The sun rose and the heat woke us up, like any normal day. We began our day the usual way with our own quite times in the morning and then joining together as a tea, over some scrammies and bananas.
What was different about today was that we didn’t actually have a set schedule or plan necessarily; our goal was to go find an “Unsung Hero” (see my previous blog “4- Year Old Lens” for an explanation of what in the world an Unsung Hero is).
What I’ve come to find out is that the best way to begin anything in which you have no idea what you are doing is to, drum role please, pray. I know I know. Sunday school answer. Sue me, it is the truth.
So we did some listening prayer as a team. We prayed for the Lord to lead us where He wanted us to go, not the reverse. As a collective group we felt like He was calling us to the beach, what beach and to whom we did know.
We hopped on a bus that we knew would get us reasonably close to the beach. We honestly had no clue what we were doing. No one on my team had done this before, prayer walking to find our next Unsung Hero. We had to put all our trust in the Lord and trust the plan He had for us that day.
Alas, we arrived at a beach in the Mira Flores area. It was breathtakingly beautiful with surfers lining the pebble beach. Our team split up to spend some alone time in prayer and worship with the Lord.
I was drawn straight to the jetty. I sat on the jetty rocks and watched the waves beat against the rocks over and over. I spoke to the Lord that I was un-equipped. I did not know how to do this. I did not know how to be a disciple.
Immediately the Lord spoke to me “I know you”. I was kind of frustrated with the Lord, because I knew that He knew me, and He was being a little vague with me. I was questioning whether I knew the Lord and His word well enough to seek out another person and pour into them. Was I equipped? That was my question.
Defeated, I began to sing the song, “Speak to Me”, begging the Lord to answer me. Within the song the lyrics say, “I am your servant, and I am listening. Speak to me Lord, speak to me. I need your wisdom, and truth and comfort. Speak to me Lord, speak to me”.
Then it hit me. I was reading and singing the lyrics all wrong. Instead the Lord was saying to ‘Speak to me, daughter, speak to me!” I was not bringing all that was in me to the Lord. I was just skimming the surface, and that was not what the Lord wanted to work in me that day.
Right then the Lord sent over my dear friend Rachael, she came to me and said the Lord had given her a vision in the midst of her prayers and that it was for me.
Let me back track all the way back to training camp for a minute. During one of the prayer and worship nights Rachael and I were praying over each other and spent time asking the Lord what He had for the other. Rachael spoke to me that she saw me walking in the midst of a river. The river was flowing and steadily moving. As I continued to walk people began to appear behind me, following me into and up the river. She explained to me that the river signified Christ and the cleansing powers that He freely provides and that I just had to step into the waters to receive what Christ desperately wanted to share with me. She saw me as a leader, a leader that would lead others to the redemption that Christ can only give.
This took me aback; I was not ready to do that. It was just training camp and I hadn’t even left for The Race yet! That was too much; I was not capable of doing such things. I doubted the strength of my faith, instead of relying of the strength of the Lord.
Fast forward back to the jetty where Rachael and I sat upon a rock together. She spoke to me that the Lord had given her that same vision again. I shared with her that I felt defeated and unequipped. She spoke to me that she felt like I would be the one to find ‘the man of peace’ or the ‘Unsung Hero’ along the beach today.
The team grouped up again and we decided that where we were currently was not the place the Lord wanted us to be. We began to walk down the beach further, looking for something from the Lord.
We sat down as a team under a tree all feeling a little defeated. We prayed and sang, and the Lord completely overwhelmed me. Tears began to stream down my face. I was convicted.
My team had the courage to ask me to speak into my tears and give them a notion of what in the heck was going on with me. I explained to them that the Lord was calling me out for all the things that I was holding onto to from the past and not giving them up to Him.
My team challenged me to go down to the water and put my feet it. I was reluctant because it was rock/ pebble beach that was actually quite hard to walk down, and I had rolled my ankle one too many times hiking Machu Picchu the week prior. I was in discomfort simply walking in a normal stride and I was by no means prepared to scale down a loose rock beach. I offered my team my plea, but they were having none of it. They simply replied, “We would really love it if you would go down to the water”. I reluctantly unlaced my chucks and left them behind and headed towards the water.
Amazingly as I began to make my way across the rocks I was in no pain. Actually it’s not amazing, it’s Jesus.
I got to the waters edge and I let the waters brush over my toes. I began to pick up rocks and throw them into the waves. Each stone I picked up and threw into the crashing waves represented what I was holding to, that was actually being a hindrance to my relationship with Christ. The barrier was unhealthy and not what he wanted for me, His daughter.
Sorry to all you feet podophobia people out there.
When I first began picking up each rock and tossing it into the ocean, those were only surface emotions. After 15 minutes or so of praying, singing, and crying out to the Lord, each throw gained more force behind it. As I dug deeper and deeper into myself, it was harder and harder to let go. But, once I finally did, I felt so free. I was being emptied so that the Lord could fill me up.
Our God is such a personal God. He knew I needed some physical act to actually let go. So he gave me a Peruvian beach covered with stones.
Overflowing with God’s grace I gracefully climbed up the pebble-rock-hill-beach-thing (Just kidding I fell like 4 times) and shared what the Lord had revealed to me to my team.
Then it was my turn to challenge them. I requested that they now go down to the beach, pick up a rock or 20 and cast them away. To give all there worries and cares to the Lord. To be freed and to be filled up by the Lord. To cast their stones and let the Lord carry them.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”- 1 Peter 5:6-7
The Lord spoke to me, “Daughter, you’re the unsung hero today.”
Then we all ran into the ocean fully clothed and filled with joy that only comes from being filled with the Spirit.
Dripping wet giggles were shared this day.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete”- John 15:11
