Flowerpot, anyone?

I know I have been breaking my every Wednesday blogging habit, but I am sure you will forgive me. This blog is going to be going off of what my last blog was about (Ask and it will be given to you). In that blog I was discussing what I learned about prayer. I also requested all of you guys to pray for my team and I as we did ATL’s (Ask The Lord) in Matamoros, Mexico. The Lord answered those prayers.

I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. -Mark 11:24

We started off that morning’s ministry when my leaders Blair and Becks dropped us off outside of the Coppel store at the mall in Matamoros. My team and I stepped out of the van with our “sister team”, Swaziland (I call them that because my team and the Swaz team are together often for discussions and things of that sort). Immediately, we started “asking the Lord” where to go. So it was Jenny, Rebecca, Myles, Garrett, and I all praying…in a parking lot. Myles got a vision of a bench. Garrett was feeling like we need to walk around. I got a vision of a flower pot. We all then entered the mall and were ready to walk in the Spirit.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. -Proverbs 3:5-6

We walked in and none of us were really getting anything from the Spirit so we sat down and prayed again. This time we prayed out loud and for each other. I don’t remember most of what I prayed for, but I do remember specifically praying for this, “God, please make yourself so obvious to me that I would have to be a fool not to see you.” From there, we just walked around letting the Spirit guide our steps. Garret turned into this Mexican/Asian/Egyptian store and the rest of my team turned in there to look around. I walked in last since I was praying and walking at the same time, and trying very hard not to trip over my feet.. When I did walk in the store my jaw dropped and I stopped dead in my tracks. On a table in the middle of the store was the flower pot from my vision! I didn’t know what to make of this. Did God want me to pray for the store clerk? Was there someone who was going to come in the store He wanted me to speak to? What was the purpose of this vision? After walking around this little shop for 10 minutes, my team felt it was time to go. I went with them and concluded that me finding the flower pot was just a coincidence. Not even five seconds after stepping out of the store, a wave of nausea came over me. I wasn’t going to literally vomit, but it was the same feeling as that…but without the feeling that something was going to fly from my stomach onto the tile of the mall. I looked for the closest bench to sit down and let the feeling pass. Notice that I looked for a bench. I discussed what just happened with my team and we decided that I needed to buy the flower pot. After making that decision, the wave of nausea passed. This nausea being dismissed was a work of God. God giving me this unpleasant feeling that got my attention was Him answering my prayer. “God, please make yourself so obvious to me that I would have to be a fool to not see you.” I would have to be a fool to not see how the Lord worked there. God gave me the vision, and I didn’t follow His lead. I asked Him to make Himself obvious to me, and when I didn’t follow where He lead, he made me physically feel sick to get my attention and to remind me to listen to Him.

Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. And to him who knocks, the door will be opened. -Matthew 7:7-8

Now, the question was, “What do I do with this flower pot?” After my team and I discussed this matter, we all felt the Spirit was wanting us to give it to someone. So we walked around for a half hour letting the Spirit guide our eyes, ears, steps, and thoughts. I was praying a lot, asking for God to show me who this gift was for. During that time, He put John 3:16 on my heart to put , subtly, on the bottom of the flower pot. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” I know this is quite possibly the most quoted bible verse in our society, but it is not necessarily like that all over the world. To a little girl, like Naomi, she might not know of Juan 3:16, and she probably didn’t know just HOW MUCH God loved us. Naomi was the girl I gave the flower pot to. As we were actually on our way to leaving the mall, we found Naomi. I was in the back of the team again, trying to multitask praying, walking, and eating a snack. Garrett was letting the Spirit lead his steps and was therefore leading our team. He turned around to tell me what what just happened…that Naomi was the girl I needed to give the flower pot to. The girl the Lord needed me to give the flower pot to. Considering that my Spanish is terrible…you can assume the conversation didn’t go far. But, when I said to her “para tu” (which probably was not correct Spanish either), she had the most innocent, yet joyful and thrilled smile on her face. All the running around, anxiety about what to do with flower pot, and the uncomfortable feelings were all worth it to see that smile. Now, I don’t know what happened with Naomi and I don’t know much about her. I do hope that the flower pot benefited her in some way. There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord did great things and will do great things through that small flower pot.

Cait Evangelista (Me), Rebecca Florke, Jenny Christensen, Garrett Berkley, Myles Long

The day after the whole flower pot thing took place, my team and I discussed future ATL and how it is going to work. We are the smallest team out of the whole Nova’s Project, and each of us have something different that the Holy Spirit gives us. These gifts the Lord has equipped us with are so powerful and all different. Some of us are still developing these gifts, some are improving these gifts, some are learning to use these gifts. And it has only been one month on this trip! Imagine how much stronger these gifts will be when we are ministering in South Africa? Imagine how great of an impact we will have when all 5 of us have discovered our gifts, and learned to trust them?

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. -Jeremiah 29:13

I want to challenge you. Earlier this week, during one of our lessons in the evening, we did something that really reminded me just how big God is. We were naming things that are amazing and intricate and weird and crazy that God created. Wind. Babies. Our five senses. Music. The perfect placement of the earth. The details on flowers. Giraffes. Our immune system. How all people have different DNA. Our brain sending signals to our hands to move. The one that really got me was Space. God created space…which holds the Earth, the solar system, our galaxy, stars, other space-related things that I don’t know anything about, and an amount of space that literally has no end. God created this, and is bigger than this. God is bigger than space-which never, ever, ever ends. I can not fathom it. I don’t think we really give God the credit he deserves. My challenge to you is to spend time writing down the amazing and intricate things that God created. Things that there is no way it could be by coincidence it exists or works the way it does. A new kind of worshiping the Lord! I hope this exercise will help you to see how great God is and how big He is! You might not have en epiphany like I did, but you will see the Creator of heaven and earth in a whole new way!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. -James 1:17