It all started with the contents of my pack. Teal tent, check. Purple and teal sleeping bag, check. Teal and green plates, check. Green sheet, check. All water bottles, tennis shoes, flip flops, wallets, carabiners, mirror, brush, and all other miscellaneous items fit into my personal color palette of orange, purple, green and teal. We are good. I’m ready to go. My sister even hand made me a purple, orange, green and teal sketchbook cover out of fabrics from my favorite job, Greenhouse Fabrics. It even has my grandma’s pin attached to the cover of it. Yay!! Everything matches! The interior designer in me was determined to stick with all four of these colors for the next year abroad in missions. Then God changed it up on me. A wonderful new friend God led me to who also went on the race let me use her packing cubes from her race…which are red. Oh well, it’s ok, it breaks it up a bit. I’ll just work it in. Alright, ready to go!
Then the sunflower came into play. This started four years ago when I went to Vietnam and India. My dad texted me a picture of a sunflower field with one sunflower facing the opposite direction, standing out from the rest. He was telling me how proud he was of me as I stepped out from the crowd to say yes to God even in scary situations. Then the sunflower came back up at training camp as Jesus danced with me in a field during worship one time (in my imagination) and He handed me a sunflower. That night was prophecy night and Sally prayed for me, then she told me she saw Jesus dancing with me in a field and He gave me a sunflower. This was not 30 minutes after it actually happened!
Fast forward to our first ministry project at Savage Ministries in Trujillo, Peru. Julia, Jordyn, and I were assigned the 5 year old room to paint while Megan, Danielle, and Melissa were assigned the 4 year old room to paint. The room we painted tied together on three walls. The left wall is a mountain range that shows three seasons and quotes the verse below painted by Jordyn.
Psalm 121:1a “I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence comes my help?”
The back wall is the earth painted with the verse below written above and below it.
Psalm 121:1b “My help comes from the Lord, who made Heaven and Earth.”
This wall was my wall and for some reason God inspired me to paint the earth in the colors of the rainbow.
The right wall is a tree planted by a river painted by Julia. The verse on this wall is:
Psalm 1:3a “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.”
“Do you think I should add a sunflower next to the river on this side?” Julia asked me as she was finishing up with her wall. “Of course!” I exclaimed, as I instantly knew it wasn’t by coincidence that God inspired her to add a sunflower there. It made me smile as I felt God wrap His arms around me in that moment.
A few days later, I wasn’t feeling well and I stayed behind as the team went to church. I closed my eyes on my bed and saw my feet in the water. Remember, last time I was in a river it was because Jesus was calling me out into the river to follow Him. So, I’m here. Alright, now what? What am I looking at? “I see my feet…and what else do you want to show me?” I asked the Lord. “Think about the forms water comes in, solid, liquid, and gas,” He told me. Ok, so solid is Jesus. You are standing in front of me. Liquid is the living water which is flowing around my feet. Gas would be the Holy Spirit. “Where is the Holy Spirit?” He asked me. “Inside me,” I responded. “You are a light for me. You are glowing and the light from me is shining through you,” He said. Right then, my feet started glowing and then my whole body started glowing. Then, I saw myself wearing a breathtaking rainbow colored dress. Because I was glowing, the light going out from me was in a rainbow of colors. “You are wrapped in my promises,” He told me. “You carry my promises with you everywhere you go. You will be reminding each ministry host of my promises and how I always keep my promises,” He encouraged me. Right then I thought of the wall I painted with the world. “You painted the world in the colors of the rainbow because Joel and Maria need to be encouraged that I am the one upholding their ministry. I am the cornerstone and I can be trusted. I will keep my promises to them. Encourage them in this,” He said. Wow.
So needless to say, my color spectrum is now red (packing cubes), orange (favorite color), yellow (sunflower), green (favorite color), blue (represented by savage ministries), indigo (favorite color), and violet (favorite color).
I love how creative our God is. đ
