Right, so I've been trying to figure out how to balance something out. As I think I mentioned in one of my earliest posts, part of the personal reason for this trip of mine is as a kind of "prayer pilgrimage", being able to pray for the places I visit and, hopefully, hear a bit about God's view on the spiritual side of places I visit.
In the same way that I believe individual people have a spirit which encompasses the "heart of identity" for each person, and that it is through the spirit that one can, ultimately, be freed or hindered in living fully "who" they are, I find that places have similiar "spiritual identities" which can be "hindered" or "released" by what is going on, spiritually, for the people who populate them.
I did warn you all in the title of this post that this would be something a bit "different"! :)
Anyways, I know that some of you reading this probably couldn't care less about the "spiritual identity" of people or places, and even less about the spiritual dynamics that may be "hindering" them, but in the same way that I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, sent to earth to unbind us, through his death and resurrection, from the things which hinder us spiritually so that we can truly know the love, freedom, hope and joy that comes through knowing we are loved, accepted and delighted in by the God of all creation, so I believe that God has a desire and a plan for the earth itself and the nations which make up that earth! I will also be the first to admit that we humans have definitely "muffed it up" in the unfolding of that "plan" and desire, but I believe that is primarily our fault and it is the outcomes and consequences of our actions and decisions which end up causing the spiritual "hindrances"! (still following ?!?)
Anyways, many of you do care and have been asking me about what I've been praying for and about as I go, but I haven't been able to figure out how to balance out both "parts" within my blogs. So far, you've all been given lots of history, because I strongly believe that all these things have been played out, created, influenced by each of the "stories" behind people and places, and often the history and and overall dynamic of a place influences how/what I end up praying about.
But! I now think what I might do is intersperse "Prayer Post" blogs into the mix. This way, my general "travelogue" will continue(which you can read or no, as you like!), but every now and then I will pop a little blog in about the things I've been praying about. This way, if you're interested, you can read them, and if not, you can skip those ones! :)
Lastly though, when I pray for the places I come to, I tend to simply jot down, "bullet point" style the things that strike me. I may pray about them more fully in practice, but I "jot" them down, to help me remember what I prayed in various places, in the hopes that, as I go, I will eventually make sense of them in the "overall" picture of myself, people, places and world events!
So, if that's ok with you all(which really, its actually just up to me as I'm writing this! :) ) I will begin to follow my "city posts" with some "prayer posts", to help "flesh out" my trip for those who are interested in that aspect of it!
They won't be "prettily written", and in all honesty will probably not make much sense to most people, but hopefully, this will help me to give a "full account" of some of what I'm doing, and who knows, it might evolve into something else or else get written in a different way, as I go!
So, shortly following this, I will be putting up Reims, Orleans and Poitiers "Prayer Posts"! I probably won't include every place I go, but will do a "smattering" of them depending on when and where I remember! And lastly lastly, feel free to ask questions or for clarifications or whathaveyou, although I may not be able to provide the answers!! :)
Love to you all!
Frances :)
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