This week we have been in Rainsville, Alabama. I decided to come hoping that something or someone I met or did on the trip would impact me in a big way. I had no idea that God would do much more.
We have been here for four days so far. Tomorrow we leave, and no one on this trip is ready to go. We all have felt God's presence here and I know the people we have helped have also been changed by our presence here. Out of every day, however, my favorite would have to be Wednesday.
I was prepared for the work at a lady named Carol's house. She had debri all over her yard and dead trees and trash thrown everywhere. She had had triple by-pass surgery and diabetes so she was in no condition to clean it up herself. She has a grandson who is 17 named Cody, but he has school and is busy too, and the yard is way too big of a project for just him. So we decided to go clean her yard and throw all the debri away and clean out the trees.
While we were there, Carol was inside. She was tired but very sweet, and we gave her quiet time, or however much quiet time you can give a person with chainsaws on, while we worked. It took 4 hours, but we finished most of it. Next week another group will go to finish everything up. At the end, Carol allowed two girls to pray for her, and we were glad that she was impacted by us. As we left, she showed the emotion on her face, and we all felt glad that we could help her in that way.
Later that night was when I was impacted in a huge way. We have been staying at a church called Destiny Church International, and their Wednesday night service was going to be partly done by us. Our band was going to play and we were also going to do a drama and some testimonies. The music was great, and I could feel God's presence and knew something was going to happen that night.
In the drama, I was Satan. I pretended to jump off a cliff, and in the process convinced three other people that my life was horrible and theirs were too. They all decided to jump with me. As they jumped, I let go, and said, "Gets them EVERY time." As I walk away, people in the audience saw the sign on my back saying "Satan" and they understood. Satan tries to convince us we are nothing and are worthless and God could never love us. But it is not true. As we walked off the stage, I realized Cody and his friend were in the audience. At the time, I didn't know it was him, but I found out later.
The preacher began the sermon, and Cody and his friend left. I didn't know why, but later the preacher shared that Cody was impacted in a big way by the drama. Apparently it hit hard with things happening in his life, and that night I prayed and thanked God that I was able to impact him through the drama. The cool thing was even though Cody wasn't home to be impacted when we expected to, he was impacted through a different means.
The whole experience might not seem that huge to you. But to me, it makes me want to get out of my comfort zone a lot more often for Christ. I was extremely nervous when I was getting ready to go onstage at first. Then, God gave me a calm feeling and I was able to do it. And because of that, Cody was able to know that other people are out there who feel the same things as him and also he knew God was there in those times. That he sent people like us out to help people like him, which also changed us into better people for it. One verse from Wednesday night's sermon hit me very hard.
"Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it." -Mark 16:20
That verse helped me to feel like my impact can help change someone, and that God was there to help me along in that experience. One other verse showed that God is there in those tough times, and He brought us here to help Him in His plans. The verse showed that God is there, even when we don't ask for Him, and He uses people, even me, to help people to see His light.
"I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said 'Here am I, here am I.'" -Isaiah 65:1
