Prayer Niche 7

Trinity Pines Conference Center is one of my favorite campgrounds to preach at. It located on Lake Livingston right outside of Trinity, TX and is littered with huge trees all over the camp. There are scenic rolling hills scattered around the facilities with sand volleyball courts, basketball courts, miniature golf course, swimming pool, and canoes. As great as all these things are these are not what makes Trinity Pines one of my favorite campgrounds.

What I love most is the prayer garden. There are trails paved with asphalt that go into the woods. Built off the main trail are seven different prayer niches and a chapel built among the forest. They are located far enough off the main path that one can sit on the benches that form little private sanctuaries where a person can leave the crowds to commune with the Lord.

I spent a fair bit of time in the prayer garden seeking Him for His power and movement during winter camp. I also used that time to seek the Lord for a closer walk with Him. My favorite spot was prayer niche 7. It is the further most point from the camp and the most isolated of all the prayer niches. To get to it you venture off the main trail to the left and walk several yards before the trail curves slightly to the left between a couple of trees. The trees make a canopy overhead blocking out most of the sun. Looking overhead there are several trees bent over as if prostrating themselves in the presence of God. Those trees mirrored my heart as I finally sat down on the green moss covered bench to sit before the Lord and seek His face. There really was no agenda. I just sat and enjoyed God.

I have been using that phrase a great deal lately. I don’t know any other way to communicate what I have been experiencing. I just enjoyed sitting with God telling Him I love Him and wanting to know Him more fully. I enjoyed basking in His presence among the wonder of nature. It was perfectly quiet in that prayer niche with not a sound but the gentle blowing breeze rustling among the leaves and the occasional chirping of a bird. The ground was covered with pine straw newly fallen from the many pine trees. It was an enjoyable experience. I don’t know how long it lasted. I don’t know what took place in the outside world. Breathing in the presence of the Lord and exhaling the pressures and demands of life in ministry was almost intoxicating. I only know among those pines in prayer niche 7 I met with God.

I do not have to wait until I can find a prayer garden and a niche before I will next meet with the Lord. In fact I met with Him this morning in hotel room number one before packing to journey back home. As I write this I am sitting in crowded gate two at Dallas Love Field waiting my flight to depart for Midland. I cannot wait to get home, to see Brenda and the boys, to meet with Men’s Fraternity in the morning, to sit at my desk in my office, and to go about my busy activities. Of all that I will do when I get home nothing will be more important than to continue to meet with the Lord. It might not be in a prayer niche or walking around in a prayer garden. I might not be privileged to enjoy meeting with God on the lakeshore or up in the high elevation of the mountains. Those things are blessings but God waits to meet with me and you right where we are.

Tomorrow you might meet with Him in your living room, on a back porch, out in a park, or locked away in your office. You might even find time to get away to a prayer room or the like. It doesn’t matter where. Please carve out time to commune with the Lord out on your farm, while walking around the walking track, or at a private lunch in a tucked away corner in a little café between you and the Lord. Our souls crave these encounters. Lord, thank you for meeting with me in prayer niche 7. Thank you for warming my heart and allowing me to bask in your presence. Those are blessed experiences and I pray I never take them for granted.