When the Holy Spirit Talks

We did an ATL day last Sunday. ATL stands for ask the Lord. Basically, we pray and ask God what His plans are for the day and then follow the words or pictures that we get to wherever He says we need to be. It's like a Jesus scavenger hunt of sorts. 

 

When my team regrouped we compared notes and a lot of us felt like we needed to go into Tegucigalpa. Abby and I had both had the same vision of a woman selling fruit and Brian and Elliot had both been given the word hospital. There were just a lot of hints that said "Hey team Remnant, you should go into town."

 

Except we didn't. Because we couldn't.

 

*It is important to note here that one of the words that Andrea received for the day was stripes. Just keep the word stripes in mind.* 

 

We couldn't leave with no one on the property. Since Cassie and Tony and Nidia were gone and all the other teams felt they needed to go into town our team needed to stay behind and wait for Cassie to get back. We had no idea how long that would be. 

 

There are three twelve year old girls who occasionally live on the property. Sunday was Amalia's birthday. So Abby and I decided to spend a lot of time with those girls. We painted nails, braided hair, took a walk down the road… just spent time. 

 

All of a sudden Abby says to me, "Nikki, look at their shirts." These girls wear the exact same clothes almost every single day. Today they were all wearing different shirts. Amalia, Nicole, and Sandra were all covered in stripes. 

 

A recent blog post of mine spoke about Jesus in the little things. My team was able to go down to the Maxi Despensa (a walmart of sorts) and get some cake mix. We made Amalia and her family and some of the boys cake for the night. 

 

That's really not a big deal. Except that two months ago, Amalia had walked into her house to find her father, who had just committed suicide there. It was, understandably, devastating to her. And this was the first celebration that the family had without him.

 

 I don't think it was a coincidence that we were on the property that day. 

 

I don't think that it was a coincidence that those girls were all wearing stripes.

 

I think that God knows exactly what He is doing. 

 

We're still on the lookout for the lady in the fruit stand. We're not forgetting the hospital. But on Sunday, those words and visions were not the first priority. We needed to slow down and realize that it was a little girl's birthday. We needed to slow down and look for stripes.

 

 Amalia told me at the end of the night that it was "the best birthday ever." Fingernail polish, a trip to the grocery store, and some chocolate cake cumulated into the best birthday ever. 

Keep looking out for the little things today. Keep listening to what He is telling you. He is talking, just listen for it. Keep obeying. You never know, maybe just your smile and just the right words will cause someone to say, "This is the best day ever."