I love how Steph's group hit the ground running on their very first day after hearing about Listening Prayer, practiced it straight away even though it wasn't their 'official' day of Random Acts of Kindness, and how God blessed their obedience. ~Pei Yee (Project Leader)
Our group began reading the blogs the week before and had been in 7 training sessions so we were preparing ourselves to be vulnerable for Christ’s sake. I heard someone say "I will be a fool for you, Lord" after all,
what typically stands in our way of truly being in God’s perfect will but PRIDE?
The evening we arrived our leaders introduced listening prayer and walked us through an exercise asking us to write down all of the thoughts we have as these are things that will direct our steps if we were going out into the field. The next morning we pile into our van and we begin talking about the night before and sharing some of the things we were given in our prayer time. Until you practice hearing the voice of God it takes awhile to discern what is God and what is your own thoughts but we shared everything regardless. We had bakery, stained glass, the color green, old wooden rope swing, concrete stairs that became wider at the base, and some others.
On our way to our job site we are intently searching for these items. When Eric missed our turn and began to turn around. We noticed that the GPS was only taking us ½ a mile out of the way on a different path so we said “ok, nothing is on accident, everyone open your eyes”.
There was a little house that stood out to me because it had a leaded glass window and concrete steps out front that were wider at the base but I didn’t share with the rest of the group…you see, I’m a thinker, processor, to my own detriment I might add.
The whole day at our job site it entered my mind 4-5 times that we were to stop at that house and pray with whoever is there. That afternoon when piling back in the van I asked Eric to go back the way we came and felt like we should stop and pray at the little white house. He pulled into the driveway and an elderly woman on the phone looks out the glass door at our big van full of people with an uh oh look on her face and she gets off the phone.
We introduce ourselves and explain that although awkward, we feel like the Lord wanted us to stop at her home. We asked if there was anything she had going on in her life that we could pray for and she began to share. I won’t tell you her personal needs but I found it interesting all that she had going on at the very moment we showed up. She was trying to get her two grandchildren fed, prepare for the next meal, had one phone ringing while talking on the other and then we pull up, she felt like she was in the midst of lots of chaos.
I think the Lord planned it that way so she (and we) can be reminded to stop, in the midst of our daily routine, and pray to Him. He can change our circumstances. We prayed that day for Ms. Sherrie and her family and by the end she encouraged us “always follow through with what you feel the Lord is leading you to do, I’m grateful that you came here.” She gave us strength to move to the next house. Because on the way home we found that swing that Ms. Teresa saw the night before in her listening time. And we stopped again and prayed for Mr. Lloyd and his mom who had just had surgery that morning!
I was encouraged by our group that our very first day we hit the ground running and I think the Lord blessed us with many experiences that we could bring home because we ended up obedient. He grew us that week and continues now that we are home to stretch us for His glory.
When we are willing to become a fool for the Lord more people will witness how real and alive He is!
Praise God! Thank you so much for sharing this with us. It such a blessing to see how God is working and how brothers and sisers are listening for His voice/promptings and obeying. God bless you all as you continue to serve Him!
Because of Jesus,
Cindy