I just wanted to share an experience I had at training camp this last October that still to this day gives me a smile and chill bumps.
THE SETUP: During one of our teaching sessions one night we were asked to do an exercise of listening to God. At first, I was pretty iffy on the whole idea of experiencing the voice, vision, or presence of the Lord but that night was very different. We were asked to to simply be still, get quiet, calm our minds and hearts, close out eyes, and pray a simple prayer that God would speak to us. Whatever He wanted to say or do, that we would receive it and then journal it.
THE VISION: So I laid on my back and stared at the beautiful stars then asked God to speak to me. I closed my eyes and kept an open mind and tried my hardest to clear all of my thoughts so I would know it was Him. Then it happened. A small picture popped up in my mind of a pile of dirt. Keeping my mind open, the picture expanded to this same pile of dirt being worked by a gardening hoe. The picture expanded again and I saw the man that was using this gardening hoe to work this same pile of dirt. The picture again expanded out to show that this man was in an endless field of dirt that went for miles in each direction.
MY LEARNING: This man is absolutely crazy using a small gardening hoe in this endless field of dirt! Why wouldn't you use tractors or something that would get it done much faster?! Well, that is where God truly poured understanding on me from this vision. He showed me that I am the field of dirt and he is the man using the gardening hoe. He is using this gardening hoe to get every little imperfection out of the dirt and wont miss a spot like a tractor would. He is paying attention to all of the details and most of all, HE IS TAKING HIS TIME with me.
He told me that I am now in a season of CULTIVATION. This season is painful and tough to work through but is very necessary for the next season of GROWTH.
