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Letters to Corinne

40 Winks, 40 Days, 40 Years: What’s so special about 40? Part 5

Tuesday, March 8th, 2016

What’s so special about 40? Part 5

Dear Corinne,

Today we are going to look at another 40 Day Journey! This time, Draw the Circle – The 40 Day Prayer Challenge by Mark Batterson.

In February 2013, I read the following in an email from Simon Guillebaud, “Lizzie and I have just started a 40-day prayer challenge by Mark Batterson called ‘Draw the Circle’. I strongly recommend it.” Just like Dan Wilt’s tweet, I read it and felt I needed to take the challenge too!

I was so eager to do so, that I started it the moment it arrived, and it was only weeks later, after I had recommended it to a friend, that I realised it is a challenge which is meant to be done with family or friends, but not alone!

The book provides a daily scripture, prayer prompts and faith building stories of answered prayer. I found these stories amazing, inspiring and encouraging!

I was particularly struck by the testimony of Ken Gaub on Day 39 (p. 217-218) He was driving in Ohio USA, and stopped at a restaurant. While his family went in, he took a few minutes to stretch his legs. He heard a payphone at the garage nearby ringing and ringing, so thinking it might be an emergency he answered it. The operator said she had a long distance call for Ken Gaub! He almost fainted – he was in the middle of nowhere! It transpired that a girl, in Pennsylvania USA, was contemplating suicide and decided to pray one more time. She remembered Ken from the television and thought he might help her. As she prayed, some numbers came into her head and she decided to dial them, and found herself speaking to Ken!! What an AMAZING example of God’s concern and provision for his children.

While I listed in my prayer journal, at the time, the impact I felt the book had on me, it is with hindsight that I can see how it was a significant season in my journey of faith. Something shifted, deepened, developed, happened to my prayer life as a result of taking the challenge!

On reflection, I can see that one of the outcomes of this 40 day journey was preparation and equipping for the next stage of my journey. It is interesting to note that, it was a few months after the 40 day challenge ended, that God began to speak to me about setting up the Into Deeper Waters website!

There is, as I have already said in a previous letter, something biblical about 40 days but nothing magical! Taking a forty day period seriously with the aid of specific material designed for the purpose, can bring rewards and dividends, seen and unseen!

I invite you to consider taking the 40 day prayer challenge at some point!

with love,

sig-dorinda-web

Written by Dorinda Miller; © D Miller 2016. For full credits please see the site credits page
This letter is from the series: '40 Winks, 40 Days, 40 Years'