A Straw to Breathe with.

The second lockdown.

When the second lock down started we initially tried the prayer walking again but this time it just felt wrong.
In short, any peace in what we were doing was just gone.

Time to listen to Father that little bit harder.
I kind of had the thought of,
“It’s time to do what you need to do and not what you want to do.”

It’s never easy when what you need to do and what you want to do are in opposite directions.
But Father is Father and he needs to be listened too.
Others were also saying similar kinds of things. So we decided to stop meeting as we had been for a while.

So now what?
We all still needed some sort of connection, but none of us are fans of the virtual meetings.

The choice we had was zoom meetings or no meetings.
After meeting in the park and upholding each other in prayer and fellowship we had a good group connection going (and still have).
So, could zoom meetings work???

We had to try.
Not quite what we were looking for but as people say, something is better than nothing.

As we were a small group we had only a small number of zoom sessions open, this helped greatly.

We had some technical difficulties. On a couple of times we could see but not hear people.
Time to call each other on the phone and guide each other to what button to press. OK, I can hear you now, time to hang up said phone.
Yes that was me at the start, but by and large we could do this.

Not what we wanted but what we needed.

On on my way home from work one day I had a picture.
It was a man with his head under water, desperately wanting to put his head above the water to take a breath of air but there was a barrier stopping this from happening.
A straw was then offered to the man through which he could then breathe.
How silly would it be to say no to the straw when it’s the only air being offered!

This is where I felt we were at.
Wanting desperately to meet, but just not able to, other than via zoom.

I shared this with my Mum the same day and then she told me about a strange dream she had just had that same night. (I’m not the only one to have them) 🙂

The short version is,
There was a baby in a pushchair, upside down, but happy and content.
As the baby was content the carer of the baby just thought, He’s happy and content, I’ll leave him alone.
It then started to rain and the pushchair started to fill with water.
This did not bother the baby. He just carried on smiling and gurgling.
The water level was rising to the point were the baby could drown. (It was upside down after all). But the baby was not bothered.
The thought that was with my Mum was,
Why is nobody helping that baby? … Why don’t you help the baby?
Then she woke up.

As she she told me this, it made perfect sense to me.
It was another picture, similar to the one I have already shared, but from a slightly different view point.

The baby was a person who appeared to be content
Not wanting any fuss to be made over them, but is in actual fact in great danger and in need of help.
The person might be aware of their need of help or they might be in denial about the help they need, but help is needed.
If something isn’t done then the consequences could be very bad!
Who is going to be willing to help the baby (person in need)?

Is it just a coincidence that my Mum had this dream on the same day that I had the picture?
Or was it one of those God coincidences?

To me it was saying:
You need to meet for your own good and you also need to meet up to lift others up who are struggling.
If you can’t meet up for your own good, then can you meet up in order to help someone else, for there are some who need to be picked up.
Are you going to let someone else fall just because you don’t want to meet up?

When Both myself and my Mum shared this at our zoom encouragement group, another person then shared that they had been thinking about the coals on the fire.
When one is removed and placed on the side it goes cold.
But when it is replaced back into the fire it starts to glow again.

Now that was three pictures all along the same theme!
I took this to be that we were indeed doing the right thing.
We may not like zoom but it is the air we need to breathe, just like the straw to breathe by, and an opportunity to help lift somebody up who is struggling.

So, how do we run these meetings?

The format of our meetings is very simple.
We turn up, (or log in).
Say hello to each other.
We have an opening prayer time. (Good to say hello to Father too.)
We try to have time for everyone to pray. If the silence is going on too long then anyone can say a loud AMEN. 🙂
We then try to share something of what Father has been speaking to us during the week. (This normally leads to a discussion.)
We then pray for each other. (We try to share the most pressing need and not our entire prayer list). 🙂
Then zoom may well kick us out as time has run out. 🙂
We could always log back in if needed.

I do think that limiting the number of zoom sessions to no more than four means that everyone should then hopefully be a participator rather than a spectator.
It’s harder to hide when there is a smaller number of people.
We can all have the tendency to hide in a large crowd if we are feeling a bit down.
Having a smaller number also means that there is a greater chance that you could bless someone, which in turn leads to you being blessed.

I would like to encourage you all to connect up with someone in whatever way works for you.

If your not connecting with anyone at the moment, then could you start your own zoom encouragement group? (Or even a park meeting group? Now that we are allowed to.)
If you think it could be what you need then ask Father to help and guide you to know how best to do this.

Father, please help us all to hear you more clearly.
Help us to know how we can continue to keep connected with each other.
Help us to lift each other up and to keep close to you.
Amen