These photos were taken at the site of the House of the Virgin Mary which we also visited on May 2, our one day in Turkey. This wall is covered with thousands of written prayers which are tied on with strips of cloth. (Zoom into the photo if you can).  It is quite an amazing experience to stand in the midst of all those prayers!

I was taken back to the moment I stood in Jerusalem before the Wailing Wall 30 years ago.  When I tucked my prayer into a crevice between those ancient rocks of the Jerusalem Wall, I stared in awe at millions of tiny pieces of paper rolled up and stuffed into the cracks all over that wall.  For centuries, persons of faith had stood before that same wall with their prayers!  In that moment I suddenly became one with all of humanity standing before God in prayer.  It was powerful!

I clearly remember that my prayer back then was that God would use my life. It was all so big, so overwhelming for me,  that it seemed I could do nothing less.  Now standing at this prayer wall, I couldn’t just walk by as if it were a tourist attraction.  I had to do it again!  I scrambled in my bag to find a scrap of paper. I quickly wrote it again….the same prayer.  There was not a moment’s hesitation about what to write.  It just poured out once again, and it felt SO good!  “God, please use my life!”.  I rolled it up and carefully, wholeheartedly, tied it to the wall….(double knot!).

Simple.  Powerful once again.  Always.

nk