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I thought I was on my way to California to create a prayer room for a school's Week of Prayer but when they didn't call me back to finalize I suddenly found myself looking for a new school. A new Facebook friend, Shilhi Seibel, encouraged me to come to Oahu and put on a prayer room at Hawaiian Mission Academy. There was no funding for it, but we would watch God make it happen. And so He did.
God helped me find a really cheap flight from Tennessee to Oahu and a week later I found myself in beautiful Hawaii. The chaplain was excited to make the prayer room happen and said that if it opened the next week it would be perfect timing for the week of prayer... That meant I had to get a prayer room together in three days. The next few days were a blur of getting lost in a big city, surviving on little sleep and trying to create a prayer room from a $150 budget. And there it was on Monday ready to go thanks to the help of some incredible volunteers and students.
The Prayer Room created quite a bit of excitement as many of the Bible classes went through the Prayer Room for their Religious Studies. It was a new concept for most of the students but more and more kids came in , especially at lunch time just to hang out. After the first week, the kids wanted it open for another week. So we convinced the principle to extend it and that was wonderful. Here are some of the experiences:
During this time of prayer revival, a student unexpectedly lost one of their parents so all the closely knit students were very sad and going through a time of grieving. This was close to exams so after the third week the teachers got together and begged the Principle to keep the Prayer Room could remain open for a total of five weeks until the end of term to minister to the kids through this difficult time.
As the needs of the school changed I created five new prayer stations for grieving and created a sacred space where it was safe to cry and express the pain of loss, praying for their own family members and sharing love and support for the grieving family.
Some comments from the room:
"The prayer room was amazing! You felt God's presence right away once you entered the room. The stations left you thinking and at peace. The room was all together powerful and touching. It was a-never-forget-experience!
"This week I really needed to go into the Prayer Room. I felt so overwhelmed with all that was going on in my life and also my best friend's. When I went in I let them all out to God and let Him take care of them. Peace came over me. God was in control.
"I love the prayer room, it felt like it brought me closer to God. And it helped me open up more to God.
"The Prayer Room touched me!! I felt God in the room... At first when I helped out setting up the Prayer Room I was unsure about this... But once it was finished... I felt like only me and God had a chance to communicate and I loved it!! I cried... I wish we could keep the prayer room permanent.
Praise God for the seeds that were planted at HMA. I pray that God would continue to speak to these kids and that they would keep listening with discernment, learning to pray big bold prayers while watching their lives and communities transform.
Another major event I was blessed to be part of was the Unveiled 2009 Womens Conference. As I love teaching in new and unique ways that are creative and interactive I chose to do my workshop a little differently. I wanted to show how the Old Covenant and New Covenant were illustrated profoundly by the Hebrew Blood Covenant Ceremony and mirrored in today's Wedding Vows revealing the incredible depth of God's love. So I found a young married couple, Faith and Neil who took part in the Blood Covenant Blessing Ceremony where we acted out symbolically the Hebrew Blood Covenant and talked about how each step paralleled today's wedding vows. It was almost as if they were renewing their vows. This was an incredible experience and many ladies were so touched afterwards as they saw how 
God was the Bridegroom and we are the Bride. It also reveals how much God wants us to enter into the New Covenant with him so we receive the Holy Spirit, become his children and receive all his blessings and eternal life. This is an incredibly deep understanding of the extravagant love of God and how nothing can separate us once we have entered into the New Covenant except turning our back on God.
Working so hard for those six weeks was spiritually and physically draining to me so after the Prayer Room finished I slowed up a tiny bit and was able to see some of the beautiful sights of Oahu. I found a beautiful beach that I would go to early in the morning and read and study the Bible. I also made some wonderful friends and we would go hiking on the weekend to the waterfalls and snorkeling at the beach. I must admit Hawaii is a lot like I imagine heaven will be. I felt very spoiled by God that he would allow me to minister in such a spirit refreshing and breathtaking location.
If you would like to see more Photos of the Prayer Room at Hawaiian Mission Academy. Click Here.
For more photos from the Unveiled 2009 Women's Conference and the Blood Covenant Blessing Ceremony. Click Here.
If you would like Nicki to come to your academy to create a unique Week of Prayer experience, preach or teach a Childrens Prayer Workshop at your church please email: BlissfulMinistries@yahoo.com
God helped me find a really cheap flight from Tennessee to Oahu and a week later I found myself in beautiful Hawaii. The chaplain was excited to make the prayer room happen and said that if it opened the next week it would be perfect timing for the week of prayer... That meant I had to get a prayer room together in three days. The next few days were a blur of getting lost in a big city, surviving on little sleep and trying to create a prayer room from a $150 budget. And there it was on Monday ready to go thanks to the help of some incredible volunteers and students.
The Prayer Room created quite a bit of excitement as many of the Bible classes went through the Prayer Room for their Religious Studies. It was a new concept for most of the students but more and more kids came in , especially at lunch time just to hang out. After the first week, the kids wanted it open for another week. So we convinced the principle to extend it and that was wonderful. Here are some of the experiences:- Julia shared that she had a close friend she was very concerned about who had not contacted her in over six months. She prayed and released her concerns over to God at a prayer station. Three hours later the friend called her. Julia was very excited at how fast God had answered her prayer.
- One girl had a car accident on the way to school and used the prayer room to praise God that she was not physically hurt. It was also a safe place to debrief and let out her tears as she was very shaken up emotionally.
- Colleen wanted God to speak to her and show her a sign in answer to her prayer. She asked that God would make her teacher say a specific phrase when she walked into her next class. The teacher said the exact words and she was so excited when she realized that God really wanted to talk to her and answer her prayers.
During this time of prayer revival, a student unexpectedly lost one of their parents so all the closely knit students were very sad and going through a time of grieving. This was close to exams so after the third week the teachers got together and begged the Principle to keep the Prayer Room could remain open for a total of five weeks until the end of term to minister to the kids through this difficult time.As the needs of the school changed I created five new prayer stations for grieving and created a sacred space where it was safe to cry and express the pain of loss, praying for their own family members and sharing love and support for the grieving family.
Some comments from the room:
"The prayer room was amazing! You felt God's presence right away once you entered the room. The stations left you thinking and at peace. The room was all together powerful and touching. It was a-never-forget-experience!
"This week I really needed to go into the Prayer Room. I felt so overwhelmed with all that was going on in my life and also my best friend's. When I went in I let them all out to God and let Him take care of them. Peace came over me. God was in control.
"I love the prayer room, it felt like it brought me closer to God. And it helped me open up more to God.
"The Prayer Room touched me!! I felt God in the room... At first when I helped out setting up the Prayer Room I was unsure about this... But once it was finished... I felt like only me and God had a chance to communicate and I loved it!! I cried... I wish we could keep the prayer room permanent.
Praise God for the seeds that were planted at HMA. I pray that God would continue to speak to these kids and that they would keep listening with discernment, learning to pray big bold prayers while watching their lives and communities transform.
Another major event I was blessed to be part of was the Unveiled 2009 Womens Conference. As I love teaching in new and unique ways that are creative and interactive I chose to do my workshop a little differently. I wanted to show how the Old Covenant and New Covenant were illustrated profoundly by the Hebrew Blood Covenant Ceremony and mirrored in today's Wedding Vows revealing the incredible depth of God's love. So I found a young married couple, Faith and Neil who took part in the Blood Covenant Blessing Ceremony where we acted out symbolically the Hebrew Blood Covenant and talked about how each step paralleled today's wedding vows. It was almost as if they were renewing their vows. This was an incredible experience and many ladies were so touched afterwards as they saw how God was the Bridegroom and we are the Bride. It also reveals how much God wants us to enter into the New Covenant with him so we receive the Holy Spirit, become his children and receive all his blessings and eternal life. This is an incredibly deep understanding of the extravagant love of God and how nothing can separate us once we have entered into the New Covenant except turning our back on God. Working so hard for those six weeks was spiritually and physically draining to me so after the Prayer Room finished I slowed up a tiny bit and was able to see some of the beautiful sights of Oahu. I found a beautiful beach that I would go to early in the morning and read and study the Bible. I also made some wonderful friends and we would go hiking on the weekend to the waterfalls and snorkeling at the beach. I must admit Hawaii is a lot like I imagine heaven will be. I felt very spoiled by God that he would allow me to minister in such a spirit refreshing and breathtaking location.
If you would like to see more Photos of the Prayer Room at Hawaiian Mission Academy. Click Here.
For more photos from the Unveiled 2009 Women's Conference and the Blood Covenant Blessing Ceremony. Click Here.
If you would like Nicki to come to your academy to create a unique Week of Prayer experience, preach or teach a Childrens Prayer Workshop at your church please email: BlissfulMinistries@yahoo.com
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Interesting Fact: For the first 21 years of my life I had Social Anxiety Disorder - an intense and constant fear of people. After meeting an awesome doctor, I experienced the feeling of happiness for the first time. I escaped an obsessive boyfriend and went to live in London where I finally found independence and could say with a smile, "I belong here". Healing comes in so many forms. Seek healing in Jesus from all your past issues and wounds. There is freedom to be found. I would love to find people who would like to become monthly sponsors and/or, intercessors - praying for the needs of this ministry so I can continue to teach and inspire people to pray and find healing through an intimate and powerful relationship with Jesus Christ. I am grateful that God has provided for my needs and even for the desires of my heart, I am constantly amazed by his provision. He is a God who spoils and gives above and beyond. I have not regretted living this lifestyle with the adventures and faith and dependence it is teaching me. For a while it may seem easy and possible to live on almost no income but for the long term there definitely needs to be money coming in for travel, bills and health insurance. If you would like to support this ministry financially (either with a one-time gift or monthly support) please contact me (donations are tax-deductible in the USA). Checks can be made out to FLASH Ministries (the non-profit 501c3 that is sponsoring my ministry). Please include 'Prayer Ministries' on the subject line and send it PO Box 495 Ooltewah, TN, 37363 USA. Donations by credit card are also accepted. Those in Australia or overseas can email BlissfulMinistries@yahoo.com for further details. Thank you for blessing this ministry and helping to change the culture of prayer. Abundant Blessings, Nicki Carleton I believe! Blissful Ministries |
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If you are in the location of a prayer room and would like to help or participate in a conference or mission please contact me.
NOVEMBER: Malawi, Africa
Three week Prayer Room and helping at an evangelistic meeting.
OCTOBER: Amsterdam, Kenya
Women's Mission and Safari, Masai Mara, Kenya
October 9-15
Building a 24-7 Prayer Room
October 9-15
Building a 24-7 Prayer Room
Attending the International Gathering for 24-7 Prayer Leaders Europe
October 1-4
SEPTEMBER: Ireland, UK and France. Building Prayer Rooms, speaking at Newbold and Cologne Colleges.
AUGUST: New Mexico, USA
Mission trip to the remote Tarahumara People in the Copper Canyon Mexico. Sharing the gospel.
JULY: Hawaii, Oahu
Preaching and working with prayer teams at different churches to change the culture of prayer at their church. Blood Covenant Blessing Ceremony at Manoa Church.
JUNE: Hawaii, Oahu
Childrens Prayer Rooms and Prayer Workshops, Visioning for a Permanent Prayer Room at Honolulu YWAM base, Preaching on Hearing the Voice of God.
MAY: Hawaii, Oahu.
Five week Prayer Room at Hawaiian Mission Academy.
Miracles happened and we ended up with two classrooms to use. Now we started dreaming big and decided to put a tunnel between the classrooms so the students would feel like they were walking through space... Now to build this seems like a rediculously difficult task but Leighton was up to it - with an electric drill, lots of chicken wire, fairy lights, black material and fluorescent painted balls. The tunnel was designed to illustrate to the kids that the power that created the entire universe was now living in them, through the power of the Holy Spirit and when He works through them they can do more than they could ever hope to dare, dream or imagine. 
The rooms started to come together in a beautiful way and we sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit even before we started. Each time I do a prayer room a new issue moves my heart and this time I strongly sensed a need to offer a place to heal from sexual abuse. I knew I needed a cocoon to deal with a station on 'Fear' and didn't have time to make one. Now I wanted a very specific cocoon. One I could imagine in my mind - one big enough and cute enough for a small person to sit in. Now these are not just lying around in anyone's closet - in fact I had never even seen one before. But I asked one lady if she knew where I could possibly find a cocoon - and she knew exactly where one was and it was delivered that afternoon to the school - exactly the same as what I had imagined. When you don't have much time God can lead you to just the right person!
Healing Sexual Abuse, Fear, Letting Go of Past Trauma, were all stations that were new so we created a beautiful 'cocoon' room where kids could enter in and privately pray. This was such a lovely space. We also encouraged kids to go to the school counselor if they had any further questions. I know without a shadow of a doubt that there was inner healing taking place in that room. God yearns to transform us and give us a new hope, a new identity and a new nature, releasing us from our past. For many I know the first steps took place in that prayer room.
Prayer, outlining his addiction to sport and other things and sharing how nothing could satisfy him until he found Jesus. He brought in his outfits and medals and left them at the addiction wall. This was very powerful for the kids to see - that success and fame does not necessarily lead to the happiness they desired. The kids also wrote hundreds of letters to persecuted imprisoned Christians around the world and were personally delivered to Voice of the Martyrs representatives that were visiting Avondale College the following week.
The Prayer Room is awesome. As soon as you walk in you feel that God is there. Thankyou.
Children's Prayer Workshop for a local church. My favorite memory was my eldest nephew Ethan saying "I don't want to go to church" but then when the workshop was finished he stated,"can we go back again every week? I love church!" I believe we can make prayer and experiencing God fun for all ages not just kids! I also had the opportunity to speak at a Worship Conference talking of how experiential and sensory teaching is so powerful in symbolizing the deep aspects of God and allowing Him to become real (more life changing than just analyzing or talking about Him).