It was December 2012 and I was on a plane headed to
California with a new friend. We were
going to visit a church in northern California for a long weekend and I was so
excited about the entire trip. After we
talked and talked and talked, we finally switched seats in order to turn our
heads in the opposite direction because we were getting neck cramps! My friend became tired and decided to
rest. I sat there, now in the middle of
her and a stranger, quiet, giddy, fully awake.
I was on an adventure with God and it was thrilling. I remember thinking to myself, “my kids aren’t with me, my husband is not
with me, I have absolutely no responsibility right now and nothing to distract
me. What can I do with this precious
time?” I then had the next thought,
“This God-adventure begins now, not when
we get to the church for the weekend”.
So, I decided that the kid on my left was the perfect target for
prayer. He was slumped down with his
black hoodie over his head and ear buds in for the entire flight. He never moved. I prayed, “God, I know you love this kid just as much as you love me. Would you show me Your love for him?” What happened next was a series of visions I
had while my eyes were closed. First, I
saw a single tool, then it disappeared, then another and then it vanished. I opened my eyes and looked at the kids’
hands and decided that the Lord was showing me that he was a mechanic. I typed it on my iphone. I continued praying for him. I was flooded with more ‘words of knowledge’
for him and was able to actually feel how God created this person. I could actually feel that this kid was a
giver. He loved his family. I kept writing things down in a list-fashion
on my iphone. After a while I decided to
get up and walk around. I slipped my
phone up into the overhead compartment on my way back to my seat and continued
the rest of the flight in total peace and rest.
As we began to make our descent I realized that I would need
to actually share the revelations that I received with this kid in order to
fully walk this thing out in faith to see God get some glory. I decided that I would wait until we were just
about to land, when he had to turn off his electrical device before I engaged
in conversation. As he stirred from his
sleep and prepared for the landing I somehow mustered up enough guts to make
small talk with him. I then proceeded to
tell him that I had been praying for him as we were flying. He looked at me like a deer in headlights and
then to my surprise a huge grin grew across his face. He laughed and said, “You prayed for me? Wow. Thank you.
I am a Christian.” I then
asked him where he lived, and some general questions. It turned out that he is from California and
he was on his way home from North Carolina to say an emotional goodbye to his
family before he was being deployed to Afghanistan for the first time. He then disclosed his profession: He is a mechanic on black hawks!!! My arms went limp and my heart began to race
faster. I was overwhelmed with the fear
of the Lord. I said, “I know, the Lord showed me while I was
praying for you that you were a mechanic.
I will get my phone down as soon as we land and show you the whole list
of things God wanted me to tell you”.
We both sat there giddy and in awe of God as I shared with him all that
I could remember from my prayer time. He
allowed me to pray for him and we enjoyed being in God’s presence as His love
was so evident for this kid. As soon as
I could, I reached up and got my iphone.
We were both in awe as we looked at the list together and began to
deplane. When my friend and I were
walking up the tunnel into the next airport the kid ran up behind us and said,
“Hey! You want to see what I work on?” Chris then showed my friend and me a short
video clip of himself in his fatigues with his black hawk all revved up in the
background. It was incredible.
I love how God works.
I could have totally missed that opportunity and read a good book, fed
my spirit on the Word or plugged in some worship music for the rest of the
flight-all good things. But, as soon as
I made myself fully available to let God’s love flow through me into another
person, both of our worlds were rocked.
This has happened a couple of times since then and I’m realizing that
God loves everyone and He is waiting for willing participants to be conduits of
His love. It doesn’t always have to be a
word of knowledge. The key is to simply
be available and make your spirit free and open to being used by God however He
directs in the moment. It always involves
love and faith. With those two you can
never fail.
1 Corinthians 13:8a
–“ Love
never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]”.
-Jenn H.
No comments:
Post a Comment