Prayer Room

~ as I have mentioned in previous posts, 2013 was a bumpy year for me, for a variety of reasons.  one of those bumps along the way, happened in my marriage.  2014 is going to be our 25th anniversary, but at one point it seemed like we might not make it.  after much prayer and frustration, this past october, my husband and i separated.  we never intended for it to be permanent, but hoped it would be a time where we could work on our issues personally, and also as a couple.  in the end, we were separated for 40 days in october/november (that in itself is another post yet to come) but they were the best and some of the most difficult days of my life.  it was a time where we both grew, and our children grew.  it's not that we didn't see each other, because in reality, we did see each other most days, but it was a time to be separate and look through each of our own lives and reassess where we were at. . . what changes needed to be made. . . what changes we wanted to see in our own life, but also in our marriage.  it was a time that, as difficult as it was, i wouldn't trade for anything
~ while K was gone, he stayed with a couple of angels.  i say angels because i truly believe they were god sent!  he was my husband's boss and long before we were even separated, god had started working in their lives.  his boss was being challenged to carry out his faith deeper into the workplace and had even felt god calling him to give up their own comforts at home to minister to others.  they didn't know at that time that that meant taking my husband in for a month, but god had set their hearts in motion so that when K needed a place to stay, they were prepared.
~ they were truly god sent.  they ministered to my husband like i don't think anyone else could have.  god had prepared their hearts to meet the need of K's heart.  one of the biggest impacts that their home had on K was the focus on prayer.  the moment K walked into their home, he was prayed over by them.  they also had a prayer room that they allowed K to use as well.  that was a life changer.  K spent hours and hours in the prayer room reading, praying and just being still and spending time with god.  when he would come home to visit, i could see the power that spending that time closed off alone with god was having on K.  it was incredible. it was as though he would walk into the holy of holies when he walked into that room.  it just felt that god was right there. as he shared with me how valuable that space was to him, we started to talk about how we could incorporate this concept into our home.
~ i will admit, at first i was skeptical about the value of it.  but, it was something that i could easily provide for him, and if that grew him to become more of a godly father and husband, it was an easy fix.  the only spare space we had was our spare room, which also doubled as my office and scrap booking room.  we had a single bed in there, which was generally used for one of our kids since my daughter had a double bed in her room, and so guests stayed there.  we decided that we could do without the single bed, so we brought up two rockers, purchased a wonderful bookcase from Ikea and took all our books out of storage and put them on the shelves - ready to be read.  one of the things that impacted K was that in his boss's prayer room, they had soft praise music playing continually.  so i took one of our old iPods and downloaded several soft praise & worship albums and keep it playing day and night.  i also purchased a vinyl wall decal with a scripture verse on it. it (or others) can be purchased here.  http://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/152302618/custom-order-for-sallieu-psalm-4610-be?ref=shop_home_active     i still had to keep part of it as my office, but for the most part, it is our new prayer room.  what a blessing it has been.  i have even woken up in the morning to find my 9 year old in it reading his bible.  talk about blessing a mother's heart!!! WOW!
~ it is amazing to be able to walk into this room and hear hymns and worship songs playing continuously.  even when i am working on piano stuff the music fills my thoughts and directs my thoughts to worship.  it is such an amazing space.  i never thought that a simple room could help me focus on god and what he is teaching/telling me, as what this room has done.  and we all know that if the door is closed it means do not disturb because someone is spending their time with god.  it has also been a wonderful space to become quiet and read the many books we have accumulated over the years with the intention of reading, but never did.
~ so i thought i would share my space with you and encourage you to see if this is something that might benefit you.  in this day of age, where we all are so busy hurrying to everything and everywhere, this room has become a place of quiet and solace.  a place to come before god and be still.  you might not have a room to devote to this.  maybe it's a corner in your living room or bedroom.  i really encourage you to carve out a space that allows you to meet god there.  i know we can meet god wherever we are, but it has really felt like this room allows me to shut out all the busyness of life and make time to meet with god.  it has truly been a blessing to me.
~ enjoy a peek into our prayer room.