As I prepared for this missions trip, I prayed "God I need more faith, I deisre faith that could move a mountain.." I said, "Lord, I want to hear from you.and know that you are speaking to me" and I asked, "Provide me with a trip that is going to make my roots run deeper." Ephesians 3:20 says, "Glory belongs to God, whose power is at work in us. By this power he can do infitely more than we can ask or imagine."
While on a prayer walk, God showed up to affirm that we were where he wanted us to be. We drove past a side road I felt like we needed to drive down, we both had similar thoughts so I pulled over to a car behind me pass. The car pulled over too and out popped Paster Mike, the pastor of the church we were staying at, he prayed with us and we pressed on, this is when we have our first exchange with Mrs. Grace. We asked permission to walk her land and searrch for a something that our ffriend lost in the tornado. We exchanged names and I asked her if we could come back to her house in a little while and share a story with her.
We were then led to the house behind Miss Grace's to a man named Spencer, where a porch light and fire where confirmation from God that he wanted us here. A simple exchange turned into Spencer telling us his story and how the tornado has effected him. His house was literallu obliterated to rubble.
After we left Spencer's we went back to Miss Grace's to talk with her. On the way Emily prayed for Miss Grace to give us a cookie and let us use her bathroom because by this time it was after 1. We walked in to Miss Grace's house like we had been acquainted for our whole lives. We offered her a water and she said, "I already have some cold drinks waiting for you." We started talking to Miss Grace about the tornado and she casually mentioneed how she rebuked that and went on with friendly banter.
Miss Grace began to tell us a story that blew my mind, you see all the houses around Miss Grace's were destroyed or signifcantly demanged by the torando and hers was standing strong. Miss Grace told us how she stood on the back porch as the F5 torando approached her house and rebuked it, she cried out to the lord "In the name of Jesus I rebuke you and command you to rise up and go over my house." She said she was screaming out to God as she stood on her back porch and this mile wide torando approached. She explained about the muck and mire blowing all over her and in the next moment the tornado rose up and went over her house. This was a mind blowing story and I was in awe of God, yet still struggling with unbelief. Thinking this woman could not be true and then in the next breath she said, "Do y'all want a cookie?" I had them for you when you walked in, but I got distracted. In that moment I nearly fell out of my chair. We asked God for a cookie, it may seem little, but he provided. As I look back I understand that God sent me to Miss Grace's house as a gift to see what faith that can move a mountain looks like.
There were other things that transpired through the rest of the day, it was completely a God day, but this was the core of my story and I wanted to share it.
On this trip I have learned to look for God in the small moments, but know that he wants to do big things and we will show up when we ask. We just need to be open to what God is telling us. He is there in the whispers and the wind. He answers our pleas for a cookie and he will answer the plea of Miss Grace to lead crusade and revival in Northern Alabama.
As I am ending this blog I pray for boldness to share this adventure with total strangers and to my friends which is not usually my style. I also ask for continued prayer for more faith and my occasional struggles with unbelief because our God is an awesome God and he deserves all the praise and glory.
In Christ we are one,
Leanne
PS I LOVE TEXAS AND NJ! I MISS YOU ALL ALREADY!
WOW Leanne. As I’m reading your post, I almost fell out of the chair. Ms. Grace’s story is awesome! We miss you all but we know that God ordained us all to be there to shower blessings on Rainsville and the Goins family as well as to be a blessing to each other. Like Deacon Eric says, Hollywood could not have scripted this but the God we serve surely can. As the song the DCI worship team sang on Sunday says “Lord, I’m Amazed By You”.
Love you girlie!
I love south Carolina, tn, and Cali equally. The 1st paragraph of this post was apparently deleted in my delerium of writing this, but I think you can get the gist nonetheless, are God is an awesome God!
Reading this link from Seth Barnes weekly staff update and am so very blessed to read of God’s goodness and Miss Grace’s faith! My husband and I are AIM missionaries in Peru and love witnessing the many ways God reaches out to mankind through the stories shared by mission project participants! Thanks!
LeAnne & Emily…what a beautiful stories of small blessings that will touch everyone who reads this post in a BIG way. You and Emily ROCK!!!
Lisa