White water rafting is a fantastic experience-thrilling, beautiful, and for me it was life changing. The first time I went rafting, I had no idea what to expect. A river guide met a group of us at the river outpost where he gave us lots of instructions. The most important guidelines were: (1) always do what I tell you to do; in other words, listen to me; (2) keep your paddle in the water at all times and keep paddling; and (3) work together as a team. Our guide promised we would have a wonderful day if we all listened, paddled, and worked together. He was right. He knew the river and as we listened to him and kept paddling, we never got stuck or capsized in dangerous waters. He took us to the most exciting parts of the river-places we would have missed on our own.
Prayer, for me, is like white water rafting. It is thrilling and powerful and exciting when it is done as a team with others, and with a Guide who really knows what to do.
For the past four years I have been on quite a river ride of prayer, and the Lord Jesus, my Guide in the Living Waters, has steered my prayer raft on a beautiful and amazing journey. I am thankful I took the step of faith and got in the raft-if I had stayed on shore I would have missed the trip.
It all started with a little prayer group of five women who met in a church basement. We simply met to pray for each other, unaware at the time that several other prayer groups were meeting around the city. God was beginning a work to bring together women from all over the city. As I prayed in my group throughout the year, I began to feel the Lord was leading me to teach a Bible study for women.
Finally in our prayer time I confessed to my group, which included a friend named Carolyn Moore, that I felt God was calling me to teach. The next thing we knew women from various prayer groups said they were praying for a women's Bible study.
One night as I was stirring a pot on my stove and praying, I felt the urge to call Carolyn...
"Hi Carolyn," I said.
"Hi, I was about to call you."
"Really! Well I was just wondering if you had ever heard of Community Bible Study?"
"You're kidding!" she cried. "I was going to call you and tell you some women have asked me what I thought of CBS!"
We decided right then that we needed to pray and see if some of these women would come and pray with us. We discovered that many had already been praying for a CBS class to start in their town. A prayer group of about ten began to meet in our parlor.
God had moved through our prayers and He had brought us together in His perfect timing. He had a plan-He knew the river-and because we were in the raft of prayer and faith, He was guiding us. You may think some of these things were coincidence, but they were the result of a skillful Guide and some women who had their prayer oars in the water.
Before long an Area Director from CBS came and talked to us about how to get a study going. Guess what she told us? We were to pray! We were not to get busy or to get going on plans, in fact, we were not to do anything but pray. We were to pray for the four leaders who would have to commit to serving for two years. We needed to pray for 60 people interested in attending.
Soon our prayer group grew, and slowly but surely God raised up the four leaders. We prayed each week, asking God to bring revival to Athens, Georgia asking Him to give women a hunger for His Word. We confessed to the Lord that we knew if a Bible study were to happen it would be His study and we were His servants. As we prayed we were changed. I remember one day feeling very humbled because I realized we were praying about the Kingdom of God. The King of the universe was listening to our prayers, and He might indeed use us to share His word with the ladies of this town. We prayed for about a year, started a pilot class in the fall, and attended training in October. The first thing they did at training was assign us to a prayer group! Our prayer group leader, Cathy Crawford, lives in Chevy Chase, MD, but she used to live in Athens. She asked where the class was to meet, and when I told her she got tears in her eyes. She told me that years ago she had accepted Jesus at the altar of that church and had never stopped praying for that ministry. She was not surprised that the class was going to meet there. Coincidence? No. More evidence of the Lord's guidance. Evidence that as we stayed in the raft He guided us and continued to give us a thrill ride through prayer.
Later that first evening Camilla Seabolt, the Executive Director of CBS, came to our table, asking if she could speak to me. She told me that Athens was her hometown and she said that she had been praying for a CBS class to start there since 1982! I had moved to Athens in 1982, and I believe God has been preparing me to teach that class since I moved there. Coincidence? No. Answered prayer. Camilla kept her oar in the water, she had listened to her Guide. I was paddling in prayer-we were working together and didn't even know it, but the Guide did.
The original prayer group that met in the parlor of my home has grown to 30 women who attend Leaders Council to discuss the lesson and to pray each Tuesday. This year we have approximately 140 adults, of all ages and denominations, and 55 children, who attend class Thursday mornings to study God's Word.
God is working in our class. A woman sat next to me one morning as she removed the shrink wrap from her Bible and asked me to help her find the book of John. She wanted to get to know the Jesus she was hearing about. A young mother called me and said she had been religious all her life, but that day in class she finally understood that Jesus didn't want her to be religious, He wanted her to be His. Another class member told her leader, "I finally understand; it's not about what I do for Him, it's what He did for me!"
We have seen what God will do if we pray. I can tell you I am not the same girl I was four years ago. Being in the raft has changed me. Prayer has changed me. When I began I thought teaching is something I can do, but I have learned that unless I rely totally on the Lord I can teach nothing. I would never attempt to serve Him without submitting to the direction and authority of the Guide.
He has a plan for each of our lives. He wants to do great things in us and through us. We can begin to think His thoughts, desire the things He desires, and love the things He loves. We can begin to see things from His point of view, and we can be changed to be like Him if we are in the raft praying and paddling with all our might-we can truly experience the River of Life. Is there a need in your life? Put your oar in the water, trust the Guide, and let's go rafting together.
Leslie Barron
Teaching Director
Athens, GA CBS