'60 minutes in a phoneless, noiseless, lonely room': A 16 year old recounts their first Prayer Room experienceIsaac Heather - 16 Aug 2014

I’m 16 and I just spent my first hour in a prayer room.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. In my mind’s eye I pictured a strange room with walls plastered with writing. I imagined a relatively boring, long and meaningless hour. 

I was greeted by a strange room with walls plastered with writing. My idea of the 60 minutes stretching to feel like as many days, however, proved to be far from the truth.

At the beginning it was strange. Immediately I noticed an absence of things: the absence of the familiar weight of my phone pulling down my pocket, the absence of noise, the absence of people.

However once I had grown accustomed to the phoneless, noiseless, lonely room, I began to read some of the prayers of the room’s previous users. The prayers varied in depth and breadth with some praying for national issues, some even global, to personal prayers mentioning names of people evidently close to the author and in need.

It was these that affected me the most. Despite the names being little more to me than lines on a whiteboard, the prayers seemed to hold a deeper meaning. There was some distinct power in how the authors of these had used the medium of a pen and whiteboard to communicate the deepest desires of their hearts and souls.  It left me wishing to join in their prayers in the hope of seeing their desires for strengthened relationships, protection or friends coming to know Jesus realised. 

As I was reading these prayers I felt an overwhelming sense of peace come over me. Despite some of these undoubtedly being written during times of desperation, times of darkness and hardship in people’s lives, I noticed a growing sense of peace and content arise within me.

Finally I sat down and prayed for my life and the people around me. The tone of the prayers shifted as they changed from ones of thanksgiving for the blessings in my life to ones of praise to ones of request. However that sense of peace never left me. 

As I went to leave I noticed a Bible verse scrawled across the wall which my eyes had clearly slid over during my earlier reading. It read: John 16:33 – “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.”

Ultimately, it was an experience which surprised me. While it may not have been life-changing, it was certainly an experience I’m grateful for and that sense of peace stayed with me a long while after.  

Can you remember your first Prayer Room experience? Let us know in the comments section below...