Sometimes stepping out and asking the Lord to guide your steps can feel unsure because you know you’re not in control… yesterday was an exercise in that. We did an exercise in “finding treasure” where we prayed for God guide us to someone he wanted us to talk to. I teamed up with my friend Quinn and together we prayed for about 15-20 minutes to see what God wanted to show us about this person. He was showing me a red Coke sign, a girl in an orange dress and she had a drink in her hand with a straw. I also heard God telling me to go to the part of Kathmandu called Thamel but at the time I thought it was my own voice because I had been wanting to go there for a few days now to pick up somethings I needed. Quinn was getting red, orange and a table. We knew God was telling us to go out and find this person. We had the whole city of Kathmandu to find her which felt daunting because it’s such a big city. We started walking, feeling confident God was going to show us our girl.
After about 15 minutes of walking we decided to jump on a bus and look for her out of the window because we could cover more ground in the same amount of time. Being a foreigner in Nepal, we have no idea how to tell where each bus goes. There are no signs or numbers on the bus, so it feels harder to navigate around than in the states so we usually rely on our ministry contacts to help us.
So we jumped on a bus, having no idea where it was going to take us but we knew God was guiding us. It turns out the bus was taking us to right to Thamel! I knew God was telling me that earlier but I let my own doubt get in the way of what He was telling me at the time.
So we jump out of the bus in Thamel feeling like he brought us here for a reason and we were going to find our girl! We walked and walked and found nothing which means one thing… time to pray. We went in a coffee shop and ordered a drink and prayed. Maybe we were thinking about this wrong…maybe God brought us here for a different reason? Maybe we need a different plan? Maybe we have blinders on and we need God to take them off for us? So we prayed and God confirmed to me we were looking for the same girl. She was at a table in a coffee shop and there was a drink with a straw and there was red and orange.
So we leave that shop feeling rejuvenated that we were in the right place and looking for the right treasure. As we were searching we ran into a girl Quinn knew from her home in Canada! Just another confirmation that we were in the right place and on the right track. Thanks God!
So after about 2 1/2 hours of hunting for God’s treasure, we get a glimpse of her in a coffee shop. She’s sitting alone, wearing a red plaid shirt and she has orange hair in dreads but she didn’t have a drink with a straw. We look at each other in excitement knowing we found the treasure God has been having us look for. We approach her having no idea what we are suppose to say but God brought us this far, He would provide the words that need to be said. We say “Hello” and start chatting with her. She’s from Belgium doing some traveling and we continue make light conversation and still feeling nervous when her phone rings and she has to answer it. Bummer. We said “Goodbye” and left feeling like maybe it wasn’t our treasure. After we walked down the road a bit God told me that was her and we needed to go back.
We head back into the shop and she’s still on the phone so we decide to go to the counter and order a drink. As we are talking about what we want to say to her, we hear the sound of one of those plastic, expandable straws being twisted in a circle to put in our drink. We quickly turn to the sound when we heard it then look back at each other and at the same time say “THE STRAW!” and we start laughing, knowing how faithful God is that he brought us right where we need to be and confirmed everything he showed us in prayer.
By the time we get our drink a friend of hers joined her at the table but that’s just another person we get to share the Gospel with so we walk over and say “Hi” again and ask to sit down. We chat for a little while and tell her that we prayed and God showed us her in prayer and we traveled from a half hour away just to find HER! Her face lit up and she was all smiles. We asked if she knew Jesus but she said not much. We shared the Gospel with her and while she didn’t come to Jesus at that moment we knew we planted those seeds that God wanted us to plant. She knew that we traveled a good distance just to find her and share those words with her so she was very receptive to what the Lord wanted to tell her. I believe those seeds fell on good soil.
It felt so amazing to step out in faith and just have God guide my steps. We were not using our own thoughts but just listening to His spirit and following Him and he lead us to EXACTLY where we needed to be. And just to top it off, I had been wanted to go to Thamel to pick up pants so after we were finished talking to our treasure, I got to run to the store and pick them up. God provided us with everything He wanted us to do and also more. God truly is great.
