Cold January!

January's always a cold and depressing month. Its so easy to get down about work and money but as I scroll through my E-mails I missed due to the Christmas break I came across this one, So inspiring that I'm now sitting hear in tears of happyness... It was from Carla, one of my best friends and defiantly an inspiration to me.

It's an artical she wrote for people within 24-7Prayer the charity that I work for.... & this is why...

Its so amazing please read it :)

Prayer is often intangible. It's hard to explain without jargon or discussion.  So, when friends ask me why I’m part of the 24-7 Prayer movement, I often turn to the stories I’ve heard to explain the profound gift and transformation of time spent with God.  I’m blessed with hearing about these encounters first hand from the men and woman around the world praying 24-7.  To encourage you at this time of year I thought I’d share just a few of my favourites from 2007.  Make yourself comfortable, grab a beverage of your choice and read on for a mixture of prayers and reports from around the globe...

"A lady walked into our hall at the same time one of our small group was meeting for prayer in the Prayer Room.  She wandered across from a domestic violence refuge house in our street.  The small group embraced this very sad and broken women and spent their time in the prayer room praying for and ministering to her.  I walked into the hall as they were leaving and was introduced to the lady.  The small group leader said to me, "she came in with a broken heart and met Jesus".  The lady is returning on Friday to spend more time in the Prayer Room.”
Australia

“In August I was hanging out with [a friend] when she told me she had to leave for her “appointment with God” [in the 24-7 Prayer Room]. Something inside me was curious, so when she invited me to come along I did. During our hour, I accepted Christ. And I cannot tell you how life changing the experience has been for me.”
USA

“Last time [we prayed] the presence of God was so intense that I almost couldn't keep away from the Prayer room”
Finland

“We are into day 2 and the presence of God is so strong already!”
Russia

“We had a baptism service planned for tonight, with 6 people being baptised. Their testimonies were incredible... at the end, our pastor (the new associate pastor we appointed in the 24-7 Prayer Room last year!) did something we have never done before... he invited anyone else who would like to be baptised to come forward!  We ended up with another 4 baptisms! 10 in total!  What a way to round off an incredible week [of 24-7 Prayer]!”
UK

“I have seen the Lord again in this quiet place, yet I dare not look on His face.  I feel his arms and love surround me and wonder again at His perfect grace”. 
Australia

“A guy from Southern Finland (approximately 500 km away) had found our Prayer Room details from the internet. He was really exited about the 24-7 movement as he was reading Red Moon Rising and decided it was worth his while to travel all the way to Oulu, just to spend a few hours in the room. As you know, God has a perfect timing. This chap arrived at the prayer room to cover for one hour where the pray-er had not turned up. Talk about coincidence”
Finland

“I just wanted to let you know what an inspiration 24-7 has been and St James' Church Singapore are raring to start praying non-stop for the first time this Sunday!"
Singapore

“I have a hard time putting into words the emotions that overcame me at that moment we entered the prayer room. At that point, I didn't believe in Jesus or God or much of anything, but I was rocked to the point of no longer being able to stand on my own two feet. I simply had to sit down… I was overcome with emotions. I sat there shaking with tears that I desperately tried to hide, I FELT something but could not, until now, put it into words. I FELT God. I simply felt HIS presence and was shocked. I was here on business, not for God. I thought I had given up on God.”
USA

“Eino is 56 and has had problems with his back.  He had to take strong painkillers and found moving around, even walking really hard. [Before our 24-7] he had an appointment scheduled for surgery… [In] the 24-7 prayer room he was prayed for and God healed him!”
Finland

“I can now say that the 24-7 Prayer Room is a part of our church.  We have people of all ages coming to our Prayer Rooms. From only a few months old, our teenagers and youth to [people in their] 70s and more.”
Portugal

"Tonight I have seen your face." 
Australia

“After one of the last prayer times, we had a time of evangelism, and a couple in their 80s became Christians - he is blind, they're totally illiterate and very poor.  They immediately volunteered to pray but we weren't sure they'd know what to do, so I kept checking up on them.  Every time we went to see, we could hear them praying loudly… for the whole hour.”
Brazil

“What we saw of the drawings on the wall, and the writings on the share book, the words most frequently used words were ‘Love’ and ‘Father’. Some people wrote about how they had forgotten how good it is to just stay still in His presence: alone with Him, no distractions, no nothing... Even if it were for just that one person to come closer to God again, it was already worthwhile.”
Portugal

“The prayer week is going great!!!!!  The church building is unrecognisable and so is the atmosphere.”
UK

“The presence and glory has increased every week. We are experiencing an opening of the heavens over Armavir that even people who don't come to the prayer room are noticing.”
A group in the middle of three months of 24-7 in Russia

“We found out there was a new age fair in Oulu the same weekend as our 24-2… When one of my friends called the exhibition organiser she said that someone had just cancelled a fair stand in a central location… From the testimonies I heard, God has really been doing some great stuff. People got saved and lots of New Testaments were given out. There was also a worship dance group performing on stage. For next year the organisers were enquiring whether there could be some Christian lecturing about marriage, love and relationships. This would be alongside the lecture on astrology”
Finland

"God is such an amazing God. I'm so glad that I came [to the 24-7 Prayer Room] last year.  Every prayer I prayed except one came to be. I couldn't be happier.”
Australia

“The week is going ok! In fact really ok! Many of our youths have been saved, and I know that God is working every day, night, every hour so more people can meet him.”
Norway

“The Prayer room has just started, and there are already so many things to say and my English just isn't good enough to put them into words…  The presence of God was absolutely magnificent. So powerful, yet so sweet… Prayers were answered, small things to our human minds, but incredibly powerful when we think of the transformation in people’s lives.”
Portugal

"To God your mighty powerful God you are wonderful.  I love you so so so much you are the best in the whole wide world." 
from a 7 year old - quoted as written, Australia

“Our 24-7 went really well. We had a lot of youth signing up this time and some of them went for two hour slots and enjoyed Jesus in a new way!”
China

“I received a call from my sister who was due to give birth a month later. She was on her way to the hospital after leaving her doctor's appointment. Her baby was very sick and they were inducing labor immediately… [A friend] called her church and put my sister and the baby on a prayer list. My grandmother did the same and so did many others.
My sister delivered a healthy, beautiful baby girl to the amazement of all the doctors working on her case. While my family continued to talk of the ignorance of all things medical I once again was rocked to my very soul. I KNEW that I had just witnessed a miracle beyond the one of life. I knew that my niece was healed through the power of prayer and I was instantly (and to my own shock) a believer in Jesus Christ.”
USA

“We had a couple of teenage lads who we know from our community youth club come in and do our walk through Easter, when it came to writing names of people they wanted to see become Christians they put themselves down!  They also added prayers for their family and for God to have more to do in our area.  Really shocked and surprised me as these lads are often 2 of our worst behaved and least likely to talk about God, this seems to maybe be a catalyst for them.”
UK

"It's amazing how close God is in my prayer. He answered my prayer before I began. Thank you God."
Australia

“Comments like "2 hours just is too short time to spend in the room" keep popping up more and more. Also a wonderful pair of ladies who have known Jesus for a long time reported a very special encounter in the prayer room. One of the ladies said that she doesn't remember such a presence of God and apparently there were angels present.”
Finland

"The thing that's really been encouraging for me is kids today, they love Jesus, but they're really under-whelmed by the church. It's been amazing to watch them come alive with 24-7”
USA

“On Sunday morning an aboriginal lady with 3 children turned up after the morning service wanting to meet with God.  They returned in the evening to our first Sunday night prayer service and she shared with the group that she dreamed of a light that led her to our church.  God is doing awesome things in this place!!"
Australia

“I live in a "frat" house. And while in the prayer room, I couldn't get my frat brothers off my mind…. At school, I began to pray that all thirty-three of my frat brothers would give their lives to Christ. And one by one, they did! It was a little bit crazy. Every couple days another guy would come to me and ask me to pray with him or tell me that he had already prayed. Praise God. How exciting it was for me to watch the transformation in my frat house. Once a place all about anything that didn't honor God, now we were singing worship songs in our living room. God took over our house and there was no turning back.”
USA

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[smiles]

Please can you post again! It's been awhile! Maybe something about me or the dog! he he he Thanks very much.x