Christina Pleasant and Steph Loewen, recent participants, write about how their groups were surprised by how quickly and easily God answered their prayers to lead them.
As our group prepared for the Appalachia Trip we were "Expecting to be Amazed".
We knew that God has great things in store for us and we were willing to serve.
The biggest thing we learned is God sets up divine appointments. When we are open and aware of the people He puts in our path we are left amazed by His goodness.
Specifically, on our last afternoon of the trip after serving at the Salvation Army in Knoxville, we were doing Random Acts of Kindness.
We started off by walking across the street from the Salvation Army to talk and pray with a couple of homeless people. After that, we just weren't sure where to go from there. We didn't know if we should stay around that area and minister to the homeless or if we should go elsewhere else.
We stopped at the sidewalk and prayed as a group for the Lord to lead us where He wanted us to be and to direct us to someone who needed help.
As soon as we said “Amen” and walked maybe 20 steps, a man stopped us and asked for help with his bicycle tire that was flat. Of course we jumped all over the opportunity!
We looked around at each other amazed and I remember saying, "Was it really that easy?"
It turns out the man we met was homeless. The men in our group drove him to get a patch for his tire, spending the next ½ hour with him learning his story, and listening to him give the in’s and out’s of Knoxville where ministry needs are concerned. He was sent to us as our gate to the homeless group across the street that we already tried to minister to.
At the same time our new friend was telling us that he would introduce us to the group across the street our mission leaders showed up, not knowing we were there, with leftover food from the ranch.
We graciously accepted the food as our means of meeting a physical need of the men and women across the street.
The Lord had many things He was orchestrating and all we had to do was stop, listen, and pray for Him to let us be part of it.
One thing I learned on our trip is that God IS working, He would have fed those men and women regardless of our involvement and one or two people may have been able to minister but He chose to ALLOW us to be part of that. I pray that He will continue to guide us to where He is working instead of us asking Him to use US where we are.
We've learned that the Lord puts people in our path daily for us to share His love with. It's just a matter of whether or not we listen and follow His leading and take advantage of those opportunities.
Our group is trying hard to LISTEN!!
