“Walking with the Lord” is a phrase I heard a lot growing up, but it was always in a spiritual sense, not necessarily a physical walk. One of the things that gets practice on the race is what’s called ATL, which stands for Ask the Lord, and it’s pretty much just that. We will go out in the communities and just ask the Lord what is it that He has for us. Sometimes that’s which direction we take, someone that we need to pray over, visions or images to look for, or just talking to people, smiling at them, and showing Him through our actions and how we carry ourselves. It’s all about just listening to Him speak and obeying what He tells you with boldness, and when you listen with a yes already in mind, man does He speak.
This was a form of ministry that was completely new for me before the race, and honestly kinda scary to put into practice. Hearing the Lord was never something I would have considered a spiritual gift of mine, so it was out of my element and was something I had no idea where even to begin. The morning of our first ATL I sat in devotionals and prayed for God just to open my hears to hear His voice. I am a very visual person, and at the base we have a big chalk board we write, and draw on, so my image for ATL became this big chalk board where I ask the Lord to erase my thought and to write His. Putting that image to practice suddenly made ATL a lot less scary, and even some of my best moments in the past month. I loved watching the squad go out hearing the Lord and acting with a yes on their hearts, and people being healed and loved because of it.This past week I just felt like I heard Him telling me just hang in the back this week and watch, which trust me wasn’t my first choice, but knowing He wanted to show me something I listened and hung back as I watched my team go and pray and talk to people.
My love language is physical touch, and one of the most beautiful things about God is that He knows that kinda stuff about us and will use it to reach us. As I was walking, with my Bible in one hand, watching my family go to strangers and bless them, I felt God in a way I never had before. He gave me an image of Him and I walking in a field together, Him holding my hand pulling me along, like a Father does with His daughter. I felt Him walking with me, holding my hand, telling me I was where I was meant to be, and for the first time ever I knew exactly what it meant to really walk with the Lord. I am excited to see what all He has planned for me and my team, and to keep y’all updated on what that looks like over the next nine months. Thanks for Reading! Till next time.
