Aside from not showering for almost a week, chick-fil-a was the only thing on my mind.
I did not expect to take on his pain.
During one of our squad times Hope our stand in squad mentor gave an awesome talk about hearing the Holy Spirit in terms of healing for others. She spoke of different ways the Lord speaks to us; audibly, visions, thoughts, body/emotional pain, and etc. I have heard the Holy Spirit’s voice in many ways, but honestly I hardly acted on it; sometimes out of fear and other times simply being unaware that it was Him speaking to me. One way I had never encountered was feeling the pain of those around me.
As I sat at my gate with some of my squad mates I was pleased, satisfied, and content with my chick-fil-a, and with the last two weeks of training camp. I was exhausted; I had been filled up and poured out over and over. As I ate and laughed I felt like I was done, I thought that just for the night He was going to let me rest.
The airline needed a couple of people to volunteer their seats on the plane, they were offering a night in a hotel, and a $400 voucher(which would have paid for Launch tickets); so Andie and I went and put our name on the list. I prayed to myself; “Lord, I pray that this is your will, it would help us both so much!” I We didn’t get picked, with some devastation and a hint of disbelief I said to Andie; “It’s okay, He has something better for us.”
I’m am not an airplane conversationalist; I don’t start small talk with my neighbor, but the next to me was, he even offered me some of his cookies! He was nice, and he smelled a whole lot better than I had.
My goal for that plane ride was to do a little reflection/ processing after training camp, as I started to journal I got the worst pain in my left wrist. I had no idea why, seeing as though I am right handed and my left hand hardly ever gets any attention. I begin to rub my wrist and my mind flashed back to Hope’s talk. I immediately knew that it was not my pain but my neighbors, but more importantly I knew that I the Lord was asking me to step out of myself, take Him out of the box, and not only start a real conversation with this man but pray for Him.
Me being who I am, I decided that the Lord and I would compromise; so I sat quietly in my seat and prayed for healing for this his wrist. I thought I had done a good job, I did what He was asking of me…kinda.
My wrist continued to hurt and then we landed. Andie turned around to talk to me but all I could think about was his wrist, and then he began to rub it like it had been hurting him. I took a deep breath and jumped in; it turns out he had broke his wrist a few years back and even after physical therapy he was still in a ton of pain. I told him about training camp and the Lord calling me outside of myself to pray for others and that I had prayed for him and his wrist throughout the plane ride and that I was going to pray for him again.
His wrist was not healed right then, but I truly believe the Lord used that incident, used that mans story, to give me the tiniest ounce of courage, trust, and faith that He is who He says He is, and he has chosen me to work through.
I was very hesitant to listen to Him at first, but on that plane ride, after a crazy week of being poured into and pouring out, speaking truth and hearing truth, while being sleep deprived and exhausted, Jesus stepped out of the box that I had kept in captive in for so long. He in a new and real way made Himself known to me.
