Category: My City-My Valley

About a week and a half ago, David and I were out driving around Palm Springs. Our journey took us back to the Indian Canyons entrance. This is a place we often drive to in the evening when it is quiet. The view from there is breathtaking, with a quiet peacefulness that permeates right into your being. That particular night, as our car coasted back out of the area, I had a random thought pass through my head as I looked out at all the dry brush – “It would be really bad if this caught on fire.” Though I didn’t say a formal prayer, when a random thought like that goes through my head, I generally ask God to intervene.
Three days later, when it was 119 degrees out, the scent of smoke started pouring through our air conditioning system. At first, I thought it was someone barbecuing, since it had that nice Mesquite smell, but I quickly realized that it was a brush fire. Our house is about 5 minutes from the spot where I had that random thought and it was now on fire. This time, God got my full attention and I prayed for the people fighting the fire, the people who live in the area, and that the fire would not spread.
Over the next three days, the wind kicked up and included a haboob (a major dust storm). Then an unusually high humidity level settled in, holding the dust and smoke close to the ground, and decreasing the normal 20+ miles of visibility down to less than a mile, as the fire burned on. Based on what I am describing, you might think that this fire would be completely out of control and burning through acres of land; however, that is not the case. The damage was limited to approximately 80 acres, one fire fighter with minor heat exhaustion and three “out-buildings” on the Andreas Ranch. (Yep, I have a special affinity to that land – just one apostrophe short of me owning it.) Though I know of and appreciate all the fire fighters, from all of the different governmental agencies that were involved in the effort to squelch this fire, both from land and air, I have to think that God did intervene. Even in bad situations, you can find God working if you are hunting for Him.

The ability to look out over the Valley is an answer to one of my impossible prayers. You know, the crazy “I don’t think it will really happen” kind of prayers. On a scorching summer night back in the early 2000’s, my husband and I were out driving through the Tennis Club area of Palm Springs, when God grabbed our attention. We came to a T-intersection and had to decide which way to turn. As we sat there the lights came on in one of the houses perched on the mountain side in front of us. At that point it occurred to me to pray that God’s light and love would shine from that house across the Coachella Valley.

In 2014, we were invited up to that house to meet the owners. They had moved in a few years earlier and had recently started attending our church. As we sat on their patio, they told us an amazing story of acquiring the house out of foreclosure and that the previous owner had shown them unusual favor. It was a profound moment for me as I sat looking at the very spot we had prayed. Little did we know, that three years later, this couple would decide they wanted to throw open their doors to a weekly Breakfast and Bible Study. This has proven to be a place of amazing spiritual growth for me and the other people who attend. It has indeed become a beacon of light for Christ’s love. Standing out on that patio now we often pray over the Coachella Valley – asking God to move in the hearts of people that they might experience His amazing love. If one crazy prayer can be answered – why can’t God do this one too?

Recently, I was privileged to attend a LOV (Lighthouses of Valley) Movement Luncheon. This is a group of pastors, ministry and marketplace leaders who love the Coachella Valley and want to share the love of Christ with everyone within it. For me it is an extreme answer to prayer. Back in 1999 a pastor at Palm Springs Baptist church and I started a prayer group that included pastors and others from Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City and Palm Springs. When that pastor left the Valley this group bounced around to a couple of other churches over the next few years until it finally disbanded. I remember the night it disbanded, standing with my Senior Pastor in the courtyard of our church, talking about the vision that we had for prayer in the Coachella Valley. We both agreed that if this sort of thing was keep going it needed to be rooted in a pastoral group that comes together in unity. We prayed for God to bring a group of pastors together in His time to start this group.
In 2004 my Senior Pastor was asked to meet with two other pastors to discuss forming a pastoral group that could support each other as they ministered in the area. The next meeting they had included twelve pastors. At that point they formed the LOV Movement. Since then, many of the original pastors have left and new ones have come, but the unity continues to be astounding considering the diversity in the group. This group is committed to praying and caring for each other and the people of the valley, which has opened doors to sharing Christ within their spheres of influence. Together they have accomplished some amazing things. However, for me, every meeting jump starts my faith because they are a living breathing answers to my prayers and they remind me that God reveals to us His plans, so that we can participate in what He is doing.
God often waits to answer prayers, but if we keep watching and waiting we will get to see some awesome things.