A Confession:
One of my pastor friends always reminds intercessors not to get "derailed." Well, yesterday I got derailed. There was a local Tornado Warning (meaning that a tornado was either spotted or seen on radar.) The wonderful weatherman STRONGLY warned us of the DANGEROUS situation we were in. I started SPEAKING TO THE TORNADO that it MUST die, then I got on my knees and was PRAYING and INTERCEDING for all of us in the area. I was staying on track, as an intercessor, until the weatherman told us to go down to our basement to safety. I went down, and saw a HUGE number of ants (well HUGE to ME!), which TOTALLY distracted me from continuing to INTERCEDE! Because of my health and breathing problems, I did NOT want to spray because I had to STAY down there to ride out the possible tornado. I did spray, then I called my husband at work to complain about the ants. I went on and on and on about the ants and the horrible smell of the spray...UNTIL the Holy Spirit convicted me that I was being DISTRACTED from PRAYING and INTERCEDING for those in the path of the possible tornado...that was happening at that time! So, I got off the phone, and got on my knees. I asked for forgiveness, worshiped, and PRAYED and PRAYED. I PRAISE GOD that, although there was severe damage, there was "no confirmed tornado" and no lives taken! I am PRAISING GOD, but I am very upset at myself for allowing the enemy to derail me. The ants were just a distraction from the enemy to prevent me from praying, but PRAISE GOD, HE put me back on track!!!!!!!!!! HE IS A VERY GOOD GOD...and the VERY BEST INTERCESSOR!!!!!!!!!! And HE was even able to PROTECT us all...even during the time I was derailed! PRAISE HIM!!!!!! And...a side note...the ants are ALL GONE!!!!!!!!!! :)
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Anne--what you shared is very helpful, especially by being very candid in describing this distraction. Many of us face those type issues too, and we need to learn with God's help to stay focused on the immediate issue. Thanks for sharing this.