This month we were handed the helm of a Youth Center and were told, “Bring them in”! At first, you may think to yourself, “that shouldn’t be too hard. There are six young and active young women together! Surely you can figure something out”! WRONG.
Well, maybe not entirely.
Our host literally gave us those instructions and left for a week and a half vacation. We were on our own. But not really (because Hey God!). SO! We started our week with praying for direction, for the words to speak to strangers, for guidance on where to find youth. The Lord blessed us like HEYO.
The first day, we met SO many kids. They were coming for game nights. We were meeting them to play basketball and soccer in the mornings.. But then it all came to a halt. We would spend time in the streets but weren’t seeing youth or meeting anyone new.
To make matters worse, I couldn’t hear anything. It’s like a mute button was pressed on the Lord’s voice to me. In the last week or so, when I’ve prayed where I should go, or what I should do, all I have heard is utter silence. (And if you know me, or if you’re a stranger, you should know that I don’t like not being in the loop. Ya know? I have got FOMO like it’s nobody’s business)
As we walked our morning commute to the Youth Center to do our Ask The Lord time in the area the other day, talking to my team leader about my frustration, suddenly it became abundantly clear what I was supposed to do. He told what to do… Maybe God doesn’t tell us where to go, or what to say, because He already did!
This sweet man is homeless. He digs through the dumpsters for plastic bottles and salvageable food. God didn’t need to tell me what to do today. He already told me. “…Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15)
Praying that I see this sweet man in heaven again someday, and crescents and bananas will forever find their way into his hands in the meantime.
(ALSO! See this lady in the red dress?? Totally didn’t see her there that morning. Didn’t even know she was there until I saw her in this picture later. But that’s exactly how God planned it. God wanted her there. Because, just like my homeless friend that day, she got to experience Jesus and Kingdom!! Today, she got to see kindness and light enter an incredibly dark place! Today, a seed landed somewhere in her that I didn’t even know I threw.)
Maybe you’re in a silent season. Maybe you can’t hear a dang thing. That doesn’t mean its a season of idleness, it doesn’t mean you have a reason to sit out of the game. Do the thing! Do what you know. Do what He told you. Trust His sovereignty and His goodness. He’s not waiting around to watch you fail, He’s waiting on you to walk faithfully. So do the thing!! Go on.
“When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation”‘
