An Earthquake, a Prayer, and @stickyJesus

This is a guest post by Kim Cash Tate.  She is an accomplished writer and speaker.  You can also find her speaking as part of the Imagine tours with Women of Faith near you. She blogs at Kim Cash Tate and is active on Twitter. Last Friday morning I awoke to news of the devastating earthquake in Japan and subsequent tsunamis.  My eyes were glued to the television, and I began praying.  I also added my sentiment with others on Twitter who were praying for those affected by the horror of what was still unfolding.  It wasn’t the first time I’d tweeted that I was praying in response to a calamity.  I didn’t give it much thought.

But shortly afterward, I got a reply.  The woman had partially retweeted me, adding her own note.  It said:

Yea he was waiting for u to ask RT @KimCashTate: Praying for those affected by earthquake and tsunamis in Japan & Hawaii. Have mercy, Lord.

It struck me as a little strange.  I clicked to her page to find out more about her.  In addition to foul language, it was filled with comments denouncing that God exists and proclaiming the uselessness of prayer.  I knew then where she stood.

I didn’t intend to reply.  But a couple of hours later as I washed dishes, all those @stickyJesus blog posts and tweets came to mind, not to mention the book, which I’d read.  The central message is that we’ve been given this technology and online mission field for such a time as this, to be a light online.  As much as I didn’t want to reply, thinking it might open up a debate, this was an opportunity to #LiveSticky.  I had to do it.

First, I prayed.  Then I replied that I didn’t know whether or not she was being sincere but yes, God does want us to ask and pray.  She replied with a partial retweet again and a comment:

Y? He doesn't know about the damage the earthquake did? RT @KimCashTate: ...certainly, God does want us to pray and ask.

At this point, I prayed more deeply, that she would be moved to look to God herself and for God to open her eyes to the truth.  How awesome, I thought, if God would use the devastation of the earthquake and her questions (sincere or not) to draw her.  I replied:

Yes, yet in His sovereignty He invites us to participate thru prayer.  Can testify from my own life that prayer is powerful.

I didn’t hear from her again, but I’ve sure thought about her.  I don’t know if she’d been following me or if she randomly searched for people praying.  Either way, I believe God moved her to reach out.  Perhaps He’d already been working on her heart.  And that day, in addition to prayer for Japan, there was concentrated prayer for that one woman.