From 10pm on Sunday night until 10pm on Monday night, groups of students went to the pool room in two-hour shifts for 24 hours of prayer. Throughout the week, there was a "Goblet of Prayer" where we could put prayer requests. It was full of small white squares with prayers from fellow students and leaders.
My room had a morning slot from 8-10 on Monday. We sat down, opened in prayer, and went around the circle drawing requests out and praying for them out loud, then the added requests on the board, then over the praises people wrote down on the board across the room.
My roommate and I loved it so much, that we stayed for the following shift with three other students.
The four hours seriously felt like 30 minutes. And it was the most humbling thing that we have done here at GAP so far. I'm not speaking just for myself when I say I felt extremely convicted of how little I've cared about all the things going on in people's lives. I didn't know about the vast majority of the prayer requests. Some of them were small and others were heart-wrenching. Finding out about the things people here are struggling with was so hard to learn from a slip of paper. And I could have known about it all if I just asked people how they were doing.
I realized one of the biggest things I take for granted here is everyone's openness and vulnerability with each other. No one would hesitate to share their prayer requests if we just asked. But most of us don't.
Someone put Acts 4:31 in the bucket, and so far everyone I've talked to about the Battle Cry was moved by it.
"After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of god boldly."
God revealed the power of prayer to me and the other students through this verse and the 24 hours of prayer. One of my friends described everyone leaving the pool room after their shift like Moses coming down the mountain with a glowing face. It was the most moving thing that I've done since I've been here.
The joy in the Villa yesterday was so AMAZING! I pray that we all keep this compassion and genuine concern for each other as we approach next May, and also when we go home after GAP ends.
