going…is sometimes the easier part. walking in obedience and wondering whether you meet someone and will hear the voice of God, is the scary and uncertain part.
a few weeks ago…our ministry for the day…going and asking the Lord (ATL) to guide you to a place, and a person/s. all the while listening for His leading of words of love and prophecy.
the five of us with the vision of the city jumped on a bus and headed toward the square. for me, this was a timed filled with prayer and gladness. prayer first, that we will meet people to speak life into or a get a specific focus to pray on and not wander around aimlessly; glad because two of the gals could speak spanish…at least good enough to get around and speak a somewhat coherent conversation. with them i felt much better equipped to speak to the people, much better than my hola.
so with great expectations of loving on the costa rican people, we prayed, split into two groups and were off. we found ourselves wandering around to find the central part of the city, stopping to take pictures and enjoying the view. i glanced at a street solicitor and saw him being pursued by the police when I heard the words…
“do you speak english?”
we found ourselves being introduced to an american, a guy from california who was extremely excited to meet someone who spoke english, (I know the feeling).
from that point on we learned that ronnie had been traveling around for about a week, ran out of money, and was in the recovering stage of being shot in the leg back home(explaining the cane that he had).with extreme humility he asked for money or something to eat. with a glance between the three of us and with no hesitation (we knew he was “the person”) we said “no problem” and walked to the nearest pizza hut.
after ordering, and with polite and sincere thanks, ronnie was ready to be dismissed. but God wasn’t finished with him yet. in my spirit i knew that there was more. “can we sit and chat a bit?” were the words that proceeded out of my mouth.
among the next ten minutes came a time of reassurance of God’s love for ronnie, and other words and prayers of covering over his life. this was truly a man that the Lord was pursuing and inviting him into a closer connection with. he seemed receptive and his spirit was open to the words from God.
i left there grateful that God was able to use us. i was also dumbfounded and amused that with thousands of miles away from america he used us to speak love and truth to someone from the u.s.a. we came here to love and serve on the people of costa rica and God had us at that particular time and place speak and provide for an american brother.
everyday i am blown away by God using me. regardless of where i am, whether in america or traveling around the world i am called to be open to love, speak truth and affirmation from the Lord. that is missions: being available and open to God’s leading and instruction by pouring into people and striving to love them with the openness and sincerity God asks us to. whether we have a corporate, manual or labeled “missionary ” position we are all doing the thing that we were asked to do. we just need to all do it with the same obedience, genuine love, openness and fortitude.
