Sacred spaces

I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday. 

I was Lola in Charge for the day as Papi had a conference at church. 

Thus it was all hands on deck, my right and my left, all day. 

We had a good time and squeezed a lot in including lunch at Culver’s and a trip to the pool. Everyone was accounted for by the time we picked mom up from work, but we all agreed life is just better with Papi. 

What I had planned to share was a stop we made on our way home from Florida. 

The last couple of years we have split up the trip home by leaving late Friday afternoon and driving partway into Alabama. This works for us to make a lunch stop in Franklin. 

Okay.

A shopping stop and then lunch. 

If you haven’t been to Franklin, there are so many nice places to eat and shoppes to browse. 

Quaint and delightfully displayed, we enjoy exploring as many as we can before we get back on the road. 

One stop we love to make is called Philanthropy. Offering unique clothing, accessories, home decor, jewelry, books and gifts; it is quite large and is so aesthetically pleasing to walk through. 

In the center is a shed like room with a door and some windows. The first time we visited Philanthropy, the store was rather crowded and as I passed I saw a girl filling out a tag on what looked like a shelving area. 

I assumed it was where they processed their stock and tagged for the floor. 

I was wrong. 

After our first visit, I looked the store up and discovered they have a prayer room in the store. And this space was what I had dismissed as a shipment and pricing station. 

So on subsequent visits I have stepped inside and written a little tag of my own to add to the wall. This time I asked if I could take some photos of this sacred space to share with you. 

I marvel at the sheer volume of prayers represented and the visual of what our petitions and thanksgiving look like to God. 

In Revelation He speaks about our prayers in the Throne Room of heaven. 

Revelation 5:8 says that the twenty-four elders around the throne of God are holding harps and golden bowls that are filled with the prayers of the saints. 

Your prayers are not hitting the ceiling. 

They are ascending to heaven where they are held as precious incense. 

In fact, in Revelation 8:2-5 we hear the rest of what happens to our prayers:

Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

Our prayers are mixed with incense, fire from the altar and then hurled to earth. There is a lot of activity associated with this as we can see in the passage and all I can think is that symbolizes the wonder of God working back on earth in answer to our prayers. 

So powerful. 

And yet I forget. 

So I am reminding myself to day that our prayers avail much. 

Never doubt it.