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Prayer Meeting


 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.  Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.  Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. (James 5:16-18)

Yesterday morning, I got an answer to prayer. I even got warning that it was on its way, but of course, I didn’t really recognize it as such. Someone (whose name happens to be Karen – a different Karen) posted on a  local Face Book page that there was going to be a prayer meeting in a specific parking lot, at 9:30. I thought, “I should go” and I put it on my calendar, but Saturday morning, it was one of those “Oh, this” and “Oh, that” things. Finally, with just enough time to get there, I got my rear in gear and got out of here. 
There were six of us, and some of  us knew people who attended some else’s church, but I don’t think anyone knew anyone. We wore masks. We stood at least six feet apart, and we prayed for about 30 minutes. We prayed about our nation and our city, about our leaders, about the challenges we’re facing. We prayed about the locusts in East Africa, and for ourselves. 
It’s not that I couldn’t have prayed at home. I do. And if you have a family that can come together to pray, that’s different. I’m glad to be on my own, but there are drawbacks. There’s something about two, three, or more coming together and praying. They could have met in a church parking lot, and then chances are good that only people who go to that church would have gone. But because it was neutral territory, people showed up who might not have otherwise. I hope the other women got the same com-forting (with strength-ing) that I did.

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