My state of rest has looked different each month. The first month in Nicaragua looked like swinging in an eno or going back and forth in a rocking chair. The second month in Costa Rica looked like a hot cup of coffee and a podcast echoing through my ears.
One particular podcast really has amped me up. It was a podcast from Melissa Helser and she was talking about “Friendship with the Holy Spirit.” The whole thing was great! I would really suggest that you go listen to it, especially the part that happens to be the reason for this blog. At about 3:30 left to go in the podcast Melissa tells a story about how her husband and her have taught their children based on Matthew 18:19 if “if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in Heaven.” So she goes on explaining how her son has used this verse as a way to find things when they were misplaced or lost. When I heard this, I thought it was so cool. The more I heard these stories the more I wanted to use this in my own life. Not only to find things, because if you know me I lose things a lot (like my keys), but also having that dependency and connection with the Holy Spirit that He will provide. Having a friendship with Him.
Hours later of hearing this podcast my friendship, my dependency and really my trust in hearing His voice were about to be tested. So let me set this up for you. My team and I were getting ready to head out for ministry that night and to get anywhere; we have to get Ubers because we lived in the mountains. Also, we always have to take two Ubers because there are seven of us total. Before the Ubers were coming though, one of my teammates Michelle was in the restroom. She had been holding the keys that locked up everything to our home. Another important note you should know about our home, is that our bathroom locked from the inside, so if it closed we could not get back in it from the outside. Like all good teammates we were heckling her and just messing with her to hurry up, however, in that time the Ubers were coming, so we really did have to be like “ alright Michelle we really gotta go.”
Everyone one knows sometimes when things are rushed bad things can happen. Michelle came out and there was like a gush of wind and the door to the bathroom shut right behind her. One group was already in an Uber heading down the mountain and my groups Uber was pulling up. Chaos broke out right before our eyes. Our ubers were taking up every inch of the road and we suddenly hear Michelle say, “the key is in the bathroom!” All we know at this point is we were locked out of our home. There was nothing we could do because our hosts were in California at the time, so we could not call them to help us. All we could do was just get into the cars and head to ministry. That is what we did and Michelle was in my car.
We all began to brainstorm, calling a locksmith was suggested, calling our hosts son was said as well, then it hit me, I just literally listened to a podcast similar to this situation! Michelle was sure she left the keys in the bathroom and I spoke up and told the people in the car about what I just listened to in the morning. I said I need two people to agree with me that it is in this car and you could tell they were like, “Shelby its not in here,” but I just knew that it was in there, that God was going to do something so cool! That He wanted me to depend on Him for this silly but pretty important thing. Finally everyone agreed.
I was so pumped, and nothing had even happened yet! I just knew it was there, I can’t explain it at all, but it was the feeling of complete assurance that God wanted to show us how personal He is with us. So again, I was like, “alright we are all in agreement right?? Everyone was in agreement and I was in the front and I was praying in my head knowing that this was about to BE SO COOL. A couple minutes past by and all you hear is “OH MY GOSH” the keys were in her back pocket!!! We all started freaking out; we probably freaked out our Uber driver to be honest. It was there though, we all agreed in that car that it was there and it happened!!!
God is so cool and so personal with all of us. All He wants us to do is draw closer to Him. He also loves us so much that He gave us a helper, the Holy Spirit, who we can talk to all the time, and He is in the business with helping lost things get found. He is all about friendship with us, journeying with us, loves when we succeed, oh and get this, and loves when we fail too! Think about your friendships, the ones that are really valuable to you, aren’t they ones that have seen the good, bad and ugly? The Holy Spirit wants that too with you! I am beginning to really believe and understand that and wow it has been a process!
What an adventure it is becoming…
