About a month ago, I helped lead a group of teenagers during a mission trip in Nashville, TN. I was very excited, having never been to Nashville but wanting to go, and I was interested to see what the Father had in store for this group of 12-14 year old students from Valdosta, GA. The Country Music Awards were happening the same week we were there, so everywhere we went there were cowboy boots and hats, short dresses and big buckles. My sister would have loved it.
Much of the time we spent there was devoted to an apartment complex for those who had no other place to go. This was the last stop before homeless. We spent our time with the children living in the apartments, loving them and playing with them as well as the upkeep of the community garden that many of the people used as their main source of food. We also helped out at a school nearby whose curriculum was made specifically for the impoverished population of the area. These times were precious and watching these teens, who had never seen any kind of poverty, interact with those who had nothing was a beautiful sight indeed.
My favorite part of the week I spent in Nashville, however, was our times we call ATL, or, Ask The Lord. ATL is all about getting alone with the Father, asking what He wants to do that day, and then doing what He says. I had seen this in action times before, but I was particularly interested to see what would happen when a young group of teenagers were the ones getting the direction.
This particular time, I spent some time with the group I was leading in ATL that day, explaining to them what ATL looked like, what Listening Prayer was, and then sent them to try it out. I gave them 10 minutes to spend hearing from the Holy Spirit, and then I told them we would come back and talk about what we heard and see what we would do that day. I went to a corner in the gym we were sleeping in and began talking to the Lord. I remember Him distinctly telling me “Let them lead.” “Eish,” I thought, “this could get interesting!”
When we came back together, I asked the kids what they’d heard and to my surprise and delight, each of them had gotten a word for the day. It was usually one word here or another word there such as flowers, nature, bridge, blue, lunch, hands and feet, sand, graffiti, etc. I had also read John 1:5 which says “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extiguish it.” I told the kids that I was to let them lead and that I felt this verse would be their role for the day, to be a light in the darkness.
After some discussion, the kids concluded that we were to go to the river and hand out flowers to people there, simply to bless them. We climbed into the van, headed to the nearest Wal Mart, bought some flowers, and drove downtown to the river (and, coincidentally, the hub of the CMA’s). We walked through the huge crowd gathered, handing out flowers as we went to anyone we felt led to give them to.
Eventually, we had crossed the bridge to a less populated part of the city, and came to an intersection. “Which way should we go?” I asked the kids. We talked about it, I encouraged them to pray about it, and they couldn’t decide, left or right. Finally, I told them it didn’t really matter, but lets go right and then we can double back and go left later. We walked down the road a little ways and happened upon a lone woman, sitting under a bridge wearing a blue bandana. One of the girls in the group walked up to her and handed this precious woman a flower. The woman took the flower and began to cry. The kids decided we should pray for her, so we all gathered around her and spent some time talking to this precious woman. She had an accent that suggested she was not from anywhere nearby, and though we asked and got no reply, it seemed she was alone. We prayed with her, gave her some food, gatorade, and a Bible.
Though there was no resolution to the story of the woman under the bridge, I believe that we were sent by the Holy Spirit to talk to her in her time of need. Many of the words the kids had gotten during our Listening Prayer exercise lined up with our interaction with the woman under the bridge- blue, bridge, lunch, hands and feet, graffiti. The entire day was a testimony to these young followers of Christ that God does speak and that He speaks to them!
God is in pursuit of each of us and I am convinced that He never stops until we take our last breath. He is so passionate about His children, He will send a group of teenagers from Georgia to Tennessee to sit with a woman on the ground and comfort her in her time of need. He will do whatever it takes for you to know the great love He has for you.
What are some ways God has shown you how much He loves you or used you to show someone else? I would love to hear your stories of God’s pursuit of you! Share in the comments!
