Shout To The Lord

Have you ever had an experience that you just wanted to shout to the world? I have, but they've been few and far between. Falling in love for the first time with my wife was one of the first and then again after getting married and then after having each one of my children. God has blessed me with a wonderful family and I am very grateful.
This last Sunday, I was part of a prayer vigil. I am what I consider a new Christian, and at 11:00 pm, I was to begin praying for people who had prayer requests and any others that needed God's love in their life. I got to the church at 10:00, read a bit, wrote a bit, and generally got myself in a positive state of mind (which can many times be difficult).
At exactly 11:00, I entered my prayer room at the church and began praying. I began by praising God, then confessing to him and then thanking him as requested by the prayer book we had been given. Lastly, I began supplication (prayer requests). Soon, I found it necessary to get out of my chair and on my knees to pray. Soon after that, I could feel God's presence all around me. I've known for as long as I can remember that God is always with us, but to feel his actual presence was very moving to me.
At around 11:30, I felt moved to pray at the steps that lead up to the podium. I cannot explain the feeling I felt knowing, without a doubt, that God was working miracles on some of these people lives as we prayed. I understood that all prayers may not be answered for reasons only He knows, but I had never before experienced the intensity of God's strength, mercy, and love all at once.
While some requests had to do with cancer and others with aches and pains, I understood that no request was less important than another. I was very moved by someone asking for help with a family member that had lost their faith. Not only had something most likely tragic happened in their life, but they felt they had lost the One they should turn to first. I knew that God was still with them and prayed that He would show them the way.
I was also very moved by one of the last prayer requests I had read. At the end of their request they wrote "God Bless You All". I did feel incredibly blessed at that moment and wanted to thank them personally for writing that down. I wanted to thank everyone personally for putting their faith in the Lord and writing their prayer requests down for us to see.
I then prayed for myself and my family, and then for every one of the requests again. When I thought I was done, I wasn't. I again prayed for everyone and ended this final prayer with an Amen filled with more hope and promise than I could have imagined. I was still alone as I got up to walk out at very close to 12:30, but I knew that this experience had brought me closer to God and I had taken a bigger step in the path God has for me and my family than I had ever taken before .
I need to thank God for this, but I also need to thank my wife for supporting me, Pastor Don for presenting the opportunity, Dennis and Jennifer for leading me to this church, and to everyone who turned in a prayer request that allowed me the pleasure of praying for them. Thank you all and God bless.