Monday, August 17th
Galway, Ireland
There are times when God affirms you in such a way that leave you wanting more of Him and more of HIs Kingdom on this earth. And that happened for me in the form of the above title. My team and I prayed together on our last day in Dublin and asked God where He was working. We all got very different things – I got a vision of a girl wearing purple and with purple hair. I leaned in more to hear exactly how to minister to this person and I felt she needed a hug. That was a great answer for what could have been a daunting task but God meets us right where we are and doesn’t give us more than we can handle. And hugging – I can handle that!
So we set out to go to the bridge down the road and looked for opportunities to minister as we went. I passed this one girl that had a purple jacket on – it wasn’t what I thought I saw so I kept going only to see her again down the road. I still didn’t feel like it was the girl I needed to hug. And believe me, I wanted to be sure before I walked up to a random stranger and give them a hug. Those are things that land you in jail. Plus, I am new to all of this and wasn’t confident in my ability to discern what the spirit was telling me. So, I asked God to bring her along my path again if, indeed, she was the one.
We keep walking and get to the bridge (something Matt and Anna felt impressed to go to) , see a horse (something Audrey saw in prayer), and up walks the girl in purple. I can’t really express what I was feeling because all these things that were laid on our hearts in the group were passing in front of me at the same time I was mustering up the courage to speak to this girl.
I did. And I hugged her. It wasn’t a miraculous event where she ended up crying and telling me thank you – which in my mind, I kind of hoped. Sometimes, when you need a hug so bad – that is what I do! But she didn’t. She was gracious enough to let me hug her. But the look of “you are a crazy American” never left her face! I asked if there was anything that I could pray for them (her and her friend) about and they both said “No, we are happy!”
I left that encounter feeling happy for my obedience and for God’s pursuit of me. I asked for her to show up again – in spite of my doubt in myself – and she did. I also felt a little let down. It is weird to not see the fruit of something that meant so much to you. I put a lot of prayer and courage into that meeting, only for it to seeminly fall flat when our embrace ended. But God is a big God and I had to remind myself that He will continue to do the work in her life.
We walked away and prayed for her – just long enough to get to the end of the bridge. We turned to look to see if we could cross the street and behind us were two girls. One was wearing a purple outfit and the other had purple hair! WHAT! I couldn’t believe it and was so struck that I couldn’t think of anything to say to these girls as they were approaching. Anna stepped in and complemented them on their purses and the converstation went from there. We talked about school and what they like to do. They were 15 and were passionate about much. I was able to speak into them about how they were wonderfully made and that they had amaizng purpose because they have an amazing God. I told them I believed that God placed them in my path to hug them. I got the same look as the first girl, but hugged those girls like their life depended on it!
Once again, I don’t know what will come from that. But it isn’t up to me to figure that out. I trust that God will work in their lives and redeem and restore their lives. And that He will draw them in to a life of purpose and purity and that they will be catalysts in their community. All from a hug!
