A month before we left for the race I made it official to my church, I was going to seminary following the race. I was scared to announce it, I was scared because God was calling me to something I didn’t ever think I’d do. After announcing I packed a 55L pack, and boarded a plane (or 3) to Colombia.
On night three of Colombia a leader asked 20 of us to pray and ask the Lord if he wanted us to speak at a church service in the morning. She needed one person to give a sermon and one to give a testimony. I prayed and immediately ran to a leader- “I want to do it! I want to do the sermon” I was excited and then I prayed about what God wanted me to speak about. I knew that God had a purpose for the seminary and I wanted to learn more about this by challenging my preaching abilities. I wanted to learn more about what the Holy Spirit could do with me as a vessel.
So I sat down with the Lord in prayer and asked him what I should preach about during the service.
“Lord what should I preach about? What verse?” “Matthew 7:24-26” popped into my head and I froze. That verse… “are you sure Lord?” “Trust me”
You see Matthew 7:24-26 was a verse I was about to preach to 40 homeless men, and it was about homes. When I asked God what to preach to homeless men he said preach about homes.
Crazy. Bold. Unexpected.
The idea of a foreigner from America walking up to a group of homeless men and telling them that tonight we are going to find a home seemed inappropriate. I sought out help from the leaders on my squad but was immediately reassured, “If that’s what God is calling you to talk about then speak about it.” So I gathered my notes, prayed that if God wanted me to speak about this he would speak through me to the group of people.
A few hours later I sat in a room with about 40 homeless men, and men in an addiction program. I stood shaking and nervous but prayed that God would speak through me tonight.
I started to talk about the house built on a rock, and a house built on sand. How we need to build or homes with Christ to have strong foundations like a rock foundation, strong. Then I told them about how in my life my foundation used to be like sand. I was depressed and God said tell them about your thoughts- So I continued telling them that at one point I had suicidal thoughts because I thought I was all alone. But God prevailed, God pulled me through and out of the darkness.
When my sermon was done I sat down and another squadmate talked about her past in the Catholic church. When we both finished the pastor came up and said:
“Whitney spoke about suicidal thoughts, and Lauren talked about her path in the Catholic church. I have some feelings that those relate to people in this room tonight. Anyone that has thoughts of ending their lives I’m asking you to step forward and we will pray for your foundation to strengthen into rock.”
5 people stepped forward, thinking about ending their lives.
“I feel like there are more people who need to step forward” The pastor continued.
2 more people stood up and our group stood up around them, hands on their shoulders in prayers. We prayed for a new foundation in their lives, a foundation on rocks.
Tonight God threw away all language barriers, used myself and Lauren as vessels to carry his word. I am beyond excited to see the next few months and what they bring. I’ll always recall the faces of the 6 men and 1 woman that stepped forward admitting their dark thoughts. I’ll never forget how God moved in a squadmate to tell that woman that she was worth this life and known by God. I’ll never forget how God put the words into our mouths to plant a seed of hope.
So here is my prayer tonight as I lay down still processing what happened:
“Lord we are your vessels, allow us to be used by your spirit. Speak through us, guide us, and lead us. Give us a strong foundation, a rock to stand on when the storms hit and bless those 7 Colombians that stepped forward tonight Lord.”
