Strawberry 3.31.18
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Today we found ourselves in a mall in St. Katherine, Jamaica with our hosts. We split up into groups and somewhat on a whim were told that we were going to evangelize, what??!!
After doing our ministry of door to door evangelism for the past 2 weeks, this would seem like a piece of cake, but this was different.
Before we began this endeavor I felt fear, I felt opposition, I felt resistance, I felt discomfort, I felt disappointed that I didn’t stay back at the place we were staying, I felt uneasy, and I felt annoyed that this was more or less a surprise. I was totally in my flesh and wrapped up in self.
After I opened up to my team about all I was feeling, turns out I wasn’t alone in these feelings, (funny how that happens 🙂 ) and we prayed about it all and chose to say YES to where God had put us and what He had in store for us.
As the group I was in was standing outside the mall and asking people if they needed or wanted prayer (side note: Tammy and I improvised and made a sign from a lidless gas can that was abandoned on the side walk. We Evandilized it with the eords-Free Prayer) My teammate Kaysha asked me if I wanted to pray for a Treasure Hunt as we were waiting for people to come by.
The concept was adopted from the book The Ultimate Treasure by Kevin Dedmon. The premise: Basically you pray to God and ask Him to reveal who He wants you to pray for- sometimes you’ll get words, visions, scripture, etc. and ultimately it is to glorify Him and trust the Holy Spirit.
I had just explained to Kaysha how frustrated I get because every time we’ve done these Treasure Hunts I’ve never seen the things I thought God was showing me. I starting doubting and thinking it’s probably things I just made up. She explained that in the book (which I haven’t read yet) it suggests that if you don’t hear anything from God, to make something up and that He can still use that, what?!! I was certainly surprised by this but also encouraged.
So after her encouragement, I got the word cloud, made up the word strawberry, and got scripture 1 Corinthians 2:13.
After we were done evangelizing I wasn’t surprised that I hadn’t seen the things/words yet but I still had my eyes open for them. However, I still had my doubts: Where in the world was I going to see a STRAWBERRY of all things in Jamaica? Of course it was all just in my head like usual, right?
As we were getting in the car to leave the mall and go to a place to hang out and get coffee/ice cream I noticed my teammate Micaela had a little cup of frozen yogurt. The cup had little clouds on the outside of it and she was eating strawberries that she chose as a topping for her yummy treat, what?!!?
I WAS SO EXCITED and tickled. God led me to my teammate who was sitting right next to me. Someone I’ve gotten the privilege to see day in and day out for the past three months! I asked her if she needed prayer and she shared that she has a friend who is need of protection from spiritual warfare right now. After praying and feeling happy that God really did show up in clouds and strawberries I thought He was done, wrong again!
So off we went for a 15 minute drive to this coffee shop. Once we got there I wasn’t even going to go but changed my mind at the last minute. We walk in, and my goodness it was lovely to be in a real COFFEE SHOP for the first time in three months! Anyways I’m taking it all in and I see a framed picture of a man and a woman who I assumed were the owners. We were given menus and I was looking at the backstory of the coffee shop that was on the front and it said their coffee was called STRAWBERRY Hill, nooooo wayyyyyyyy!!!!!
As we ordered and we were going to sit down there was a man with beautiful long gray hair and he moved out of his seat and said we could have the table he was sitting at and that he will get it cleaned off. I was taken aback when I saw his face because I had just seen that same face in the picture I looked at when I came in. Even though his hair was much different, I knew it was him.
As I was standing there I knew in the moment that I had a decision to make. My decision was this, I could either let the opportunity pass me by and not risk looking like a complete weirdo, or I could take a bold step, be obedient to the fact that God gave me one more strawberry, and go talk to the man.
So I swallowed my pride and walked over to him.
I asked him if he was the man in the picture and if this was his coffee shop. He said yes. I shook his hand and introduced myself. I explained how I knew how weird I was about to sound and I proceeded to tell him about our morning. I included the bit about the Treasure hunt and the word strawberry and the correlation to his coffee. I asked him if I could pray for him.
He was a very kind man and he shared that the staff would probably love prayer, but he was actually agnostic. I shared with him a little of my testimony about how I used to be an unbeliever for almost my whole life until a little over 2 years ago and that I struggled with drugs and alcohol and where God has brought me now. He seemed receptive and interested but also uncomfortable. I didn’t want to push him or deter him so I just got his name and told him that I would be praying for him. He smiled and shook my hand.
God is so good! When I doubt or underestimate Him, He has a funny habit of completely dissipating my doubts in the most unpredictable ways!
Please join me for praying for Jonathan at a coffee shop in Jamaica! Please pray that The Lord continues to plant seeds and keep scheduling unexpected and divine appointments that blow his mind! Please pray that he comes to know The Lord someday soon and that God wrecks Him in the most beautiful of ways for His Kingdom.
Thank you for reading my blog! I encourage you to try a Treasure Hunt and please share it with me!!! I want to know how it goes and how God uses you!
Blessings,
Courtney
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