When I thought He had left me......

I had one of the best experiences at church last Friday, an experience that I hope that I will never forget.

I'll start at the beginning....

Saturday we had a teen quiz scheduled about 2.5 hours away, so we decided just to have a sleepover at church so parents didn't have to come into town super early. There's only one boy in the team, my son, so he decided to sleep at home and come with his dad the next morning. So, I said I'd stay with the girls. Seven girls. Seven pre-teen and teen girls.

Well, they practiced for the quiz until about 10, then they played around for quite awhile. I was able to get some work done, so I just let them run around and play around until 11:45. I decided that I should go down to the teen room and tell them to start getting calmed down and ready for bed. My hope was to at least get 6 hours of sleep. My hope.

I opened the door to the teen room to witness all of the girls crying. Yep, who would figure? They seriously were just running through the halls screaming and acting crazy, now they are crying??? I was dumbfounded. I really didn't know what to do. One of them yells at me, "Get out, we are trying to bond." I shrug my shoulders, "Okay, you don't have to ask me twice," I'm perfectly fine in stepping out of this situation. (I am so uncomfortable around crying people, and I really hate crying myself!)

So, I walk out, down the long hallway, thinking......"How do I handle this? I'll just wait for a few minutes and go back down, then things will have calmed down." I went back to my office and just sat there, trying to figure out what to do, what do I say? I do have 2 daughters myself, so this shouldn't be that bad? Right?

Time drags on and before I know it it's past midnight. I decide enough time has passed and I need to get the girls to sleep, or they will be very cranky tomorrow. As I walk down the long hallway something in my head says, "Go pray with them at the altar." I shake my head, really not wanting to, but the thought was persistent. (I've learned enough over the past few months, that if a thought is persistent, as much as this one was, I better listen to it!)

So, I walk in the door, to all these faces that are crying their eyes out, and can hardly talk. Some are huddled together, some are crying on their own, some I can't even understand because they are crying so hard. Finally, my daughter says, "We decided we needed to bond, so we started telling things that we like about each other, then things just got out of control."

Okay, I'm really not an emotional person, at all! Well, most of the time. Trying to even get a word in edgewise with all this crying proved to be a difficult task. So with my teacher voice I said, "Hey! I have an idea, let's move this crying party to the altar and pray together." (Another one of my worst nightmares, praying in front of others!)

So, I finally convinced them. They followed me to the sanctuary and gathered around the altar with me. (Just so you all know, I think I've prayed in front of people just a few times, so this might be interesting.) They all look at me, waiting for further instructions. I told them that I would like everyone to share at least one thing that we could for them.

I started. Yep, someone who hates telling anything about themselves. I started. "I would like for you to pray for relationships in my life. They are a huge struggle of mine." (Yes, that's the shortened version.) "Ok, next."

"I am really struggling with the fact that my dad has abandoned me." (Punch in my gut! I might have started hyperventilating at this point. How was I going to console this girl? I mean I've been through that with my mom, I know exactly how she's feeling, but I haven't ever got over that, how can I console her? What is God thinking of putting me here with these girls. I CAN'T do this!)

Breathe. In. & Out. "Put your hand on the girl and just be here." says the voice in my head. Okay... I can do this.

A couple girls later, "I am so hurt, my dad's family doesn't want anything to do with me." Seriously, what is going on..... Why can't I deal with normal kids problems? "This is the 'normal' kids problems nowadays," says the thought in my head.

A few more girls go by with "normal" problems, "kids at school, attitude that I give my mother, future college plans." Whew, I can deal with those.

Now it's time to pray, now I am panicking. It's not like I can get out of this, after all it was my idea, well God's idea....

I asked the girls how they wanted to pray. One girl said she would start, I replied with, "Okay, I'll close it up then." Sigh....

She starts off, "Dear Lord, thank you so much for bringing these girls together and the friendships that we have formed, please keep us safe tomorrow......" I think I stopped listening so I could try to prepare the prayer I was going to do, I know she prayed for a couple of the other girls. After a couple of prayers from other girls and a repeat of first girl, it was my turn.

At that exact moment, I felt a sense of calmness, a sense of peace...I wasn't worried, I wasn't hyperventilating, I was just listening and being still. I had a picture of the girls in my head and went around the circle praying for each one of them. For once, it was more than just "Please be with _____ watch over______." It was a genuine, emotional, heartfelt prayer. A prayer that each girl in that room hopefully knew how much I loved them. The thing was in that moment, that moment of lifting our hearts to God, I felt love. Even as I type this I have tears in my eyes, because there's not many circumstances in my life that I have felt this type of love. A love so overwhelming it could only come from God. My hope was that each of the girls felt it too, I think they did by their reactions.  That night drew all of us closer together. I hope and pray that I will never forget that moment. That I will remember that night, and that God will provide more nights like that for me and for each of those girls. I pray that they will continue in the path that God chooses for them.

Please pray for teens that are close to you. They are going through so many problems right now that they shouldn't have to go through because of our broken world.

I pray that you have felt the type of love I felt that night. Let me know if I can pray for you. 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜