Yesterday when I asked people to join in a fast and day of prayer tomorrow, I didn’t know how the response would be.  Clearly though, many of you are overcome with grief at the loss of innocent life.

Did you happen to read in the comments that Jessica’s little boy is waiting for her in an orphanage not far from where the stabbings in Henan Province took place?  It makes it so close to home for so many.

Thank you to those who have spoke up and are participating.  It was exciting to my soul to see that bloggy friends like Amanda had already felt the Lord leading her to fast on Tuesday and then a first-timer named Stephanie would be joining in as well.  Faithful God.

And lori, thank you for mentioning praising Him.  It’s true.  Scripture speaks over and over and over about the power of praise.

Here’s a story from my heart:

I remember a time, this past summer, when Ruby was appearing to be needing to head to the ER…she would not wake up for anything – and it had been all day long like that.    I felt though, that the Lord had whispered, “This is a spiritual battle, praise Me!”

I called Renee {my bloggy friend who oversees the Knee Team} and she prayed with me for Ruby.  Still Ruby remained sound asleep.  Even a cool bath didn’t wake her!

But I still felt it was spiritual.   Emma and Dw were actually in Africa…and so I was trying to figure it all out and still felt very strongly that the Lord said to just praise Him.

The kids and I had to drive to the other side of the city that particular day and so I explained to Jubilee, Isaiah, Elizabeth and Elijah the power of praise during times of warfare.  Then I asked them if they would join in praising Him with me?

Our van turned into a sanctuary of praise that day.  We sang loudly!  We prayed loudly!

Elizabeth was sitting next to Ruby and after about 20 minutes of direct and intentional and very purposed praise and worship together, Elizabeth shouted, “Mom, Ruby has ONE eye open!”  {This alone was miraculous!}

We were ecstatic!   I continued, “Keep praising with me!”  We sang, we prayed,  and I began to name the names of God, declaring His faithfulness…..another 10 minutes passed and Elizabeth and Isaiah shouted, “Ruby’s opened both eyes now!”

And by the time we had made the round trip to our home, Ruby was wide-awake and talking.

To this day, nothing will convince me otherwise but God moved in a mighty way because of the power of praise that day.

Now here’s an important question that some of you may be wondering:

Would it happen like this every time?

Quite honesty, I do not know.

But this I do know, that there have been times when the Lord has whispered, “this is warfare, praise Me”…and that was one of the times…and we did and He did and Ruby’s ‘sleepiness’ went away.

That day is forever etched in my mind….and so tomorrow, we will do {at lori’s wise suggestion} have two posts:  One with praises and one with requests.  They will post just after midnight East Coast time.

And lastly, I sincerely apologize for not being able to post the Memorial Box links last week.  There was a technical problem…Please Abigail, Stefani B, Susan A {who is currently enjoying her newlywed days} and Wendy would you be so kind as to repost your links on this one?  Thank you sweet friends  for being so patient.