I know this will surprise some of you, but I have been blogging longer than most of you have been reading my blogs. I blogged fairly frequently from November 2005 – May 2006. I have a paper copy of these blogs, but I don’t think I brought it with me. I just re-discovered the few blogs I wrote from May-August 2006. Between then and 2009, my writing was pretty sporadic.
I thought that I would dedicate Monday blog posts to sharing some old blog posts and/or journal entries with you. I’m sure you will be surprised – as I have been – at the way God was preparing me for what I’m experiencing now. I’m starting out with the first confirmation I received in regard to Colombia…
DATE: Saturday, May 13, 2006 (Yes, almost 6 years ago…)
As some of you know, I’ve been very interested in Colombia for quite some time. The past few days, I’ve been looking at different ministries and their work in Colombia (such as Voice of the Martyrs and Colombia Street Kids through YWAM). These things have been very interesting to me, and just yesterday morning I was doing research.
Serving lunch at the Salvation Army has always been a rewarding experience (yes, this is another Salvation Army story…). Yesterday, a few minutes before we were to be done serving, a man came in and got lunch and sat down at a table. About five minutes later, the cook came in and told us it was time for the staff to eat. So I got my plate of food and sat down at the same table this man was sitting at. He introduced himself and asked me questions about college and what I was going to be doing next year. I told him about Master’s and he asked what I felt my ministry giftings were. I talked a little about my love of teaching, as well as my love for Spanish.
At this, he looked at me and said, “I’m Hispanic; I was born and raised in Colombia.” You can imagine my shock! I told him of my desire to go to Colombia and possibly work with street kids, and he told me of his relatives and connections he still has there.
We spoke some in Spanish (which was very fun, it was a privilege to share my desires with someone in Spanish). We talked about so much, ranging from hearing the voice of God to the ministry of Jesus to following the Holy Spirit and being in tune with His voice. It was amazing, because that was what God had been speaking to me about the past few days — listening to His voice only. It was so encouraging to hear these complete stranger confirming God’s words to me.
I looked at him and said in Spanish, “I’m almost going to cry,” and he responded in English, “Well, do what you have to do… God has a way of bringing us to places where we can hear His voice.”
So, that was the short version of my amazing experience. I don’t know if this means that I’ll someday go to Colombia, but it was pretty amazing to see God bring me to the place where I could hear confirmation of His voice. Whatever this significance of this meeting, it’s clear that God is laying out every step of my life further than I could ever imagine. The man also reminded me, “God tells us to do things, and we don’t ask why, we just do them and find out later what it really means.”
Praise the Lord for speaking to my by His Holy Spirit and by the people around me.