Divine Interruptions

 We pray a lot here on the island of Ibiza, and sometimes that means prayer walking. 

One of my favorites is the San Antonio prayer walk. We've been doing it since 2005 and no matter how many times I do it, it never gets old. Normally it's a prayer walk we do with short term missions teams. It's a great way to introduce them to the city and to kickstart their prayer journey while they're here. 

Since this is the first summer back post covid, we're not actually hosting any short term teams, which means the prayer walk isn't happening as frequently. So this past weekend, a few of us decided it was time to bring the San Antonio prayer walk back!

One of the things I love most about this prayer walk is the stories. There are so many stories and bits of history about the island that we share during the walk to help fuel people's prayers. Normally we stop at a significant location, share a story, and then we pray in pairs as we walk to the next location. As I was leading the prayer walk this past weekend, I noticed that something strange started to happen. It started when two of the girls who are volunteering this summer got stopped by a worker they knew. Not long after that one of the guys who comes into our centre sometimes stopped Stephen to chat. At another point in the walk some of the guys actually saw some people they'd met and prayed for in the west end the night before. 

All of the interruptions meant that in the end we ran out of time to finish the prayer walk. Later when I looked back on the day I realized that something beautiful has occurred. It would have been easy to say to all of those people "Sorry we can't chat right now, we're kind of busy."  But that wasn't the response. Instead, each member of the team took the time to invest in those relationships. 

The whole day reminded me that sometimes God interrupts our good intentions with even better ones!

The big question is --> How do we respond to those divine interruptions? 

I'll be honest and say that I don't always respond well.

It's shocking, I know! 

Sometimes those interruptions are met with my annoyance. Instead of seeing the opportunity that God is giving me, I focus instead on the fact that "My Plans" have been messed up.  My annoyance usually only lasts for a few minutes before I recognize what's going on. It wasn't long into our prayer walk that I started to sense that God was trying to teach us something. As I look back at the day now I can almost hear him saying...

Keep praying, but also make time for the people I put in your path. 

It feels like our obedience in those moments is another form of prayer! 

I'm still raising funds for my summer of missions in Spain. Click here to donate!