Trey's Story

I feel like sometimes God plays a little game with me.  I feel like he works in patterns or repeated stories- just to see if I’m paying attention.  For example, every Sunday morning my mom sends us kids a text sharing how she is praying for us or a scripture to encourage or challenge us.  This morning she talked about how we can’t have any do-overs with our words.  She quoted James 1:19 and challenged us to be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.  Fast forward 10 hours- I’m sitting in church and the pastor is speaking on the power of the tongue.  What passage does he tell us to turn to first?  James 1:19.  Well played, God.  Well played.  I see what you are doing.  I’ll listen intently because I know that there is something you have for me.

One other example of how God has used repeated stories or patterns in my life comes from April 2011.  I was reading an AMAZING book called The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson.  The book is about praying circles around the promises God has given us.  I started reading this book about the time when Hubs and I decided to expand our family.  One of the examples that Batterson uses is Jericho.  He explains that God had promised Jericho to the Israelites.  The Israelites at the time were led by Joshua.  Joshua had the wisdom to follow God’s direction in how to conquer the land.  He knew he didn’t have to go in with his military might.  He believed in the promise God had given them- He would deliver Jericho into their hands.  Therefore, he obeyed God in circling the city, in silent prayer.  Then on the 7^th day of circling, they were instructed by God to give a mighty war cry, play their instruments and the walls came tumbling down.

As I was reading this fantastic book, I was reading through the Old Testament during my quiet time.  What passage was I on?  Joshua 6- Jericho.  Again, well played, God.  Well played.  I see what you are doing.  I’ll listen intently because I know that there is something you have for me.

The Circle Maker is all about making prayer active. Praying boldly and specifically because God honors bold prayers.  So I decided to follow Joshua’s lead.  I decided to do a prayer walk around my house, the house that I hoped would someday hear the pitter patter of little feet.  I walked around our house once a day for 6 days and 7 times on the seventh day.  I used scripture and my Life Application Study Bible’s commentary to guide my prayers each day.  I prayed over my fears and anxieties, the names we had already picked out, etc.  It was a beautiful experience.  I want to share a few things that God revealed to me as I walked with him that week.

Day 3: In the commentary (Life Application Study Bible, pg 321) it talked about how Jericho had 25 ft high walls and 20 ft thick walls.  “The Canaanites considered God as a nature God because he parted the Jordan and a war God because he defeated Shon and Og.  But they did not considered him a fortress God- one who could prevail against a walled city.” I asked myself, did I consider God a fortress God?  Do I believe he is able to conquer the fortresses in my life?  I KNOW he CAN defeat the fortress of infertility in our family but do I TRUST and BELIEVE He will conquer that fortress?  Today I prayed about God taking down our fortress of infertility.  Infertility has been around a long time in our family, just like the walls of Jericho were there a long time.  I prayed that God will be my fortress God. 

                2 Samuel 22:2 “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer”.

Psalm 31:3 “Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name, lead me and guide me.”

Psalm 59:16 “But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.”

 

Day 5: Today I focused on the horns the priests played.  In the commentary (Life Application Study Bible, pg 322) it talked about how the horns they played were the same horns they played at religious festivals.  They were used as reminders that their victory would come from the Lord, not their military might. My prayer was focused on asking God to keep my focus on Him in the journey.  This battle is His, not mine. 

Day 7:  Last day!  Today I circled the house 7 times- 6 in prayer and last round was in worship.  When I read Joshua 6 today, the commentary (Life Application Study Bible, pg 322) talked about how God commanded them to destroy all the plunder- except what was left for the tabernacle (gold, silver, bronze, and iron).  He told them to do that in order to keep them pure. “He wants us to clean up our behavior when we begin a new life with Him”.  I feel like that is what this whole process was for.  I serve the Fortress God who can break down any wall.  He will break down the wall of infertility.  But first he had to identify the plunder in my life.  I had to identify what needed to be destroyed once the walls came down…. I finished my journal entry with “The walls of infertility are down, the plunder destroyed.  This is it!”

 

A few weeks later, a pregnancy test revealed that I was, indeed, pregnant.  That day in my quiet time I read Joshua 23.  It was Joshua’s farewell to Israel.  It talked about Joshua dying and I literally wept.  I don’t know if it was the pregnancy hormones or that I felt like I had just gone through this amazing experience with Joshua.  I felt connected to him somehow.  I truly feel like I grieved his death.  However, in the midst of my grief, God gave me these verses from his farewell in chapter 23:

Vs. 3-4 says “The Lord your God has fought for you against your enemies.  I have allotted to you as your home land all the land of the nations yet unconquered, as well as the land of those we have already conquered.”

Vs 10 says “each one of you will put to flight a thousand of the enemy, for your God fights for you, just as He promised.”

Vs. 14 says “Deep in your hearts you know that every promise of the Lord your God has come true.  Not a single one has failed.”

 

I am so glad that I listened to His whisper.  I am so glad that I had the wisdom to pay attention to the patterns and repeated stories God shows me.  I have a beautiful, incredible son named Trey because of a whisper, a pattern, and the example of a man named Joshua.