For our first week in Colombia for Month 10, we did not partner with a specific ministry. We were empowered to ask the Lord how we could bring the love of Jesus to the people around us.
One day, I went out with 2 of my squad mates, Vickie and Eva. We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and Eva brought along her polaroid. As we went out, we encountered so many Venezuelan people selling things on the street. We were able to have conversations with them in broken Spanish/English. We learned that they had fled their country due to devastating circumstances.
We were able to bring smiles to their faces, just by offering them sandwiches, to take their photo and give them the photo to keep, and most importantly we were able to pray with them. It was one of my favorite days during ATL! See this link for some photos.
Another day, a few of us visited a castle in Medellin where we were staying. The castle is a historical landmark. When the tour of the castle started, I decided to do it in Spanish with my squad mate Stella, who is pretty much fluent. During the tour, we were able to encourage an elderly woman, who reminded me so much of my grandmother. We were able to pray healing for her knee.
Our week of “ATL” were days like that and was just a refreshing time of not having a preset schedule or agenda for ministry, but just allowing the Lord to lead us to specific people who needed a tangible outpouring of His love. It’s not that we are not listening to the Lord when our ministry is assigned to us, but it was nice to have a specific time to hear from God and practice stepping out in faith and obedience. ATL should be a lifestyle woven into our everyday lives back home. As a follower of Jesus, I should be talking with God every day and following His lead anyway. ATL just puts language to it.
For further clarification, Ask The Lord (ATL) is simply a time to practice listening to God, and let ministry be a direct overflow of what He says. Jesus taught that if we belong to God we “hear what God says” (John 8:47). For more on this concept of Listening Prayer, I recommend a book called the Art of Listening Prayer by Seth Barnes (founder of Adventures in Missions/World Race). I read through this book back in 2017 before my mission trip to Guatemala, and I believe it was an instrument that God used to grow me spiritually.
As always, if you have comments/questions, please leave a comment below or click the contact button.
In courageous faith and for His glory alone,
Sharon
