To be, to sit still, to rest, that is something that is hard
for me. I am a DO-er, we live in a doing society, so when I heard about a
conference called the BE conference, I thought it may be beneficial to check out.
During the conference we had an opportunity to practicing BEING. Being still and asking God to speak. I was blessed during those times
and would like to share them with you….
As we counted off 1-22 we soon found out who our partners
would be and who we would be praying for. I had never met Jim, but that’s what was cool. We
introduced ourselves to each other and then took a few moments to be silent and listen to what God had for one another. We
then began to pray back and forth for each other for a while. When we were done he looked
at me and asked if anything resonated or connected. I got a huge grin on my face and just said, “dead on.” He spoke and prayed for things so specifically that I was struggling with and talking with God about. He was surprised, but I wasn’t, God has a way of doing that. I asked him the same question and he quoted the same, “dead on.” He then shared about what was going on and it was a blessing to be able to pray for a fellow brother in such a specific way….looking forward to his book being published too!!
Later in the day another opportunity was presented to stop, be, and listen.
We, as a group, wanted to ask God if there was a ministry He wanted us to do
that afternoon. We all stopped quieted ourselves and listened. It was during
this time I kept seeing a woman pushing a child in a
stroller at a specific grocery store. I thought to myself, “please
clear my mind so I can hear from you, erase this thought.” but the image wouldn’t go away, rather it got more spefici with $60 in an envelope. I quickly realized God was speaking… So when asked if
anyone received anything I raised my hand and shared. This was affirmed by a
few others who also heard a mother and child. The next thing I knew I was
receiving money and had $107 in my hands! MORE than we needed! God knew that though
because someone in our group later shared that she had just received a call from a mother back at her home church that was in
need of food. We
felt that $60 should go to the mother in the store and the excess ($47) should go
to the other mother.
So with $60 in hand a group of us headed to the grocery
store. We headed in, looked around but NO MOM. Okay…maybe we are supposed to go
to the other grocery store? I really felt this one, so where is the mom? Right
as I was asking God this, a mother with two children walked around the corner….
Immediately I felt it within me, “this is her.” I looked at a few group members
and we just smiled at each other feeling the same thing.
I followed her in the store – in a non creepy way…then I said hello and began to explain we wanted to
give her a gift. She looked at my confused, “No Ingles.”
We asked others in the store if they spoke English &
Spanish but noone was able. Noone. So I began to pray….then a delivery man came around the corner (what is with corners and dramatic entrances?) and said he
could
interpret! Woohoo!
He translated that we wanted to give her this gift of $60
for food…she looked at him and asked, “Why?”
He looked at us, smiled, and
asked, are you Christian? We said yes, and he stated excitedly replied,
“me too!” (a fun surprise!) He continued explaining we are Christian
and we just wanted to give her a gift and
bless her. She grinned, said thank you, we exchanged smiles and then we
left the store.
HOW COOL!!!!
God provided ALL that we needed! AND MORE! He provided the vision, the money (and excess), the mother, and even a Christian interpreter!
The werid thing was, this whole thing felt almost natural. This is what we are supposed to be doing, this is how I am supposed to be living. Why am I not living this way? Why am I so consumed with myself?
By taking this opportunity to step out in obedience my faith and relationship with God grew, it grew closer. I’ve heard God before but have I acted? No, not all the time. I think I got too used to brushing it off and NOT acting, thinking that it was coming from me or that I was wrong and didn’t hear Him right or that I didn’t have enough time. That is NOT COOL and I hope to make a change – to really follow through and BE available to hear from Him.
Will YOU start ASKING THE LORD? Will you be open to
what He tells you? Will you brush it off or will you act? Taking the step of obedience and
putting into action the vision He gives you will draw you closer to Him in more ways then you can imagine. I hope you have a similar experience this week of taking a step OUT of your comfort zone and living out your faith.
A note of encouragement: I tried this again on Saturday in Chicago on my own
and bought an 
extra bag of chips feeling like I was supposed to give one away.
I bought it without knowing my next step. I held on to it and then on my way
back to my car a man pushing a cart began walking toward me. I felt like this
was who I was supposed to give the chips to. I hesitated in fear of what others
would think and if this was really the right person. By that time the man
passed me, so I turned around and tried to catch up with him. I think he saw me
and sped up checking to see how far away I was. I got discouraged and stopped – I didn’t want to scare the man. I turned around and headed back to my car.
Instead of being upset and telling myself I failed, I asked for God to provide another opportunity. We aren’t perfect and we may not get it right
every time but I would encourage you to try. I will try not to hesitate next
time and simply trust Him. My bag of chips is in my car waiting for God to
direct my path, I’m ATL…..
