This week has marked the first of my prayer walks relating to Walk 22:22 by covering the city of Stoke-on-Trent. Today I concluded my 10 mile walk finishing at St. Johns Church at Burslem where I joined friends for morning worship.
I have previously blogged at this site relating to the original plans I had made for Walk 22:22, those plans are now dashed! Initially I found this so disappointing but then the Lord stepped in and gave me peace over the matter. The following text I had intended to post a few days ago as an explanation of the change. I was about to delete it altogether but decided to add it here as a sort of testimonial of how God is with us all the time. Perhaps you, as the reader have had to make a sacrifice of abandoning a planned wedding, or other family event like a holiday abroad, that all hopes have gone due to the restrictions Covid has put on all of us. If that's you then please don't give up, put all your trust in God and just see what He can do for you. Your plans may be postponed for now but when it does come right then it could well exceed all expectations! Just bring everything in prayer and allow the Lord's love to overflow in your life.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
A Change of Plans for Walk 22:22
My original intended route for a walk from London to Manchester has now changed due to the circumstances of a year and a half of Covid 19 restrictions. I had planned for this year in 2021 to dry run much of the route and to establish stop overs for overnight stays at towns and communities en route. This preparation work has not been done and so I needed an alternative plan. In 2018/19 when I started to consider a walk in 2022 I had no idea of what would be around the corner concerning a pandemic that would thwart my best intentions. On reflection I can say that my plans were not God's plan, perhaps I had not prayed through enough whilst drawing up my schedule. I am certain that the motive and purpose was right, I was just going about it the wrong way, a valuable lesson in humility. Having searched, asked and petitioned the Lord diligently about this matter I feel that it is right for Walk 22:22 to continue but in an entirely new way, the Lord is going to be very much at the helm in all the planning now. Guidance that I have already received is that a continuous walk from London to Manchester will not take place now, instead 222.2 miles will still be walked but by visiting a greater spread of towns and cities in day visits including places to the West and East of England as well as the North and South. My remit is that I should visit cities, towns and villages and prayer walk them all. Interestingly they are all within England and not the other countries of the union such as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. I don't fully understand why this should be, is there about to be another lockdown where it won't be possible for me to travel outside of England? We have already experienced such measures earlier this year, I hope so much that this won't be the case, or will it be that others take up the prayer walk challenge where they live. My sincere hope is it will be the latter of these two options, for the Lord to speak to others to prayer walk where they live, praying for the light of Christ to shine in their communities, this would bring me so much joy to see this happen! Not only in all of the British Isles but in Ireland, Europe and indeed the world over, claiming whole nations to turn back to God, accepting their salvation through Jesus Christ!
