October 17, 2011 – Rachel Roussel

On Saturday, October 15, 2011, I prayer walked in the botanical gardens of Independence Park in Baton Rouge.  It was perfect day!  There were beautiful rose bushes and trees, and benches and winding paths of gravel, concrete and brick.  At first I felt the urge to rush and couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to check my watch or phone to see what time it was.  It was difficult to resist.  But I kept walking and looking and praying, and eventually the peace of the place and spending time in God’s presence settled over me.  It was freeing – it felt like a tiny vacation.  A time to stop hurrying, stop driving, stop running, stop worrying, stop being late, and stop being on a schedule.  Why do we run at the pace that we do?  It was a blessed relief to take an hour and sit in neutral, focusing on God and asking Him to move in the lives of the people of this city, and to flood the city with righteousness as the Holy Spirit was prompting.  To pray for state troopers and battered women’s shelter close by.  To pray for the safety of the children who play in the park.  And to pray that the ‘realness’ of God and His truth would prevail over the darkness of theology and religions that oppose Him.  As I sat on a ledge under a tree, I watched an older woman gardening with her gardening gear, in old gardening clothes and wearing a wide brim sun hat.  I wondered why more people didn’t take time to pray for our city and families.  A woman walked by me with a big dog on a leash and greeted the lady gardener.  And as the gardener would bend over, I would lose sight of her behind the bushes and then she would pop back up where I could see her again.  The Holy Spirit reminded me that He had people sowing prayers even if I couldn’t always see them.  And He had people interested in the effects of the prayer movement who were walking by to check it out like the lady with the dog, even if I didn’t realize it.  What an awesome day!  What an awesome and amazing gift it is to have 1 hour to rest from a hectic schedule and sit, walk or stand in the presence of our Holy God.