As I write our journal entry for this evening, the stats counter on our little blog tells me that we have reached 10,152 views since we started exactly two weeks ago. We are glad we started. It certainly has served the purpose of keeping a lot of folks updated in one place and consequently saved me a lot of time and repetition writing emails to individual friends and family.

I don’t know how many of the 10,152 views are individuals. And neither do I know how many are believers, forgiven, saved and trusting in the blood of Jesus Christ alone. But I have to tell you, we feel like we are being lifted up by 10,152 Christian prayer warriors. Almost every day we’ll meet Christians who will tell us: “We just want you to know that we are praying for you.” And each time we are able to confidently reply: “Thank you, we know!”

To all of those brothers and sisters in Jesus who are lifting us up and laying us before Him, we might never even have met in person, but we want to thank and encourage you by assuring you, God is listening and answering those prayers! Amidst the aches and pains and uncertainties and slower pace of each day, we continue to experience supernatural, ongoing inner peace and joy.

Today was a good day. We both had a very good night’s sleep and again, Annie was awake before me and a kiss on the cheek was my alarm clock!

We ran a few errands together in the city centre but Annie’s energy levels are very low and we just try to make sure we are never too far from a place to sit down. The aches and pains in her bones are also very apparent. It makes for a complete role reversal. Usually, when we go shopping or into the city, I am the distracted snail and Annie is the hare on a misson. So much so, that in the past, when Annie has needed me to fetch something from the grocery store, she not only writes me a list but also arms me with her mobile (cell) phone and has me call her when I get to the store so that she can remotely navigate me like an exocet missile through the aisles. Seriously, they are some of the moments of greatest mental clarity of my life! It’s like my brain’s OS system gets upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows XP (little humour for the techies!).

Our errands in the city would have ordinarily taken Annie about 30 minutes. We did it in about 90 minutes by which time Annie was waning and we headed back to the car so that I could take her to a reflexology appointment. I ran ahead to the car park only to find that I had left the lights on which consequently left us with a flat battery! Added to that problem, Annie had left her cell phone at home and we were in quite the 21st century pickle. While I sat there thinking “What would Bear Grylls do?” Annie said “Let’s pray about it.” A really good reminder to me that there is nothing in our lives that is too small or mundane for God to care for. We prayed and while the car did not suddenly begin working (I did try it!) I did have one of those rare moments of clarity of mind and found a nearby-by call box which swiftly lead to a dear brother in the Lord arriving quicker than the RAC or the AA (AAA to our US readers!) and having us jump started in no time!

And there was another lesson in prayer for me. God answered our prayers through His people. There were two sisters and a brother who were all involved in helping us out of our predicament so that Annie could make the appointment. They were God’s answer to our prayer. Some times we are God’s answer to our prayers for others. When we pray for the sick, or the needy, or the hungry, or the poor, or the afflicted are we prepared to personally, sacrificially, perhaps even financially, be used by God to deliver His blessing, to be His provision to those folks?

All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. – Acts 2:44,45

As for the rest of our day, I wish our blog had a blessings counter because they are getting far too numerous to count! We want to say a real sincere thank you to all of our brothers and sisters who were prepared to be God’s means of answered prayer in our lives today.

On the subject of prayer, following this journal entry, I will be taking advantage of the number of viewers by adding an urgent prayer need on behalf of a couple of dear friends of ours. Please pray for them.

[We] thank [our] God every time [we] remember you. – Philippians 1:3

R&A