"Dear God, why would you give me so much hope and not make a way?" But what i learned through prayer was, with no path in front of you and no road map…This is where true faith begins." -Tyler Perry
When I left for training camp last year a woman I had never met walked up to me and told me; “The Lord wants you to read these verses; Isaiah 61:1-2 and Luke 4:16.”
Isaiah 61
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives…
That made sense to me…I was leaving for 11 months to do the following
But when I read Luke 4:16, I was confused.
Luke 4:16
So he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And Jesus goes on to preach Isaiah 61 (the verse above this one)
I thought maybe she gave me the wrong verse and meant Luke 4:17. That would make more sense. So I forgot about it until a few weeks later when I had returned home from Georgia. I kept coming across it every time I would open up my bible…
“What is this Lord? I don’t get it. Here you are talking about home but you're sending me out for a year.” And over the last year, the Lord has revealed the answers to those very questions.
I was meant to leave for the race. The Lord provided every last penny and then some, but in all of this he has been preparing my heart for home. I’m meant for home! When I return home, Isaiah 61 will be just as much apart of my life, if not even more so, because home was always my heart's desire. I just didn’t know it yet.
And so she shall return onto familiar soil with a new heart and opened eyes, ready for what’s next.
As a kid I can remember my uncle Kris asking me what I wanted to do when I got older; I told him I wanted to open my own orphanage. I forgot about this conversation. I even forgot about that desire…
Until the race…
God reawakened my heart to it in the Dominican Republic. I would journal about having some kind of building for orphans and street kids to come and live, and I could take care of them and I remember asking the Lord if he would confirm this desire in my heart.
He did, a few weeks later in Haiti.
During my first two weeks in Haiti people would constantly come up to me and tell me how much the kids loved me, how they were so drawn to me and they felt safe around me. I lived in a closed off compound and it was right next to the beach. I would sneak out and play with the little kids that would hang out in the area. (For those of you who don’t know, children are not taken care of in Haiti. They consider children a burden and many are sacrificed to idol gods.)The Lord spoke to me through these kids and I can remember crying, holding two little girls because I wanted them to grow up knowing they were beautiful and loved. (I wrote a really cool blog about it, Tiny Dancers..check it out.) My heart would seriously leap inside of my chest when I would see their little smiles. I would ache to kiss and hug them because I knew most of them would never receive that love as children should.
And even after all this, I prayed the Lord would confirm it just one more time.
The next morning I randomly flipped the Bible open to Isaiah 60 just trying to find something good to read and my eyes met with verse 4:
“Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy.” And over the next few months, what was just a dream that seemed far away became something so attainable in my head.
What once felt impossible for me to achieve became so possible in my head and it only became more realistic as time went on.
Let's fast forward a few months of prayer and heart prep to Malawi, Africa (two months ago).
This month was so awesome. I lived in a tent, no showers, no good food, just us and the Lord.
One night I got all settled in my tent and just laid there preparing myself for sleep when I got a weird, random feeling to pick up my iPod, go to my notes, and to start writing about my family, what God wanted for them and what He would do in them over the next few years.
And a few weeks later, I was given the opportunity to talk with my parents. They were among those 10 people that I got words for. So I shared a little bit of what I had received that night with my mom.
IPod notes= “Mom, she’s a strong lover and so compassionate. She’ll be holding the orphans. She will be vital in the ministry. She is a lover!” (There’s much more but will keep that for another time.)
I told her all of this and I told her, “ I’ve been having visions of the family and me working together.”
She replied with something I had never expected.
“Miranda, I think your right.” And she started to cry. “I’ve been having dreams for years about a building and it’s all of us fixing it up, preparing the place for people to come and stay.”
What? Are you kidding me! Confirmed!
Just yesterday I got to talk to my cousin Cami and she randomly said, “Hey, we should start a non- profit organization!?” She was of the 10. Seeing those words made me excited knowing that God was stirring up the same desires in her heart..
I hadn’t told anyone but my teammates and parents about all this. I was scared to tell anyone else out of fear that what I was telling them would never be.
And now my heart is convicted and heavy. How could I question God's deliverance when He has delivered me all of my life? This is no different!
I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not to post this, but I know it's something God wants me to do out of obedience to Him.
I need to declare this out loud.
So I’m going to post this blog for all to see.
The Lord has been calling me to open up some kind of center for street kids to provide a home for them and anyone else who needs help, and for now I’m feeling like he’s calling me back to America to do it.
I’m taking a step out in faith allowing the Lord to provide for me openly. I want Him to receive every bit of glory through every struggle I may go through trying to obtain this desire, because in those struggles He will provide. I want Him to receive all the glory when this actually happens, and the dream is accomplished. I want to be able to go back to this blog and say, “Look what I wrote years ago, I told you He would come through.” I want people to see from the scary beginning to the spectacular end the Lord's hand through it all.
Whether this dream of mine looks at all how I’ve envisioned it or made it look in this blog, it doesn’t matter. Whether I’m right or wrong, whether it was all in my head or not, whether it comes true or it never pans out, it’ll be okay because I’m willing to look like a complete and utter fool for the Lord. I’m willing to take my chances because in my experience He’s a God that always comes through. He’s a God with a marvelous plan and He uses those who are willing and makes them more than able.
Mad Hatter: “ Am I going mad.”
Alice: "Yes, you're mad, bonkers, off your head. But I'll tell you a secret… All the best people are."
