prayers of thanksgiving and peace

I hope all of you are enjoying a weekend of thanksgiving with loved ones! I missed being at home with family, but I spent a great Thanksgiving with my "family" here. We had school for half a day on Thursday, and then I feasted with many others at our preacher's house. It was a blessing to share a Thanksgiving meal with Americans, Rwandans, Ugandans, South Africans, and many other friends who had never experienced a Thanksgiving meal before! Everyone enjoyed the pumpkin pies, the Rwandan yam casserole, and even some "Southern" sweet tea! I wish I had pictures to share, but of course I forgot my camera.

There are just too many things I'm thankful for this year that I can't even begin to list them all.....but during this week, God has reminded me in His special way of all the things I have to be thankful for.

As I planned a short getaway at Lake Kivu in the northern province earlier this week, I anticipated a night of rest and peace by the lakeside, overlooking the volcanoes of the Congo just 5 minutes away. It's rare we have a day of school, and when we do, I like to enjoy the beauty of this spectacular country! But on Wednesday, the US Embassy held an emergency meeting and informed us that all travel to northern province was immediately restricted due to the M23 rebels in Congo actively fighting with the army, and gearing up to take over the border town of Goma in DRC. I visited Goma in 2010 when we climbed Mt. Nyiragongo, and couldn't imagine that now, the beautiful people of this town were enthroned in yet another war. There has been limited rebel activity in recent years in the DRC, but the last fighting was seen in 2003. Until now.

You can read more about the conflict in Congo here at CNN:

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/24/world/africa/congo-unrest/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

or here on BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20476677

It's easy to read about conflicts on the news...and feel so far away from them, and not know what or how to pray for them. But when it's in your backyard, it feels very different. While I am not in danger at all, and I have every reason to thank God for placing me in this peaceful country of Rwanda and away from harm...I know of others who are not as fortunate right now. We spent Thanksgiving lunch with missionaries and aid workers from DRC who fled the country to Kigali this week, and came with stories of chaos and unrest.

With conflicts brewing in Israel/Palestine, in Cairo, and DRC Congo, I can be thankful I am not there, but instead in Rwanda where peace is so present. But at the same time I feel so convicted to intercede for those in these conflicts. Prayer is such a POWERFUL weapon, and I think I'm just beginning to understand the wonderful mystery of it. I confess I don't pray often enough, and I'm learning every day what it means to be in continual prayer and continual conversation with my Creator, my Lord, my Daddy. :) I'm so thankful for His abounding Grace I soak up new each morning! He is Grace! He is Peace!

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." ~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

We are called to pray continually....wow! And give thanks in ALL circumstances! This verse is humbling to me, and a convicting call to action at the same time. Do I really give thanks in ALL circumstances? When I'm sick, when I'm lonely, when my students are driving me nuts, when I'm so exhausted I can't look at this computer screen any longer! Is my first reponse to thank God? Oh, the things He is teaching me! Every morning we wake up there is a world to thank Him for! Each new breath and moment of life! Each glass of clean water to drink, each smile we give and receive each day. All are opportunites to give thanks!   I just really feel like I have been given such a gift to live here in peace and comfort, and how will I respond to that gift? I ask myself this question a lot, and I want to listen to His voice calling, and be obedient each day.

Lately, I've been very convicted to continually pray for those who are less fortunate, pray for the weak, the widows, the orphans, those who are fleeing their homes right now and trekking across borders, those without clean water, food, shelter. What does it mean to continually pray? Maybe it means to talk to God with Him throughout our day. Maybe it means to be aware and open to all the opportunities he presents us with. Perhaps being in continual prayer means to continually be awakened to people and situations He brings to our hearts and our minds and lift them up in His name! Maybe it means to live a life where we love, give, and serve others before ourselves. Where we pray for a person right then and now, and not just safely and casually say, "I'm praying for you!" But do it then. Perhaps being in continual prayer means living our daily lives in response to God's call for us. How do we live out the gospel in our own neighborhoods? Be it in Kannapolis, DRC-Congo, Alaska, or Kigali? Maybe continual prayer doesn't just mean having the longest and quietest "quiet" times with God each morning over fresh coffee, but our prayer could mean what we do each day and how we respond to what God brings us each day.

Maybe I cannot meet all the physical needs of those in need, or go to the DRC-Congo right now or go to Palestine and give of my time and resources, but we can all pray and be awake to what He is calling us to do in our own neighborhoods. And we can all be intercessors and watchmen over these countries. I can also recognize that the things I take for granted so often....clean water, 3 or more meals a day, a warm bed, etc....these are things that many only hope for. Even in my community there are those in need of these simple items. I don't even have to look towards the conflict in the DRC. On this Thanksgiving weekend, I feel like God has challenged me to not just think about it, or dwell on these situations, or read all the CNN artitcles, but instead to fervently be an intercessor for these people. He is a BIG God and He answers all of our prayers! Prayer changes things!

Will you join and pray with me for these countries in conflict this week? And join with prayers of thanksgiving to Him that we are able to live in a peaceful nation where we aren't persecuted for our faith, ethnicity, or gender. We have so many blessings to count!

Gather me...

 

 

Oh God, gather me now to be with you as you are with me.

 

Soothe my tiredness;
quiet my fretfulness;
curb my aimlessness;
relieve my complusiveness;
let me be easy for a moment.

 

O Lord, release me
from the fears and guilts which grip me so tightly;
from the expectations and opinions which I so tightly grip,
that I may be open
to receiving what you give,
to risking something genuinely new,
to learning something refreshingly different.

 

Forgive me
for claiming so much for myself
that I leave no room for gratitude;
for confusing exercises in self-importance
with acceptance of self-worth;
for complaining so much of my burdens
that I become a burden;
for competing against others so insidiously
that I stifle celebrating them
and receiving your blessing through their gifts.

 

O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me.

 

Amen.

 

from Ted Loder, Guerillas of Grace