God Told Me To Bring A Knife…
{a story of a supernatural miracle}
It was 4am on Monday, June 19, 2017 in Rwanda.
I shut off my alarm clock(s) on my iPhone, and got out of my mosquito-net wrapped bed.
I decided I wanted to wear my hair half up half down for the day.
Now—this doesn’t seem significant.
Why would I blog about an unimportant detail?
Because it led to so much more…
When I wear my hair in this style, I usually put on a barrette. I usually toss my moto-wind-blown hair in a ponytail and get on with the day. No make-up and no effort appearance-wise is part of the world race missionary culture, I suppose. But today was different—we were going on a safari!
I searched my bag for the barrette; alas, couldn’t find it.
Out of the blue, I remembered it was in the top compartment of my big pack.
As I zipped open the top part of the bag, I saw the Swiss army knife I brought on the race.
Immediately, I heard the Lord say,
“Kels—take the swiss army knife with you today on your safari”
LORD—did I hear you right?
Isn’t it funny how we always doubt the Lord’s voice when we hear Him?
Lately I’ve heard the Lord’s voice about some things I haven’t seen come into fruition, so I asked Him.
“How do I know this is you speaking, Lord?”
He said, “My child. It is I am. Do you trust me?”
Oh—sweet Jesus. That’s how I know. Time after time, I wrestle and doubt the Lord’s voice—and that line gets me every time. God knows my heartbeat and knows I’m dependent on those words of His—do you trust me?
But still—my flesh answered Him, “God—why do you want me to bring a Swiss army knife? It seems kind of silly…”
Immediate conviction. That’s not for us to decide. God decides the task. We get to decide if we want to obey.
All throughout Scripture, God asks people to do weird things.
During a ferocious storm, Jesus asks Peter to step out of the lifeline-of-a-boat in the middle of the sea to risk his life by walking on water in faith.
God asks Ananias (a Christian) to speak to Saul (a guy who murdered Christians) and put his hands on him so that Saul would receive sight.
God tells Ezekiel to prophesy life and breath over a pile of dry, old, dead bones in the midst of a valley.
God tells Noah to build an ark when the weather was in pristine condition—no “flood” in sight!
Today, God was telling me to bring a pocket knife with me.
Soon after, God said, “You will see soon—but it’s up to you to choose if you want to bring it or not.”
I love this because it speaks to His character.
He is patient with us.
He invites us.
He gives us the choice.
There is no force involved.
He simply, kindly, and gracefully—like a good parent—gives us the option of choosing in.
I just need to say this right now, y’all….
We ALL have 100% access to God—some of us just don’t choose Him.
We fill our lives with busy-ness, we fill the holes in our heart with distractions, and we get mad at God for not being able to hear His voice.
My number 1 takeaway from the race is this:
If we want more of God’s presence, we have to make room for it.
Think of a glass with water in it. The water represents us.
Are we full of ourselves? (pun intended)
If we fill our cup with our desires, our distractions, our whatever—how can there be any space for God?
We need to empty ourselves to make more room for Him.
That means tipping the glass over to pour ourselves out.
That means turning a monologue full of “God can you–“’s into a conversation of waiting for Him to respond in dialogue.
It means waiting on His voice.
It means asking Him questions and waiting for Him to respond.
Anyway—I’m getting off topic.
I decided to bring the knife.
And I’ll be 100% honest with you…
I completely forgot about it.
4am will do that to ya!
After an eventful, 8-hour, fun-filled day of seeing giraffes, zebra, hippos, and crocodiles, we decided to make our way back home.
On our way out of the park, we saw a safari car stopped on the side of the road.
Our safari driver, Patrick, hopped out of his car to see what was going on.
He ran back to us and said this…
“DOES ANYONE HAVE A BLADE ON THEM OF ANY SORT?! The car broke down and I need to cut the seatbelts in their car to create a lever…”
WHAT. YES! WAIT. WHAT. HOW???!!!
THE LORD—that’s how!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Surprised, I answered, “Wait—I actually do!”
Astonished, two of my teammates turned to me and said, “You do?!”
Assured it was the Lord, I answered, “YES! God told me to bring a Swiss army knife this morning—so I have a blade!”
I handed over the blade, and my teammate Sarah W. said, “Wow—that’s so cool! Maybe they need to hear about Jesus today!”
I obeyed and that, right there, was God giving me direction.
I knew what I had to do.
Our safari driver, Patrick, cut the seatbelts of the other car to pull the car behind ours.
Patrick came back and thanked me for the knife.
In a Holy Spirit-filled response, I answered, “Don’t thank me—it wasn’t my idea!”
God set this next part up perfectly…
Patrick replied, “Who told you to bring the blade?”
With a smile on my face, I said, “JESUS!”
So now—PATRICK—witnessed the testimony and saw the glory of God!
I sat back in my seat and put in my headphones to listen to worship music.
I listened to the new “Starlight” album by Bethel (10/10 would recommend btw), and I prayed and praised God for His faithfulness and wonder!
The story gets cooler…
I said to God, “Lord—I feel like you are wanting me to tell the people in that broken down safari car about Jesus. You’re going to have to make a way and provide an opportunity for this to happen. I’m willing—but I need you to intervene.”
As we pulled the broken-down safari car behind ours, 10 minutes passed.
Our car suddenly stopped.
Some park officials came up to Patrick (our driver) and said, “the gate to exit the park is locked—the guy who took the key left around 10 minutes ago. We’ll have to get some tools to cut the lock off the gate. It might take a while.”
WHAT. YES! WAIT. WHAT. HOW???!!!
THE LORD—that’s how!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s who my God is!! He hears us! He provides! He intervenes!! He goes before us!!
Yet again, I knew what I had to do.
I jumped out of the car and walked toward the broken-down safari car.
Inside the car were 2 Americans from Ohio. They were a mid-aged married couple.
I introduced myself and asked them if I could share a cool story with them.
I told them the story you just read, and how I believe Jesus wanted me to tell them that He loved them and that He sees them.
As I asked them if they knew who Jesus was, the woman replied, “Ohh—we’re good.”
Seeking to understand, I replied, “What does that mean? Do you know Him?”
Uneasily, she replied, “Oh—yes—we’re good. I guess we know of him.”
The Holy Spirit took over—thankfully—and gave me the words to say.
We made small talk, and we exchanged our reasonings for being in Rwanda.
Then, they told me that this was the 2nd time their car broke down today! Their first safari car had a flat tire—and now this!
It was time to go, and Holy Spirit gave me insight and prompted the next words that came out of my mouth.
While I don’t remember entirely what I said, it was something along the lines of this:
“I hope you all have a better day!! Just wanted to tell you the story and let you know that Jesus loves you both SO much. I think He’s trying to get your attention about something. I love Jesus—and I’ve never experienced more joy and peace in my life than when I’m with Him. He wants to give you that same joy and peace. He’s opening the door for you, and it’s your choice if you want to walk in.”
God gave me a clear message to tell them. And friends, the same message goes for you. Just like He gave me a choice to obey Him—He gives you the same choice to accept Him.
Peace and grace,
Kels
