My husband wanted to take a road-trip out to the Midwest to show our daughter colleges that he wanted her to apply to, despite the Covid virus situation in our country. I prayed about the trip and asked others to pray. Since I had peace from the Lord, I supported him. We drove about 2,500 miles in six days.
I wasn’t sure if the universities would be open but they all were. Buildings were closed but we walked through the campuses without any problems and their nearby town. Right now we are in self-quarantine for two weeks since we stayed at hotels and used many public rest rooms along the way.
We stayed at couple of cities in our trip. When we got to Chicago, Illinois around 6pm, I thought it was eerily deserted and quiet. My husband stopped watching the news on TV for the five years or so. I just go along with it and rather read the news on paper or internet. Therefore, we had no idea that Chicago had great looting in the last 24 hours. My husband saw from our hotel window a street bridge going up at 8pm. I was too tired to investigate this. We went to bed early after dinner.
Next morning when I woke up early to pray and spend time in God’s word, after I read the news and that is when I realized what was happening in the Chicago city and nearby our hotel too. 😳 I was shaken by the local news and prayed for the city. I felt an urgency to also ask other intercessors to pray for this city and so I asked. We stayed two nights in Chicago and when we left the city I felt “peace and order” in the atmosphere. I pray that God will raise up and train many believers to be prayer warriors for their city and state.
In the second night we saw the city bridges go up again at 8pm, and across from our hotel a caravan of police was coming out to patrol the city. It was quite a sight. Below is a news photo snapshot of what it looked like. I’ve never seen anything like these bridges.
In our next city stopover, we stayed overnight at Cincinnati, Ohio. We arrived in the evening again. By the time we checked in and ordered our dinner, it was 8:00pm. My husband and I went out together to pick up our dinner. The restaurant was about four blocks away. Again, the city street was eerily deserted except for homeless drugged people and some locals gathered around a fountain. Then we turned around and heard a very loud gang of young people on motorcycles hollering and making loud noises on their cycles. We were on the sidewalk and so we didn’t expect a motorcycle to ride through the sidewalk. This young man drove by me and my husband. He was inches away from hitting my husband. All I kept thinking was where are the police? How can’t they not hear this motorcycle gang terrorizing the city streets? We were shaken up but didn’t talk about the incident until later.
Once we got home, my husband read in the WSJ newspaper that Cincinnati had 18 shootings and four deaths during the weekend after we left. I thank Jesus that the restaurant we ordered from had no room for us and we were only able to do a takeout. My husband wanted to eat dinner there too since it was a famous steak restaurant. I’m sure the city would’ve been even more dangerous if we left the restaurant close to 11pm.
I haven’t been to NYC since January 2020. We went in as a family for dinner and a show. I’ve heard from my mother-in-law that her friend’s granddaughter went in recently for a dinner celebration and the young lady reported that she felt unsafe for the first time in NYC.
Lord, please raise up more prayer intercessors in this critical time in America. Clean our hearts and make us study your Word so we can pray together with greater faith, love, unity and power. The darkness that is sweeping in the cities will eventually spill over into the suburbs and rural regions if we as Christians don’t stand and pray together. Thank you for showing me what is happening in the cities of America so I don’t fall into apathy about interceding for our nation. There’s no room for self-pity and discouragement at this critical time. Holy Spirit, I depend on you even more to sound the alarm so that the believers will pray and cleanse themselves from idols and any offenses and unforgiveness.
Whatever happens, I will know that I did the best I can do to sound the alarm in my church and women believers in my town. There is less than five months left in 2020. I give myself to Your kingdom agenda. Jesus, lead me into the battlefield for Your glory and honor. 🙏 Please surround me with other dedicated prayer warriors who understand the critical hour and the power of prayer.
Please pray for my daughter’s college application process and that she’ll go to the college that the Lord wants her to attend. She seems burnt out already and my husband is a bit too demanding. As a mom, I would like her in a safe college that’s not too faraway. Thank you for your prayers for my family.
I’ve heard from friends that many colleges have decided to go remote learning this fall. When we stopped by University of Pittsburgh it was the day when students were checking in. Many students were wearing masks since their parents were still with them. However I saw many students without their parents, hanging out together and not wearing masks. I’d imagine that covid cases will go up soon in this campus. My children’s schools announced yesterday that we will now go into remote learning this fall. I was really hoping they would get at least a month or two of in-person learning before late fall. This prolonged social isolation will leave a mark on every youth. Sigh. Prayers, prayers and more prayers. 🙏🙏🙏
Journal of Faith 