Mrs Rebekah Oprzedek
Camp Director's Wife
Cedar River Baptist Camp
Letts, IA
A Ministry of
Northwest Bible Baptist Church
Elgin, IL
When I was a young teenager, I heard a preacher tell a story about how he took two friends to the top of a mountain. While they made their way along the path where usually he saw a lot of deer, they didn’t see any. When they reached the top, he prayed that on the way down God would let them see some deer. Within a few minutes of praying, they saw two deer! By the time they reached the bottom, they had seen several more! I remember thinking, “What would it be like to have the kind of relationship with God that when I pray something like that, believe, and He gives it to me?” Fast forward to a road trip my husband and I took a couple of months ago… I had been told that people have seen eagles before along that stretch of road. “Lord, I would love to see an eagle,” I prayed. Five minutes later I saw one flying up high! “Lord, I would love to see an eagle up close in a tree,” I prayed again. Not two minutes later, I saw one sitting in a tree close by the road! This is just one of the many examples of how God has answered prayers that to some might seem as small and inconsequential, but to me they were special. I think it was because they were just something I desired and didn’t need, but He gave me the desires of my heart. My husband is a Camp Director at Cedar River Baptist Camp. My first two summers working at the camp were especially hard for me. Facing the task of tackling something new and learning all the ins and outs proved to be a bit stressful. After getting all of that figured out by the second year, other issues surfaced. But by the time my third year came around, something changed. It was seriously the best summer ever! Everything ran smoothly, the staff got along and I didn’t have to deal with any issues. The campers all behaved, there were no pranks, and people were saved and made life changing decisions. My stress level was pretty much nonexistent! The only thing I can attribute this to is my husband’s and my prayer time and walk with God. Back in February, we attended a prayer conference. It was based on the verse in Matthew 26 in which Jesus asks Peter, “What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” They gave everyone a devotional with helps on how to pray, and challenged us for two weeks to have an hour devotion time. I remember thinking, “Wow! That’s a long time. How am I going to be able to pray for that long?” But at the end of the conference we committed, and our prayer life has drastically changed. It wasn’t that I didn’t have devotions before or that God never answered my prayers with a “yes,” but I found my time was more structured. I began praising Him more for who and what He is, not just asking for things I needed. I found myself longing for that time with Him, and finding a greater peace from spending time with Him. I can’t tell you all the countless times that He has answered my prayers or has richly blessed us. It’s not that I am perfect, and there are days when I don’t get the full hour in, but my time with Him is more precious to me than before. In Psalm 37:4 it says, “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” God wants to bless us and give us the desires of our hearts, but are we delighting and spending time with Him? Do we go to Him just to ask for what we need, or do we actually spend our time praising and thanking Him for who He is and all that He has done for us?
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