Sunday night 12/29/16, 18 girls and a Kaiden went to the streets of Ecuador for ATL (ask the Lord). During ATL, we pray that Jesus will set people in our paths to share the gospel with and to show them love. ATL isn’t something that is really in my comfort zone, actually I usually just let others take the reigns. In the past, I’ve really struggled with knowing if I hearfrom the Lord and if I thought I was, I questioned it. I told myself I was crazy and making things up. Sunday morning knowing that we were doing ATL that night, I had a feeling of peace going into it, I’ve been learning how to walk in confidence that I hear from the Lord, so I was excited to step out in faith and see what the Lord brought me that night.
When we arrive, I’m with two other people, they immediately start getting things from the Lord and walking straight up to people. That’s so so great! Me on the other hand…I wasn’t really getting anything. I started to feel really disappointed and discouraged. I didn’t understand why they were so quick to start getting words from the Lord and I wasn’t. I felt very ashamed that I wasn’t able to hearing anything.
I guess I started playing the comparison game with myself, I thought “my relationship with God isn’t where theirs is, so it makes sense that He would allow them to hear Him and not me.” Even though I felt uncomfortable and defeated, I still had so much peace about being there and knowing I was supposed to be there. I finally asked one of my teammates Lauren, if we could leave the group and just start walking down the street. She asked me how I was doing and I just spilled everything I was feeling, shame, defeat, unworthy, and honestly really sad.
Lauren immediately started encouraging me to walk in the authority that the Lord has given me, she was telling me to pray and then say the first thing that came to my mind. She kept going on about how the Lord takes pride in His people trying and taking leaps of faith. She said “say anything that comes to your mind, even if it’s a color.” Right after she said that I heard “orange” because it came so quickly, I thought I was going crazy and made it up. So I didn’t tell her that I got that.
We keep walking and there are three young boys doing some type of gymnastics on the street. They were doing gymnastics infront of cars during red lights they looked really happy and I was immediately drawn to them…they also looked great in their ORANGE shirts. I kept watching them and remembered that I got the color orange, I turned to Lauren and told her that I got the color and that we had to talk to them.
We walk up to these boys, Louise, Jefferson and Andres, chatted about what they were doing in the middle of he street with some gymnastics moves, told them why we were in Ecuador and quickly found out that one boy was an atheist, one was egoistic and the other “didn’t care about it”. I immediately knew that’s why we were there. Right there on the street of Ecuador I sat down and just cried. I got the color orange and was brought to three young boys who needed faith. ORANGE SHIRTS GUYS. THIS IS WHY I GOT ORNAGE, THESE BOYS. Knowing that the Lord had more in store for them we made plans to take them to eat when they got off work. Nicest boys you’d ever meet, so full of energy, joy and love.
An hour later Lauren and I go back to get them to take them to eat, during dinner we asked the boys to share about their lives with us. I feel like that’s a big part of life, getting to know people and hearing their stories. While sharing with us, we learned about their families, their beliefs on Jesus and we saw parts of their hearts that were broken.
One of the boys, Andres. started to cry and told us that he hadn’t seen his mother in 3 years, and the meal we bought for them, was her favorite. My heart crumbled in that moment. Here was this 22 year old boy sitting infront of us, telling us that we were a miracle brought to him….and an hour ago I was doubting that I heard the voice of the Lord. We learned that Louise is very close with his family and had a scholarship for the circus but because he didn’t have a visa he wasn’t able to accept it, so now he travels. Louise pulled out his talent from his back pack, not really sure what it was but it was like 2 long strings that you spin really fast. He tells Lauren and I that they are they most sentimental things he owns and he wants us to have them because this is the most special things that’s happened to him. What?? So awesome. Jefferson..I was immediately drawn to his spirit. This kid is so full of joy, he radiates it from his heart and smile…but Jefferson is lonely. His eyes are heavy and his spirit is searching for answers.
I’m sitting with these boys and my heart is so full. I doubted weather I heard from the Lord, I thought I wasn’t ready for God to speak to me or He wasn’t ready to speak to me and here I am sitting with with boys hat are in NEON ORNAGE shirts and hearing all about their lives. Also, getting to share my story and show them how God has worked through things in my life.
Last night I saw God work in powerful ways, I saw ears ready to hear and hearts ready to receive. I saw three seeds be planted in three hearts. I saw a hunger for more of the Lords goodness. I saw walls of hurt started to be broken, I saw hopeful eyes. I saw love. I saw God move. I saw hearts changed.
I believe we cross paths with people for reasons. For me, God brought Louise, Andres and Jefferson to me to show me that I do hear from Him. To show me that my story can be impactful. To show me that He hears me and my desires to share Him. Lauren and I were brought to them to show them that someone hears their stories, to plant seeds and to bring them happiness. To share with them our faith. Last night, mountains were moved.
