Spirit just took over, using me as a mouthpiece, praying out what needed to be prayed over Robin.Tears were flowing silently down my cheeks, and I could hear sniffles all around me, as the girls began to cry. Then Robin began to shake and cry, and God told me to sing. I couldn't pull the tune out of my head, and couldn't remember all the words to the verse, so I ran and grabbed my laptop and pulled it up on iTunes. (The words are below, and the song is the first one playing on the blog!)

Here In Your Presence
by New Life Worship

Found in Your hands, fullness of joy
Every fear suddenly wiped away
Here in Your presence

All of my gains now fade away
Every crown no longer on display
Here in Your presence

Heaven is trembling in awe of Your wonders
The kings and their kingdom are standing amazed

Here in Your presence, we are undone
Here in Your presence, Heaven and Earth become one
Here in Your presence, all things are new
Here in Your presence, everything bows before You

Wonderful
Beautiful
Glorious
Matchless in Every Way

As it began, I started to sing with it, then about halfway through, Robin joined in. And before it was over, the girls, who had never even heard it before, were singing as well!!! As the song finished, I'm muted the computer, said a final prayer of thanksgiving for all God had done, and then opened my eyes! What a sight to behold! :D Robin, looking as if a ten thousand pound weight had been lifted off her shoulders, eyes clear and glistening with her tears! And the girls! How beautiful! Tear lines down their faces, the neckline of their shirts wet with their tears, sitting in complete silence, having no idea what was happening, but touched so deeply by the Spirit, that they couldn't help but sit quietly under the weight of all that was happening! :)

We sat quietly for a few moments, and then Robin asked the girls if they had any idea what had just happened. They shook their heads, and so we began to explain that the Spirit had come all around us - not just in us, like He is all the time because we have accepted Him as our Savior, but He came all around us! They asked us what made us all cry, and so we explained to them that when the Spirit is working in you, you can't help but respond! And that was one way that your physical self responde to His working! :) It was awesome!!! The girls were asking questions, and we were able to explain, in depth, all that had happened! (At this point, it had been about an hour and fifteen minutes since we started praying for Robin!)

We answered all of their questions, and then I asked them if we (Robin and I) could pray over each one of them. They eagerly said yes (which totally shocked us! But it shouldn't have, because God is God, and He was ALL in that night!!!), and began to "call" which placement they would have in the prayer lineup! :) It was...Arbrianna, Rashonica, Kyilee and KeKe.

Here, nearly two weeks after it took place, I cannot remember every detail of every prayer that took place that night for those girls, but I can tell you God was in every single second of that night! We would wait on God, I would begin getting a picture for them as Robin would begin to pray. When Robin finished, I would paint the picture for them (with words) and then pray over them as well. It went that way through all four of the girls, with each picture and prayer being as different as the girls themselves! They, and we, sat in awe at how truly awesome our God is, and how he had given us things to pray over the girls that they had never even let us know - it was all from God! :)

All in all, we prayed almost 3 hours, and as we had started praying over the first girl, God had told me that we were to listen to Casting Crowns "I Know You're There" after all was said and done. So when we finished, I pulled it up, and googled the lyrics so they could read them. They read along the first time, begged for it to play a second time, and then the third, fourth and fifth times were singing along with everything they had in them! What a glorious melody!!! :D

After that, we were all a bit energized, and had to get calmed down before we could even think about going to sleep! :) The girls wanted to do our hair, and I wound up with mini-braids! :P Lol

Yay for the Spirit of God raining down all in us and around us! :)

Oooooh! He's good! :)