I have a bridge obsession and God can use that, He can use anything He wants to because He’s amazing. Over the course of the last 9 weeks I have been instagramming pictures of various bridges across the 37 states that I have been to, if you’ve been following me on instagramm you may have noticed. My father and I are currently on a road trip in Oregon and just arrived in Klamath Falls today for the powerandlove.org conference. We left Idaho yesterday and visited one of my good friends in Washington, and today we got back on the road and headed south to Klamath Falls, Oregon. On the way my dad pointed out this amazing bridge on the side of the road. “Dad pull over, pull over, let's check it out” I said. Come to find out there were a couple bridges that were built here across a 300 ft. tall winding canyon with a small river in it.
As soon as we pulled into the park and stopped I told my dad, “there is someone here we need to pray for”. We walked around a bit and got separated. I am fascinated by bridges and wanted to get to the far end of the park where I could get a good picture of the best looking bridge. As I was walking down the sidewalk along the cliff I started to pray in tongues and didn’t notice for about 100 feet or so. I stopped when I noticed, that was weird I remember thinking, I hadn’t even realized I had started. My faith was being stirred for some reason, I was praying in my angelic language for someone. Now whether or not you believe in tongues or any of that, I do. I pray in tongues pretty much everyday, and it’s a wonderful thing. I am blessed to speak to God in a heavenly language.
As I approached the end of the sidewalk and snapped some pictures, I noticed a girl scratching on the brick wall that separates the sidewalk from the cliff. She was the only person on this side of park, and fear could have kept me from talking to her, but love encouraged me to talk to her. Why? Because I know Who lives inside of me, and when I talk to people it comes out of me. Jesus is inside of me and everyone needs to know His love, and because He lives in me He puts me in situations that give me the chance to share His love. Jesus encouraged me to approach her, I needed to pray for her. But what for? Doesn’t matter, Hope lives in me, I am love, and love never fails.
So I approach the girl and sheepishly ask, “Are you part of a cleaning or restoration crew or something?”. She looked at me with reddish wet eyes.“No” she responds, “My sister died here a short time ago and I am writing her a letter, this is the first time I’ve been here since she died.” My heart broke. “I am so sorry” I responded, “can I pray for you?”. She looked at me kind of puzzled, “Yeah I guess you can if you want, I used to pray all the time”. And in that moment I was able to take her hand and ask God to reveal his love to her and allow her to know Him, I asked the Holy Spirit to comfort her and give her peace. I didn’t know what else to say, so I just prayed from my heart and let God fill in the blanks. I told her that God loved her, and then I left her with Jesus.
As I walked back towards the truck I begin to sob lightly. There she was, a girl all alone, hurting and hopeless and God gave me a chance to step into her heart and show her the love of Jesus. As I approached my dad I told him the story and we headed back towards the truck. He stopped by a tree and begin to pray, he prayed that God would surround this park and the bridges with angels and bring people comfort. The reality is that this girls sister probably wasn’t the first to commit suicide there, but I believe she’s the last! Angels and hope have made their home there. As we made our way back to the truck I asked my dad why he stopped by the tree to pray, he said he felt the presence of God there, there must have been an angel there. As I turned back and looked at where the tree was, I realized that was where I noticed I had begun praying in tongues. God knows what people need, and if we are open and walk in the spirit we can be apart of His plan. Love encountered a hopeless and hurting girl who had just lost her sister, a seed of peace was planted in her heart, one day when I get to heaven I will see her again but this time with a smile on her face.
Christians, please….I write this with tears in my eyes, deny yourself everyday. Please, it’s so not about you, you have Hope for the world living inside you! You are love, and so many people don’t experience that, they don’t know the love of the Father! Become love and walk in it, there are so many people around you that are hurting….they’re hurting!! They need hope! And we’re concerned about what people will think of us?! Really?! It’s so not about you, it’s all about Him. I’m so wrecked writing this right now, Jesus is so awesome and amazing and today He put me in a place to bring someone His love. I’m here on earth for nothing less, and you likewise. Become love, and bring the Love of the Father to the lost and broken. All it takes is for you to die to yourself. Thats it, just want to know nothing more than Christ and Him alone. Don’t worry about what they think, who cares, it’s not about you! It’s about Him! If I would have cared what she thought of me I would have missed a chance to show her His unconditional love. But instead I gave her hope and called peace into her heart and life, where satan had created hurt and pain, I called on love to overcome and it never fails. Don’t think, just be. God loves you, and He’s made you in His image, and because He is love you are love! You are surrounded by a world that doesn’t know love because it doesn’t know Him. Know Him….
“Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
Shown on the right is the wall, the sidewalk, and the first tree you can see is where my father felt the presence of angels and where I initially started praying in tongues.
