Wow. Just wow.
This was seriously one of the most spiritually-stretching things I have ever participated in! We were all gathered together at Ford Field to fast and pray for 24 hours for the city of Detroit and the United States. For 24 hours.
Now, I love Jesus. And I love prayer. I can fast. I can go without sleep for awhile. But I have never put all of those things together for 24 hours straight.
Basically, the three things I dislike a lot in life are: 1) being hungry and not being able to eat 2) being tired and not being able to sleep 3) being cold and not being able to do anything about it.
So there we were at Ford Field. Fasting. Praying for 24 hours. In Detroit in November.
So this was definitely not a fun little rally event. It was intense.
The longest worship service I can ever remember being at was three hours long. So after about four hours, I could feel myself tuning out. I went to sit down and observe, and the guy on the stage yells out, "come on people, get to your feet! We're gonna keep praising the Lord!"
It was at that point that I realized that I had never been in a situation where I had really pushed past myself to worship God. I had never been in an uncomfortable situation like that where everything in my physical body wanted to lay down and sleep, and I had to make the choice to turn my affection toward the one who is worthy.
It was a battle every 4 hours or so. You really don't realize how long 24 hours is until you try to do the same thing for that long... :)
But! The reward was so great!
A big focus in prayer was racial reconciliation. We had groups from the prominent ethnicities in Detroit leading in worship and prayer... Even native Americans! It was really awesome.
But the coolest part, and the most healing, was when the different leaders from those groups began asking the leaders of the other ethnicities for forgiveness on behalf of their race, for things that other races had suffered at the hands of their ancestors. So much openness and brokenness and humility!! It was the most awesome thing I have ever witnessed!! God's people walking through healing broken relationships and restoring unity in the Body of Christ. Walking out forgiveness and restoration like that in every level is the only way we are going to see revival in the United States. Those 3 or 4 hours alone were worth all the fasting and being cold and tired. :)
I have to admit though, that I wasn't able to fast for the whole time. Because I was drinking water without eating, I had to pee a lot. And if you've ever been to Ford Field, you know that from the ground floor to the bathrooms, there are at least 100 stairs. After the 12th time up and down, it was like 9am, and I almost passed out at the top of the stairs. So I ate a hotdog for breakfast :) And at one point before that, I woke up after an hour of sleeping, and the last thing I could remember was setting down my purse... :) but hey! I pushed myself, and God knows my heart :)
On top of all of this, we were sleeping at a church, and I was responsible for feeding 75 other people the day before the event. So the weekend, in its entirety, was quite a learning experience and a growth opportunity for me :)
And today, I am praising God for a day off! :)
Love!
Justine
Ready to head out for The Call! Jake, Seth and Me :)
Me and Jake, waiting for the whole group to make it past security
The Body of Christ, interceding for Detroit!
Getting tired and hungry...
You can't tell from this pic, but there's a huge group of people up around the stage worshipping together in the morning. :)
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