I am sitting here at my computer with my mouth on the floor completely overwhelmed at how good the Holy Spirit is.
Last night our squad went out and about on the streets of ValParaiso, Chile.
Before we left we spent some time in prayer asking the Lord who He wanted us to talk to. My teammate Lindsey Argue (Shoutout to this Bo$$ women who has been killing me with her wisdom) and I got the words “red hat and white shoes.” I also felt the Lord telling me we were going to talk to a traveler who spoke English.
After wrapping up our prayers we left the hostel and felt drawn to walk down the street with all the bars. For about fifteen minutes we walked slowly down the street without really seeing anything or feeling like we should talk to anyone.
But then I saw a guy with a red hat at one of the bars! I approached him asking if I could pray for him. He was not into the suggestion so I just told him I would be thinking of him and that Jesus loves him. When I walked away I saw the rest of my crew standing on the side of the street praying out loud.
Once I joined them they told me to look at the group of people standing on the curb near us. I immediately noticed a guy with a red hat and white shoes. I almost fell over with anticipation and my awesome group member (Olivia Reed, if you don’t know her you’re missing out) suggested we pray again before we do anything. So we started praying and I got a strong sense that if the girls left the group then we were supposed to go talk to him.
So sure enough the girls left and when they did Olivia approached him and asked his name. We proceeded to talk to him, learning more about him. I asked him if he had any problems we could be praying for (in my broken Spanish). He replied with a solemn “yes,” but with a guarded spirit. It was clear he didn’t want to tell us more. So I asked if we could pray for him without more details, and we did. I told him Jesus loved him and he gave me a respectful nod. And that was it, we went on our merry way and kept walking.
We proceeded to meet three awesome foreign exchange students (who spoke English, go figure) and after talking to them for a while I got the sense that God wanted me to tell the girl in the group how beautiful she was.
I was immediately met with hesitation in my spirit, but as our conversation was wrapping I decided to suck it up and pull her aside.
So I asked her if I could pray for her and told her I just wanted her to know how beautiful she is. She then started to cry, saying “How did you know I needed to hear that, you have only known me for ten minutes.”
I almost fell over (again)
Thankfully I kept my cool and finished praying. When I opened my eyes she was staring at me with tears streaming down her face whispering “thank you.”
We then looked into each others eyes for a good couple minutes and I told her how loved she is. It was one of the most tender moments the Lord has ever blessed me with.
After that I couldn’t function. I was on cloud nine.
And this is why:
in the past four months God has broken me.
He has slapped me across the face with the reality of my littleness.
Like I mean lying on the floor, sobbing on the ground kind of littleness.
He has shown me how to see the hearts of those that I love and how to fall in love with them even more deeply (Emily Poe cough cough). In doing this I have no other choice but to think about them before myself.
He has helped me walk out of selfishness and pride and into true humility and true love.
Yesterday I was paralyzed with fear. I didn’t want to carry out the promptings of the Holy Spirit last night because I was terrified other people would think I was seeking attention or affirmation.
I came close to not telling a girl she was loved because I was scared of others judging my motives.
What a total load of crap! Seriously.
Being afraid of others thinking I am prideful is just as bad as actually being prideful. Both of them at one point or another have wrecked me and left me enslaved to earthly desires.
And the irony? Even the fear of being prideful is still me thinking about myself. It is a false humility.
Lindsey Argue said it well last night. She said if fear of others responses keeps you from sharing truth then you are being selfish.
You are robbing others from a chance to know the Lord because you are consumed with your own desire for comfort.
And the story from last night? It doesn’t end with us getting back to the hostel.
This morning our whole squad was sharing stories from last night and our hostel manager Claudio shared with me some amazing news. (WHO, BY THE WAY, JUST EXCEPTED JESUS YESTERDAY!!!!! LIKE HOW GOOD IS GOD, CAN I GET AN AMEN. But that’s a whole other blog story!)
He said that a taxi driver approached him today and told him about a girl with dreads who had prayed for his son last night at the bar.
He said his son had come back to him today to reconcile their relationship.
That “son” was the guy with a red hat and white shoes!
SERIOUSLY?!
PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!! I HAVE NO WORDS.
I honestly have no clue what to do with myself right now I am so dumbfounded.
I just want to run around in circles dancing and hollering at the top of my lungs like a mad women.
God is great, HE IS INSANE, His love is everything.
I will close with this (because clearly I am starting to get ranty)
If we have the courage to fully surrender ourselves to His will and to obey without living in fear, God’s love WILL change the world.
And we can do it. Everyday. At the office, with our families, and at the grocery stores.
If we just choose to listen and obey in confidence.
Here’s to making Jesus Famous.
LES’ GOOOOO!!
Love you all, freaking mean it
P.S. If you would like to support the wise wonderful Lindsey Argue head over to lindseyargue.theworldrace.org and click on the support me tab!
