Don’t you love it when God calls you out of your comfort zone?!
Isn’t it awesome when He asks you to do something that terrifies you and makes your heart beat so fast, you think it might jump out of your chest!?
You try to ignore it but the more you try to think about something else…that annoying feeling gets stronger and stronger and you feel like you might actually throw up!
This is where I was the day my team and I really felt called to go and pray for people in the middle of the square in Brasov, Romania! But of course God didn’t call us to go pray like normal people…sitting quietly on a bench and praying for the people that walk by! NO, He had a better idea!
I don’t know if you have heard or seen the people that hold up “FREE HUG” signs at parks or big events. You may have never gone up to them because in your head you are thinking “that is the weirdest thing in the whole world! Why would I want a hug from a complete stranger?”
Well we didn’t hold up FREE HUG signs….instead we held up FREE PRAYER signs! We asked the nearest mini mart store for a card board box… got the manager of the hostel to translate Free Prayer into Romanian…made two signs and headed for the square!
We hadn’t decided who was going to hold the signs and who was going to do intercession but I KNEW that I would be holding one of those signs! I did let God that if NO ONE else wanted to do it then I would, but if someone else wanted to then I wouldn’t stand in their way!
As we were walking…1 of my teammates said she would like to hold a sign and the other 3 teammates said they felt really led to do intersession!
Ha H Ha…FUNNY GOD!! I thought I had said that if someone else wanted to I wouldn’t stand in their way! I don’t know if I am strong enough to pray for complete strangers. And can we point out the obvious…we are offering prayer to people who DON’T SPEAK ENGLISH!!!!!
What am I supposed to do about this!?
There I was, holding this card board sign, looking for a place to go with dinosaur sized butterflies in my stomach! I started praying HARD that God would just allow my nerves to be calmed…that I would be bold for Him and that He would at least send me ONE person to pray for!
I got a lot of stares and a lot of second glances! People would walk by really slowly so they could read my sign! People would have confused looks on their faces, trying to figure out if I was for real or begging for money!
Just as I thought I would give up…this little guy came up to me and stood right in front of my sign! He had the biggest smile I had seen and he just stood there! I said Hello…and he replied “Hello…No English!”
Awesome God…what kind of joke is this????
I motioned with my hands, used small words and tried to ask him what his name was! I found out that his name was Roland and he was 9 years old! I asked him if I could pray for him and he shook his head yes with great eagerness and the next thing I knew he flew to the bench next to me and sat down!
Ok God…Give me the words to pray even if Roland can’t understand me!
At that moment…God covered that bench with so much love and yet again my heart was broken for this little boy! I wanted to hug him and tell him that Jesus loves him soooo much!
After I ended my prayer I expected Roland to jump up and run away…but he didn’t! In fact, he looked at my eyes and smiled! He didn’t move, didn’t need me to talk, and didn’t need me to help him! He was content sitting right next to me….and I was just fine not moving!
It was just Roland and me! We laughed and smiled a lot! I tried to ask him questions…but he didn’t understand! An elderly lady did come up and was curious about what I was doing! Her name was Maria and she didn’t speak a word of English! Roland was determined to translate for me! I believe he told the women what I was doing because once (I think) she understood…she smiled at me reached into her purse and took out a HUGE cross! I think she wanted me to know that she believed in God but didn’t want me to pray for her! I believe it had something to do that she was Greek Orthodox. She waved goodbye a few minutes later!
After a while…it was time for Roland to leave and it was time for me to rejoin my team! As I watched Roland run off…I thanked God so much for that little blessing! A few feet away, Roland turned around and made sure I was watching him leave so he could wave goodbye one more time! He did this twice more before he was out of site!
As I walked over to my team, I was in complete awe as I couldn’t believe what just happened! I realized the butterflies had disappeared and my heart was beating fast but it wasn’t because I was nervous….it was because I was filled with so much joy!
I stepped out of my comfort zone…obeyed what God had asked me to do and it will be a day that goes down in the books!
I don’t know who Roland was? I don’t know if he lived nearby? I don’t know if he was the only child or had brothers or sisters? But that didn’t matter at all!
Just as I stepped out into the scary unknown…Roland did the same thing! If he never came over and stopped in front of me…we would have never met! We wouldn’t have been able to laugh and try to talk to each other! We wouldn’t have formed this special friendship!
He had more faith then I would have had at his age! I’m pretty sure, God sent him to me for this exact lesson! I need to stop being afraid and step out when all I want to do is to throw up! Growing in my childlike faith and trusting that God will send me blessings around every corner!
Roland will always be my Town Square blessing!
