That night was a night I will never forget.
I’m not
sharing it to boast, but I share it because I believe God wants to reach every
single person on this earth with His love. He wants you to know- His love for
you is deep… and I believe God goes to great lengths to get us to see His love
(even through small acts of kindness or great ones) and to know personally that
He does in fact have a passionate heart for you- for each individual.
He goes to great lengths- and I believe that He can truly
reach with long arms when we respond to His call in the littlest things to the
largest things.
Last Friday night God called “the foolish things”… “The weak
things”… to confound the wise and mighty… (1 Cor. 1:26-31)
Let me begin with a little background before I delve into
the night’s events!
I am a part of a Women’s Ministry called: Destined Women.
Once a month we have a “soaking” night. If you aren’t familiar with what that
is, it is a night when for 2 or more hours we get together to “soak” in the
presence of God. We play continuous worship music, pray, read in the Bible and
just enjoy the presence of God and each other.
A week ago Friday was that night. On my way to this event I stopped to read the Bible and prepare my heart - and as I sat there and read, and prayed- I felt the heart of God drop into mine- and just had a burden to help people really know how much God loves them- and that He wants to walk with them in their everyday life.
A couple years ago I went out in Minneapolis and helped
Piercing Hearts ministry hand out blankets and food and HUGS to people less
fortunate- anyone who God put on our hearts to talk with, pray with, and give
to.
My remembrance of this event stirred in me and I told God
how I missed it and would love to do something like that again…
Throughout the night I felt God continuing to speak to me
through prayers of my sisters, and through the still small voice inside that
God is doing a new thing… This past week God had also put this verse on my
heart: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of
man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God has
revealed them to us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches the deep things of
God.” 1 Cor. 2:9
I’ve had people pray over me, recently that God is
sending us into a season of change, and He has confirmed to me He is doing new
things.
Sunday I got to spend the entire day with my dear friend,
Anna. Anna is a part of Destined Women with me. First, she and I went hiking on
some beautiful trails to enjoy the majesty of fall and its brilliant colors. We
spent our time praying and thanking God for how incredible He is and His
creation is. Later she took me out for a dinner date to bless me, because that
is the kind of beautiful heart she has.
In fact, just the other week she was able to bless a man
who was less fortunate, with a meal and a cup of coffee at a local coffee shop.
(Like I said, beautiful giving heart.) I remember telling her God would multiply
the seed she had sown- she didn’t do it for that purpose though. She did it
because The Lord had impressed it upon her heart to give to someone who maybe
needed a pick-me-up. Maybe he needed God’s love through that cup of coffee and
sandwich.
That night, I believe we saw the fruit of that seed
bloom.
After our incredible night of fellowship over a beautiful
dinner- talking about all of the amazing things God is doing, and casting
anticipated vision of what He will do, we then of course decided to go for a
cup of coffee together- (we share many passions- coffee is just one)
The nearby coffee shop was already closed, so we headed
to the one across town- actually- it was the one where she had planted the seed
of God’s love with the man who needed some nourishment.
Not having done this before, we asked specifically for
each barista’s name and looked at their small “bio’s” sitting on the wall to
get to know them a little-
Our excited chatting more of the vision and destiny in
our lives and all that we anticipate God to do, quickly led to closing time at
the coffee shop.
One of the barista’s we ‘befriended’ came over, I had
assumed to tell us it was closing time- when in fact she instead said that they
had a surplus of food they were going to have to just throw away and she couldn’t
bear the thought of it. She asked if we would like any. We initially gladly
accepted thinking our husbands could finish off what she had- but then she
warned us they had much more than we originally thought.
2 large grocery bags FULL of salads and sandwich wraps!
Anna and I didn’t know it at that moment- but God gave us
each the exact same thoughts- we would be handing them out to people. Giving them
to whoever God chose to bless that night with a healthy meal.
We took the bags out to the car where we started to call
local shelters- but there was wrong numbers, and no one answering… after
several failed attempts the conviction grew in my spirit that God meant what He
showed me in my mind…Anna and I looked at each other and in agreement told each
other that we believed God said to hand deliver each one…
We prayed and asked God to help guide our travel through
the night to deliver the food to the exact people He wanted to reach. We asked
that He would have the exact people out that He wanted to touch, and that He
would prepare them to receive the blessing of a free healthy meal.
We set out on our journey. Anna turned to me and said “let’s
see what KTIS has to say?” haha well wouldn’t you know it- the first words were
from a song by Toby Mac… “TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT- for the sinners and the saints-
two worlds collide- in a beautiful display”
Isn’t it funny how God can use songs on the radio, at
just the right moment, with just the right lyric to speak into our lives? We
took that as absolute confirmation that God was saying, “GO”… “tonight is the
night!”
I was thinking in my mind to go down to a street that I
knew minister friends of mine had gone down before, but then God dropped a
different street on my heart. When I spoke it to Anna she said that was exactly
what God put on her mind too! So off we went, looking and praying for souls who
needed some food, and God’s love!
It was an incredible adventure. We were able to bless a
young couple, an older lonely looking woman who was moving in a U-Haul- (she
had a lot of trash in the front, it looked like she may need a meal), a young
man coming home from work who had only had French fries to eat that day,
another young man walking home listening to gospel music, another young man
walking home from his third job that night, and a young pregnant woman walking
home! We were also able to have 3 people say no, but told them we would pray
for them, and we did… Our hopes is that God would continue to pursue them and
show them in small little ways and big extravagant ways that He truly loves
them and is reaching His arm out to let them know He is with them.
Some people might look and say this is foolish… “a
salad??” “a wrap??” “Why didn’t God just give them $1000? Or something that
would last longer?” … but I believe that God went through extravagant lengths that
night. And like I mentioned earlier… God uses the foolish things of this world
to confound the wise…
Here’s how I see it…
He prepared extra food at the coffee shop that would not
be consumed that day… He drew 2 of His willing daughters to the specific
location at just the right time. He moved on the Barista’s heart to donate the
food instead of throw it away. He placed the SAME vision and SAME conviction on
each of our hearts with where to go, and how to give this overabundance of
food. He protected us and covered us the entire time- where we normally could
feel fear of the unknown, we felt the compete love of God for the people He
wanted to reach out to that night. The gas needle didn’t even budge on the car
we were driving while driving all around the city and back home.
Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6) ….
But faith without works is dead (James 2:17)… Last night we headed out on an adventure
by faith, with our Heavenly Daddy, our Protector, our Provider, and The Maker
of Heaven and Earth, The One who loves you greatly. He was glorified… We could’ve
fed our hubbies who had plenty that day, but instead I believe we reached the
needy, the poor, the dry, the weary… whether in pocketbook or in spirit. And I
pray that God loved on them through our actions. It’s time to rise up and be
the hands and feet of God.
Looking back on our entire day, I realized that my day
had begun in church, being prepared beyond my realization at the time by the
song that sang this:
Let us become more aware of your presence
Let us experience the glory of your goodness
Holy Spirit you are welcome here: come flood this place
and fill the atmosphere
Your glory, God is what are our hearts long for, to be
overcome by your presence Lord.
I believe God was preparing my heart from the beginning
to become more aware of His presence, to experience His goodness through
reaching out as His hands to the people around me, and I believe The Holy
Spirit filled the atmosphere that surrounded us as we reached out with smiles
and hearts full of love to each and every person that needed that touch of God.
By the way… on the way home, we never saw another single
soul walking on any of the streets…
