Listening prayer is something I’ve learned a lot about on the race. It’s really simple and somehow also intimidating. It’s spending time with the Father and instead of praying or filling your ears with music you sit and listen. You can ask Him a question or just sit with Him and see what He brings up. The coolest part is that the more often you do it the easier it is to differentiate between His voice and all the others. Over the last few months we have come to rely pretty heavily on listening prayer. Especially when we’re deciding where to go and what to do in a country we don’t have a contact in. Sometimes there are immediate answers or a plan of action. Other times it takes awhile to see it all fit together. This is a story of the latter.
One day in October: Kelsey and her team were doing a listening prayer activity asking God what their time in Cyprus would look like. She got a mental picture of a woman. This woman was wearing a dark green sweater, had very dark eyes, dark hair and high cheekbones. Kelsey spent the rest of her time in Cyprus, and the months that followed, keeping an eye out for the woman God so clearly showed her.
February 6th: Day 3 of my word fast, during a time of listening prayer I felt the Lord very clearly telling me “You will celebrate your birthday with prostitutes.” I was so excited. I couldn’t tell anyone. I ran to Kelsey and showed her my journal.
February 6th: In Tbilisi Gina Marie was praying about where we should go in our next country. She asked the Lord for the name of the place we should go. She heard a three syllable word, something like “Se-mo-vi”. She googled it and there was no place in Azerbaijan by that name. So she looked at a map. She found the city of Sumqayit (pronounced sum-kai-et) and decided it was close enough! We did some research and were all on board! Unfortunately, there were no AirBNBs available. So we tucked that gem in our back pocket for later.
February 19th: Our team is praying for Azerbaijan. We feel a pull towards women working in prostitution especially after learning about the prevalent sex tourism industry. At least 3 of us felt the Lord was telling us that a woman we had heard about but not met would be our connection to these women. We’ll call her Mary.
February 20th: We met Mary! It was a surprise while we were going to meet another friend. She is as wonderful as everyone says she is. We told her about what the Lord was saying to us. As it turns out, this isn’t an area she does any work in… But she has a roommate.
February 21st: Mosaic has an opportunity to hangout at Mary’s house. We have a great lunch and help out with some tasks for her business. After lunch Kelsey and Niki do the dishes. Kelsey turn around from the sink and sees a woman in a dark green sweater, with pulled back dark hair, high cheekbones, and the most beautiful dark eyes. It’s Mary’s roommate, Ellen. It’s the woman Kelsey has been looking for since Cyprus. They spend the next hour chatting and learn that Ellen works with women who are addicted to narcotics. Many of these women end up selling their bodies to support their families and their addictions. She invites us to meet some of these women, her friends, later this week.
February 23rd: We take a taxi, find Ellen and blindly hop on a bus that she takes once a week to love on these ladies who have become dear friends. After a 20 minute ride we get out and she proudly tells us, “This is my city! This is Sumqayit. Please pray for my city.” Gina Marie nearly fell out on the side of the highway. We told Ellen that we have been praying for her city! And all about Gina Marie’s listening prayer.
We spend the afternoon doing girl stuff painting nails, braiding hair, sharing stories while wearing face masks, there was a constant flow of tea and worship. It was a celebration!! The day before my birthday.
That afternoon would have been beautiful and wonderful all on its own. But all of those little nuggets from the Lord coming together made it so much more. It reminded us that we weren’t there, or here, or anywhere, by accident. He has a perfect plan. He has perfect timing. And it’s so much better than anything we could come up with.
I want to encourage you to sit with the Lord. Just sit. And listen. Write down what you hear. Maybe it’s you, maybe it’s Him, it doesn’t really matter. In time you will know what’s from Him. You’ll look back on the things you’ve written and your mind will be blown in all the ways He’s shown up for you. I can’t wait to hear all about it!
