Stories from the prayer room

Miriam's story.

The night before I was set to pray, I got really sick. I had hoped to get a few hours of sleep in before I went over, but that just didn’t happen. I basically just watched the clock waiting for the alarm to go off. I went to the prayer room not expecting to really get much out of it because I was uncomfortable.

As I sat there reading my Bible and trying to pray, I just couldn’t focus. It was sort of discouraging. I put my head back to rest and just listen to what God might say. At the end of the hour, God didn’t say anything out right to me, it is more about what He showed me.

I got more out of that thirty minutes of just resting in Him then the several hours of attempted sleep. That night was God’s way of reminding me that sometimes it is best to just sit and rest silently in Him.

Christie's story.

In the week leading up to the 24/7 prayer week, I flat out was ignoring God and choosing to be apathetic. When I went to the kick off for 24/7 prayer week, I was reminded of God’s attributes. I decided to commit to praying everyday during the week.

The first day I started by jumping into reading my Bible and I just could not focus. So I took the time to ask for forgiveness and start fresh this week with God. But He totally met me where I was at. I read the Bible with more interest and enjoyment and learned a lot.

I was committed to coming to the prayer room but there was also the element of not wanting to let the person before my time slot have to stay later then they committed. Towards the end of the week I was asking myself, how I can make time everyday with God? How could I make myself committed to being with God each day without making an official commitment? God made His greatness truly known to me.

I realized how He is the only one of a kind and no one else is like Him. I am going to try and be more aware of God’s greatness everyday. I am going to set aside times each day during the week like I did in the prayer room in which I can spend time with God, so that I continue what I have started with God, a growing intimate relationship with the lover of my life.

Alida's story.

This 24/7 prayer week came at an amazing time for me. My best friend’s mother was diagnosed with incurable stomach cancer in May and went home to be with Her Savior on Wednesday evening. She left this world of pain and sorrow and was united with Jesus in a place where no pain or sorrow or cancer or tears exist.

In the midst of the pain and hurt attached to losing someone close to you having to watch people you love suffer, God is constant. In prayer I can crawl up into His lap and give Him all my fear and pain. I can intercede for and lift up my brothers and sisters who are dealing with this hugely difficult issue.

I remember walking into the prayer room on Tuesday night with my small-group Bible Study and feeling, almost as a wave as I walked in, the Holy Spirit leading me to pray for my best friend and her family. Jesus was telling me that they needed His comfort and peace that night and the best gift I could give them was to pray for them.

I’ve been struggling with how best to love her while she faces the magnitude of this issue, but God continually reminds me that the best way to love her is Himself. That there is little, if anything, I, on my own, can do; but He, in His awesome might is the only true source of peace and comfort for her, and the best thing I can do is continually lift her and her family up to His throne of grace.

I talked to her later on in the week and she told me that she and her family had been given a peace that passes all understanding and always felt like they were being held in His loving arms – exactly what I had been praying for! God is so good. All the time. Even in the midst of the darkest and hardest situations. He, and He Alone, is my Hope and my Peace and my Refuge!

This prayer room was my first as a member of the 24/7 prayer team. It was such an incredible blessing to be a part of what God is doing on campus. I had been praying for opportunities to serve and to be a leader and God definitely answered my prayer.

He has been developing in me a passion for prayer and for reaching our campus and the world through prayer and He continued to open my eyes to the powerful nature of prayer this past week. What an important and amazing privilege it is to have a personal, intimate relationship with the Lord of Lords and King of Kings and to be able to grow in constant communication with Him!

And, what’s so cool to see is that NAU is just a piece of the puzzle in the network of 24/7 prayer. We are united in purpose and heart with brothers and sisters around the world and can together testify that our God is living and active and working in our generation!!