"Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them." —Exodus 25:8 (NAS)
Years ago, a newcomer arrived at our church in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Dawn smiled a lot, and was more excited about prayer than anyone I'd ever known. One day she told my friend Joann and me, "I believe God wants the three of us—with help—to erect a small prayer chapel here at the church. Let's pray about it." A few weeks later, Dawn said, "I believe God's spoken to me. The prayer chapel is to be an old log cabin. He'll show it to us, and then we'll move it here."
The three of us looked everywhere for a log cabin. Then one day Dawn drove Joann and me down a red dirt road we'd traveled countless times before in our search. Suddenly, she stopped in front of an old two-story pink-shingled house that leaned to the left and was nearly covered in vines. She ran to the house as though it were an old friend. Joann and I followed politely. Dawn pulled off a few shingles and exclaimed, through laughter and tears, "Look! Here's our log cabin!"
Dawn located the owners—a huge company in another state—and they decided to donate the building to our church. "We'll haul it log by log and reconstruct it at the church," Dawn explained. She prayed some more, and found an expert in reconstructing log buildings. He lived out of state, but he accepted Dawn's enthusiastic invitation to donate his time.
It took months, of course, to reconstruct the house. But the three of us were so eager to pray in this answer to prayer that we met there one wintry Wednesday morning. The roof wasn't on yet, and it snowed on us as we prayed together, huddled close to one another for warmth.
Father, teach me again how to seek Your will in prayer.
—Marion Bond West