This last Friday my team was asked not to go to ministry because a member of our ministry hosts’s church passed away. That being said, my team had an entire day to pray and seek the Lord and ask what He would have us do. Not to spoil anything but God showed up and did something incredible!!
My team was up at 6:30am again for breakfast and then we had devotional time until about 8:30am after we got the news that we wouldn’t be going to ministry. We currently have a missionary couple visiting us everyday and talking with our leadership about moving to the area. Kevin and Ana are incredible, they did the 11 in 11 Race ( 11 countries in 11 months) and have an abundance of spiritual wisdom that my team is always trying to get more of. On this particular morning Kevin was supposed to travel to my team’s ministry, the children’s feeding program, and because it was cancelled we began to ask Kevin what He did on His race whenever ministry fell through. He began to tell us about “ATL,” Ask the Lord. Simple, right? Except when He talked about it the idea became revolutionary to my team. The goal was to go out into the community in small groups of 3 or 4 and literally ask the Lord where He wanted you to go and what He wanted to you. You have to be completely reliant on God for every one of your steps and seek His true will in the direction that you go. I don’t know about you but normally when I go outside I have a general plan and direction for the things that I wish to get accomplished but thats why this exercise is so great. Walking in communion with the Holy Spirit, discerning whether or not I should reach out and ask to pray for a stranger in broken Spanish or ride the bus to what God would have for me in the next town was one of the most spiritually exciting and intimate things I have ever done.
My team left close to 9:00 am, split into two groups, and decided to meet back up at our house at 11:30, or 12 at the latest for lunch. I was so excited! Have you ever felt the Holy Spirit’s power around you? Felt as if God was truly in your plans? It’s thrilling and nerve-wracking all at the same time. I had no idea what God was calling me to. I left that morning with Kevin, and my teammates Alex and Abby. After a short prayer asking God to be present in our steps and to direct us towards His will, we were off. Kevin felt like the Holy Spirit was leading us a few blocks through our neighborhood to the Fresh Market so my team started there. Once there we asked a sweet cashier (in our very rough Spanish) if she needed prayer. She directed us to her manager, who seemed to be in some pain. Our interaction in short: he thought we were super weird and did not want us to pray for him. This was a slightly disheartening way to start out our prayer walk but we were not going to give up. As we rounded the corner after the Fresh Market my group came upon a few shops and Kevin asked, “Does anyone feel like the Holy Spirit is telling them anything.” All of a sudden I felt my voice rise up and I was saying “Yes! Stop here.” I felt like we should stop at this little corner store bakery and pray for a woman inside. The woman inside ended up being the shop keep owner and she spoke exceptional English! Through our conversations with her she told us that because of the riots in San Jose her bakery was suffering a loss of business. She had been praying to God for help and encouragement and said that she knows now that God is with her through His act of sending us. We were able to encourage and strengthen her through prayer and now our squad stops by her bakery frequently to continue our friendship with her and bless her business!
On our way out of the bakery, not even 15 feet up the street, an older gentleman was jogging behind us up the street and tapped us on the shoulder. He stopped and also began to speak english with us! His name was Mario, he’s Costa Rican, and my team is now invited to his church which is located a little over 2 miles from us! Partway through our conversation Kevin began to feel the Holy Spirit telling him that Mario was experiencing some pain in his left ear. When Kevin asked him Mario was astounded; he said that he had been in a bad car accident a few years earlier and his ear still caused him a lot of pain. Guys, the Holy Spirit is so cool!! We got to pray healing over Mario in the middle of town and it was incredible. Mario said that he could hear more out of his ear following our prayers, felt blessed by the spirit, and would love to keep us updated on the complete healing of his ear over the next few weeks. I’ll keep you guys posted!
Following this experience Mario directed us to some shopping centers that were nearby up the road. We knew where the Walmart was located but we listened to Mario anyway because it was obvious he loved practicing his English. My team stopped and prayed about our further directions and we all really felt like the Lord had spoken through Mario and so we walked up to the shopping centers down the road.
Ya’ll, this is where it gets real good. Listen up, God is so faithful!!
So my team is walking up the road to the shopping centers and along the way we have some funny, community building conversations with the street venders we pass daily. Then my teammate Alex gets a word, she feels like the Holy Spirit is leading us to Walmart. At this moment I was feeling a little confused. Why Walmart God, why not somewhere new? Why not take an adventure on the bus to the next town? But God was asking me to lay down my expectations and follow him, he had a plan. So into Walmart we went. Walking down the first aisle all the way to the back of the store is the toys section. It was here that I felt the Holy Spirit tugging on my heart. Somewhere inside the words “buy a doll” were being whispered. By a doll, what?? God those are really expensive, I’m on a budget, what’re you thinking? There it was again, “buy a doll.” I turned to my team; “Guys, this feels super weird but I feel like God is calling me to the toys section to look at the dolls.” My team was excited, so on board. Great.
As I was looking at the dolls I asked my team which doll they thought I should buy. At that exact moment my teammate, Abby, walked by me and without touching anything had one doll fall a foot from the shelf and land in front of her feet. Whaaaaaat, Crazy! I picked it up and it was a cute little Spanish superhero doll. Well, that was the confirmation I needed. I went with my group up to cash out, bought the doll, and from there the spirit fully took over. I don’t know how to explain it but as my group left the Walmart I knew where to go. We walked up a steep hill to the right of us and at the top I felt the Holy Spirit tell me that we had to walk down the road to the right about half a mile to a place that we’ve never been and then turn left. I began to see the image of a little girl and her mother in my mind. My team set out and at the end of the road when we turned left was a bus stop none of us had ever been to. Right as we arrived one bus came and paused to allow to passengers off; a mother and her young daughter. I was shocked, standing there on the side of the road, holding a superhero doll in a Walmart bag. I waited to feel confirmation in my spirit but sometimes the Lord is waiting us to act on the things he has led us into. He had led me all the way up to that point, I just had to say yes. The mother and daughter hurried down the road and Kevin spurred us all forward after them since I was a little frozen. How were they going to react? How was I going to speak to them? I don’t know Spanish?
As we followed the couple down the road the little girl ran a little farther ahead of her mom, jumping up and down with joy to be outside, stretching her arms out to touch the flowers overhanging them from the trees. I began to feel overwhelmed with emotion, tears sprang to my eyes as my heart was filled with love for this joyful little girl. God, is this what you feel like when you chase us down to give good gifts to your kids?
Finally catching up to the mother and daughter I called out in my broken Spanish and greeted them. Slightly nervous as we approached them, the mother drew her daughter close. Lord, be in this conversation, speak on behalf of me. Shower them in your love. In my broken Spanish and some of Kevin’s Spanish knowledge I asked the mother if I could giver her daughter this doll. As I removed the doll from the bag the little girl’s face lit up with excitement and the mother’s face broke in tears of gratitude. Embracing me, the mother began to tell me that her daughter didn’t have a father, that she was struggling to provide, and that work was hard. She had been praying to God for providence and she knew that God saw them now because God had answered her prayers through us, the missionaries.
As she cried, I cried. My heart was filled with love for her and her daughter and gratitude to the Lord for that amazing experience. God works in incredible ways all you have to do is ask the Lord daily where he would lead you.
