Seek Week

I've kind of been on a blogging hiatus..possibly because I fasted blogs for a week, and partially because I have been extremely busy :-)

This past week, ROCKHARBOR set aside a week to seek God. This week was different because all staff were asked to keep "normal working" to a minimum. The rest of the time we were freed to pray and seek God on behalf of ROCKHARBOR, our ministries, our families, and ourselves. The week was definitely a journey for me. It was hard to let go of the work. I was expecting it to be hard to break away, especially coming off a weekend with TONS of kiddos (269 preschoolers alone!), and it was! Monday and Tuesday, my attitude was awful, and I could hardly break past that to meet with God. Much to my suprise, many other staff members were having trouble entering in as well. I had an easier time at home than during the prayer gatherings at RH. Alex and I fasted TV, and I fasted blogs and Facebook...it was waaay harder than we thought. The time praying together as a couple was great, I was just not hearing very much on my own.

Wednesday was the day of my breakthrough. It was also the day that was devoted to praying for marriages and families. I turned a corner on this day and that was pretty awesome. The best part of the entire week was Wednesday night. Alex was feeling sick, as was I. We weren't sure if we were going to make it to the prayer gathering, but we mustered up enough energy to go. Before I walked in the building I was thinking that there would be a few families gathered in StudioK, but what I walked in to find was something completely different. There were families everywhere! Families with infants, toddlers, preschoolers, elementary aged kids, middle schoolers, and high schoolers. There were grandparents, and single people of all ages. I was literally stunned. We sat with some of our friends, and near a few families that we know. We worshipped collectively for a while, and it was a beautiful picture of the family of God. We (adults and kids) sang a Hillsong song that our elementary kiddos have hand motions for and there were all kinds of adults doing them too!

The best part of the night was when Michelle (our Family Pastor) came up and led a time of prayer. She walked the parents through a process for blessing their children. She empowered them to look each of their kids in the eyes, call them by name and say "Alex, your father loves you," and then proceed to bless their child, speak scripture over them or say anything they wanted to. She also invited anyone who wasn't a parent to join a family and pray alongside them. Alex and I stood with a family that we see every weekend, and it was so powerful to pray with them.When they were finished, they asked us to pray over their family. It was so touching, I can barely describe it. The night wrapped up with more prayer that was super powerful. It reminded me why I do what I do. Why family ministry is so important, and why I want to be a part of this.

All in all, it was a great week for the pavones (even though I had a minor coronary when I wanted to work but knew I shouldn't!).