Over the Flowers

When I heard that each person on our team is able to post blogs, I was super excited but unsure what I was going to talk about.  I didn’t even write it out before hand like we are supposed to because I didn’t have any ideas.  I eventually settled on talking about wealth and what it really means, but God blessed me with an awesome expereince about an hour ago that I am bursting to share.  It started this afternoon at about two o’clock. . .

Everyone was excited to be able to go back to Riverside and play with the children we have come to know there.  Cora wasn’t able to go last time so we were happy to be able to introduce her to all our new friends.  We left our apartment with high hopes and headed into a breezy city with an overcast of dark rain clouds.  We didn’t think much about it as as grabbed our umbrellas and rain coats. 

We caught a jeepney (which we have all grown to love) and it almost immediatly started to down pour.  Most of our ministry is outdoors, so the first thing that popped into my head was a picture of sopping wet Americanos.  Our leaders, being as awesome as they are, decided to wait out the rain inside the local supermarket, Fooda. 

Kelsey and Kasandra pulled us aside and asked if the Lord was leading any of us to do ministry in Fooda.  I know for me especially, God has been ringing my heart out for the “well off”.  We prayed for guidance and a few of us recieved confirmation from God that ministry in the supermarket instead of going to Riverside was what we were supposed to do.  We prayed again, but this time for specific images or people that God wanted us to talk to.  I got a picture of a watch and the color purple.  It turned out that Margo had an image of a watch come to her mind and Lorena also pictured the color purple, so we were immediately a goup.  We split into our two groups and started the ministry.

We first focused on the watches.  There was a watch repair cart but we didn’t feel comfortable talking to the men, so we went to a young girl selling watches and jewelry instead.  Margo took the reigns and talked to her for a while when I felt led to ask her if we could pray for her.  She said no, but I feel like we made an impact on her day anyway.

After that we headed upstairs where Lorena asked for us to stop and pray again.  We asked for visions, directions, guidance… anything!  Lorena had the image of clouds with the sun shining through, flowers in the same color purple that she had seen earlier, and blueberries. Kasandra pictured white flowers and Margo also had in image of clouds and a sun.  We started walking again and long story short, we saw each of those things (clouds with the sun shining was painted on a wall, a bag of blueberries in a purple bag, a pile of purple and white flowers) when we came across a big cart full of sheets with flowers on them.  “Guys, those are the same flowers I saw!” Lorena shouted.  Just then, a saleslady walked over and asked us how we were.  We talked with Maica the saleslady for over fifteen minutes over the pile of flower sheets.  She was surprisingly open and honost with us, explaining how her parents died when she was 3 years old, how she has a 1 year old daughter living on a different island with her aunt, and how God has blessed her.  We told her about the church we are working with and she wants to visit.  She asked if we could “fervently pray” for her and her daughter, for protection, for safe travels, and for her relationship with God. 

I know that God put this young woman in our life for a reason and that He was the one who led us there.  I’ve learned that even if it seems silly, do it.  If it seems unreasonable, believe it.  If your heart starts pounding really fast, you’re heading in the right direction.  I’m so blessed that God gave me an opportunity to practice ATL (ask the Lord) and that He did not disappoint.  When He wants us to do something, He’ll make it happen.  He’s bigger than our schedule.  I can’t wait to get home and put this into practice!

Thank you for all your prayers!  They are moving the hand of God to do incredible things in and around us.