This month in Bulgaria we have been doing an Ask the Lord (ATL) month, which basically means we wake up each day and ask what the Lord has in store for us. This month more closely resembles our lives back in the States because we are not partnered with a host who tells us what ministry to do. Through listening to God’s voice more I have been learning that He is a God of details. And if we take the time to actually slow down and quiet ourselves we can better see all of the ways that God steadfastly pursues us. So I wanted to share a few of the ways that this “guy” (God) has been pursuing me in the details this past month.
At the beginning of this month we did a 12-hour prayer walk around the city of Sofia praying over the people living there. My teammate Regan and I walked to a park and prayed for the people we saw. In this park I saw fall leaves that were orange, which are my favorite! This was the first time I had seen orange fall leaves in Bulgaria and this has been the only place where I have seen them since! It was such a small, but sweet gift from Him.
My teammate Regan and I at Southpark
A few days after this prayer walk I was sitting in a Starbucks having some quiet time with the Lord when I boldly asked God for a gift meant just for me. I asked God to show me that He truly sees me even in the ordinary and mundane. Not ten minutes later, a couple approached me and asked me if I am from America. I responded ‘yes’ but was perplexed at how they knew. They said that they noticed my REI backpack and Tom’s shoes (both American brands). They said they were here in Bulgaria meeting their son for the first time and would officially adopt him within a few months. After talking for a few minutes, I found out they are from Cincinnati, Ohio, which is where my brother lives and is only about two hours from my house!! Dang, such a small world! After our conversation and telling them why I was in Bulgaria, they took the time to pray over me and blessed the rest of our trip! Wow, I was blown away by how God answered my prayer through this random couple in Bulgaria.
As this couple stood up from their chairs, my teammate, Regan, felt like she should take off her headphones and pay attention from where she was sitting. I’m grateful God prompted Reg so that she could capture this sweet moment!
Living abroad for the past three months and experiencing different cultures has made me miss home in some ways. Recently I have noticed that God has given me little reminders of home through buckeyes! For those of you who don’t know, Ohio’s state tree is the buckeye. When I was little my grandpa had a buckeye tree at his house and I have sweet memories of picking up buckeyes around the yard with him. For the past month or so I have seen a few buckeye trees near our ministry sites and have picked a few of them up along the way. This is such a tiny detail, but brings me a smile every time I see one on the ground.
There are many other ways that God has shown me His goodness this past month, but those are just a few of my favorites! I hope by reading these stories that you are inspired in some way and I hope that they encourage you to ask God bold prayers. Our God is not distant, He is right here with us every single day. He sees us in the mundane and cares deeply about you. I pray that you would know “the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18-19).
