Ask the Lord for direction and He will lead you to right where He wants you.
Last week I got my first experience with something that World Racers call ATL or ‘Ask the Lord’. Our host Sarah wanted to challenge us to help Suubi House in a different way. She told us that if the thought of walking around the city talking to random strangers and completely relying on the Lord for direction made us uncomfortable then this challenge was meant for us. I thought ‘yeah, that sounds terrifying. I volunteer!’ My teammate Ashley also agreed to go and so we both walked through the gate to start our adventure.
We had no idea where we would end up or what God had in store for us and Suubi House. We walked down the street and then paused to pray. I asked that God would show us a vision of someone that He wanted us to talk to and that He would guide our steps, giving us the right words to say, and placing the right people into our path.
We reached the main road and decided to turn right, walking down the street in search of someone to talk to. As we passed a clothing shop with a flannel shirt in the window, Ashley was drawn to the flannel and felt we should stop. We walked in and started making conversation with the guy working, but he clearly did not want to talk to a few nosy muzungus. A little bit discouraged, we continued on down the street.
I saw a sign for falafel at a Lebanese food place up ahead and felt really strongly that we should go into the restaurant. It was empty except for the one girl working. As we began a conversation with her, she pulled out a few chairs, sat down with us and started pouring out her life story. Her name is Shifa and she used to be a Muslim. She converted to Christianity a few years ago and was shunned by most of her family and friends. We talked about Jesus and his unconditional love and were able to pray with Shifa and encourage her. She was so thankful that she told us she felt God had sent two angels to her today. We got her contact info and promised to come see her again before we leave Uganda.
From the Lebanese restaurant, Ashley felt strongly that we should go to a café down the street to get coffee. Neither of us were really sure what to do after finishing our coffee, but we still felt that God had something more waiting for us. We got up to leave, but heard the Lord telling us to talk with the woman sitting at the table behind us. She was a Dutch woman named Anna who has lived in Uganda for 20 years. Anna is actually the head of an organization called Eye 4 Africa that connects young adult interns with ministries and organizations where they would like to serve in Uganda. We told her all about Suubi House and the work that Sarah is doing to help special needs children here in Kampala. She was very interested in possibly working with Sarah to help find qualified interns that could continue to pour into the ministry at Suubi House. Ashley and I were both blown away that this woman just happened to be at the coffee shop at exactly the right moment.
As we walked home from the encounter, Ashley realized that Anna had been wearing a flannel shirt! God had already shown us who He wanted us to speak with that day, we just hadn’t realized it.
Walking up to strangers and striking up a conversation is definitely not my thing, but trusting the Lord to lead us to the right people was an awesome experience. God used us to encourage someone who needed it and led us to a possible contact that could really benefit the ministry at Suubi House. Please pray that God would continue to move in the lives of both Shifa and Anna and that these connections would somehow benefit Sarah and her ministry at Suubi House.
