Take a Risk

Over the past year, Jesus has been prompting and preparing Kev and me for a new way of living. I'm not exactly sure what that is right this second, but I'm finding with God, He only reveals what I need to know when I need to know it. A lesson in waiting, to be certain. That's okay. More patience, Lord.

One of the ways God has been working on us is by encouraging us to take risks for Him. I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with Come&Live, but the founder, Chad, started a "One Thousand Risks" journey where he'd simply take risks to love on and pray for people everyday wherever he was. Except, as most of us know, when the time comes to step out of your comfort zone, it's really not so simple. What will people think? How will I be received? What if whatever I'm saying to them doesn't connect to their situation? Will God really work something good out of it? Anything God is calling you to do will bring glory to Him, so it will most definitely be met with a little if not a lot of resistance, just in your own heart. I'll explain a little better with my short story:

Before Naomi was born, I felt like God prompted me to clean out my overly excessive wardrobe and give it to the neighbor girl down the street whom I've never talked to. I did the easy part of cleaning out my closet. Then the bags of clothes just sat on the floor...and sat there...and sat there. Every single day, and I really mean everyday, for the past (probably) five or so months I thought about taking those clothes to her. My nerves got the best of me every time and I just chickened out. I really couldn't think of any legit excuses not to other than that I was just too nervous.

Today was different though. Today I was being selfish and sad, so I knew I needed to be obedient to God. He gently told me to shift my focus off myself so that others might know He loves them (yes, through you and me!) Faith comes in believing that God actually could, would, and DELIGHTS in advancing His kingdom through His people when we are obedient to do so. It's not us, it's Him, and we are just vessels!

Anyway, so for my very first risk, I packed up the clothes today and drove them down the street to Jessica's house. She has a name! Wow, there's power in just asking what people's names are. They are real people! I knocked on the door, butterflies going wild in my tum, and Jessica answers, "Oh, you are just the person I was hoping would answer the door!" Thanks, God! I told Jessica I'm a Christian, learning to hear from and be obedient to the Holy Spirit, and I felt like I was supposed to give her these clothes. She was super stunned and honestly didn't have very many words to say, but was very smiley and receptive. I must have caught her off guard, as I know I would be in that situation. I gave her the clothes and asked if there was any way I could pray for her or her family. "Yeah, actually, my mom has breast cancer." Oh, wow. Ok, God, let's do this! We joined hands in the cold on her porch, I thanked God for Jessica's mom, and for Jessica and her brother. I thanked Him for loving them. I asked God to heal her mom of cancer and thanked Him that he delights in doing that for His creation. I prayed also that God would draw the 3 of them closer to Him. I think He will.

Drove back home, super pumped because YES! God is good and why wouldn't I want to share that with others? Jesus, help me be more bold for you. Thank you for grace and for your gentleness with me through this long season of learning and trusting.

-Adrienne

Yesterday's #Awkward Risk

Kev here. 

Yesterday, I had been anxious and worried about things. I noticed a women at the bus stop and felt like the Lord told me to get outside myself and pray for her. As I left work, I started to walk down the sidewalk towards the bus stop. Feeling very intimidated, I decided to veer off and go to my car instead. Then after sitting in my car for a minute, I mustered up the courage to go pray for her. Walked back down the sidewalk. "Hello. God's been challenging me to step out and pray for people and I wondered if there was any way I could pray for you today?" She smiled and said "Oh, you're fine! I have a bus pass." I said, "Okay! Well have a blessed day!" and quickly walked back to my car and drove off. Haha. Maybe she thought I said "pay" for you? I don't know, but I will say that I felt less anxious about the things I had been worrying about before I got outside of myself. Thanks God. Invigorating and totally awkward.

"Pital" Risks Pt. 2

Psalms 103 says, "Praise the LORD, O my soul and forget not all his benefits-- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion."

During our stay at the hospital, we adapted this verse and coined the phrase, "He redeems our life from the pital."

A week or so into our stay at the "pital", my dad struck up a conversation with a father whose family we had been seeing around. He relayed to me a bit of their story. Due to lack of oxygen, their daughter's organs had begun to shut down, putting her on complete life support for a week or so. But little by little, and "all thanks to prayer" according to the dad, organs began working again and she was now off life support. I ran into the Dad a few days later. Super nice fella! I asked how things were going and offered to pray. Organs still needed healing, she needed to be weened off the ventilator, and she needed to eat and gain weight. I praised Jesus for his sacrifice, proclaimed his authority on earth, and prayed healing over her. We crossed paths with them many other times and he always joyfully greeted us with a smile. One Sunday we were having a time of worship in the waiting room with friends and family and the Dad came and stood quietly by the wall and listened. They took their daughter home a couple weeks before us. From complete life support to complete health. Thank you God for miracles like this one.

Hospital Risks Pt. 1

Hey folks! It's Kev. Adrienne and I have been feeling a tug from the Spirit to get out and start praying for people we cross paths with day to day. It's an intimidating thought. You never know how people may react or what kind of situation you may get into. But in our opinion, the reward of doing so far outweighs the risk. In this "Risks" section of the blog ("Risks" link on the sidebar -->) we are going to document some of our experiences.

As most of you know, we just recently spent 50 days in the NICU with our newborn daughter Naomi. Just about a week into our stay at the hospital we'd become so confident in what God was doing in Naomi, we knew that if he would heal our daughter, he would heal other kids too. So we began reaching out to other parents. In most situations we had a common ground in our faith with those we prayed with and were most often encouraged by them in return. Here's what I can recall from one of those interactions.

Hospital Risks Pt. 1

We were in the waiting room one day by the kitchen area and a mom and grandma were talking over lunch. I overheard Mom say that her daughter had been born with her intestines OUTSIDE her body. Wow. I approached and asked if I could pray and they happily accepted... (as did most people we prayed for. There are so many people in desperate situations in the hospital and are looking for any hope and encouragement and help they can get. What a mission field.) I knelt down by their table and asked what daughter's current obstacles were. The intestines were back in her body at this point, thanks be to God and the doctors. Mom said at this point she just needed to digest what she was eating and gain weight. I don't remember anything about what I prayed, but it was most likely very awkward. Nonetheless, they seemed thankful. A couple weeks later, we ran into Mom again and she asked how Naomi was doing. She said she would keep praying for her and we told her we were still praying for her daughter as well. They ended up taking her home a couple weeks before we left. The babies get to ride out of the hospital in a red wagon on their discharge day. God, thank you for this girl's red wagon ride!