Where has all the excitement gone??

In October of 2008, Tyler was reading a book called Red Moon Rising about the power of constant prayer. Through this book God laid it on his heart to start a 24 hour house of prayer here in Bowling Green, and that is exactly what he set out to do... over a year ago. He and I met through this prayer room. I found out about it and thought it was such a cool idea. Then on February 1, 2009, I called Tyler at midnight after he had gone to bed and told him that some friends of mine needed to come and pray. We stayed there that night until 4:00am. God moved so mightily in us that night that we came back every single night for a week! We were sleep deprived, yes, but we were also on fire for Christ. We were walking around campus with a boldness that I had never before experienced. We were seeing and speaking to others on campus through Christ's eyes and lips. It was truly the most incredible week that I have experiened. (Other amazing things happened that week, like meeting the man of my dreams and choosing to follow my heart and accept the beautiful gift that God gave me in this man to marry! ...But that's a different story...)
So for a while people still came. We met every Friday night as a group and sang songs and prayed together. We introduced new people to the prayer room and the excitement sustained us for a while. But then summer break came. And somehow, in the distraction of sunshine and no classes, we each forgot how much we needed to be in God's presence constantly. We forgot the importance of setting aside a special time to kneel at the foot of the cross. We forgot how alive we felt then and got caught up in the busyness of life and got used to the emptiness that came with it.
Now, this is troubling to me. There are many exciting things that God is doing in our lives right now. We seem to be in a season of change...on the brink of something truly awe-inspiring that God has been waiting to show us. In June we are traveling with a team of 25 from, I think, 7 different churches around our area to three different cities in Zimbabwe. In preparation for this mission trip, God is putting things together like you wouldn't believe! He is showing us connection after connection to people and organizations that are already going to Zimbabwe and helping them in some way, and all we have to do is put these connections together! But in all this excitement for Zimbabwe, I pray that we don't forget to come to the Lord in constant prayer and devotion. I pray that we don't forget about the people here that are still trying to be excited about the 24 hour house of prayer.
This was my plea and my frustration as I cried out to the Lord last night in the prayer room. And He told me to wait. Waiting is not my strongest attribute. But something Tyler said in prayer a couple nights ago was this: "We are not waiting for provisions or resources to do what God has called us to. We are simply waiting for His timing." If it is God's will that excitement for the prayer room explode tomorrow and so many people come that the rooms are overflowing, then it will happen tomorrow. He will tug on the hearts tomorrow if that is His will.
So this is my resolve: Tyler and I will continue to keep the prayer room open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:30-10:00pm, will pray that more can come and donate their time to keeping the prayer room open on different nights, and we will wait! We'll talk to people, and then we'll prayerfully wait.

Tyler and I have only been married since October 3, 2009, but there is already so much we have struggled through and overcome by the power of Christ. We are creating this blog together so that we can share some of our experiences with you so that we can encourage you but then perhaps also be encouraged ourselves by what you have to say in response! There are just so many things that the Lord has been teaching us that I have to share them with everyone that will listen. Marriage is truly an amazing gift, but it's also a constant battle. And so, I really hope that you all will come and follow our blog so that we can join together in the trials and the triumphs of this journey called wedded bliss.

I'm very excited about this... I hope you enjoy it!

Kati (Coates) Ayers