Living Faith in Chicago

  I am writing to you today instead of yesterday due to the fact that I am still getting use to life back home after being in Chicago for a week. Being in the windy city was a blessing altogether, our whole group was stretched beyond our ability. Even though we didn't go to a third-world country this year, God was still shining brighter than ever. Going up there our mission was to evangelize to those that are too busy to fit God in their everyday lives and those that are homeless. We were also working on an after school program called By the Hand Club, by painting the inside of all of their classrooms. While some of the guys of our group were working on a roof of a church that we went to on Sunday as well. This church moved me...we went in to this English/Spanish service to find everyone jumping up and down yelling the Lords name in worship. When I started singing, tears came to my eyes because the presence of the Lord was beyond belief! Just to see those people declare their love for the Lord was such an amazing breath of fresh air after spending a year here at home and going to school where God really isn't thought of. So when we first started our evangelism we didn't have too much luck, I could tell our group wanted to reach out to those but when it came time to go out and talk to people it was a whole other story. I myself wanted to push myself and go out on my own to just let God speak through me. And I did have that chance a couple of times but I never really took it. Even though I felt like I failed by not speaking out but just in that, God taught me a lesson. One day we were to go back to that same church we went to on Sunday to go to another service, this was kinda of a random thing. Right after dinner we were to go and our leaders decided that we were just going to go down to the park and debrief and worship. So we all drove down to the park and we walked around for a spot that wouldn't be around a lot of people because we didn't want to anger a lot of people. We kept walking and we were about to sit down when we saw this huge swarm of dragonflies above us so we moved over a little bit and sat down. Once we all sat down some of us noticed a homeless man sitting right by a tree that was a couple feet away from us. He was just laying there, he was sleeping. So we just started to talk about our day and how God had worked in us as we were working then we started to sing our worship songs. And that in itself was great... just to sit by the water in a park in Chicago was like being surrounded by God and His words of praises. As worship went on some of us noticed that the homeless man had turned towards us and was listening to us sing. Once we were done we were walking around taking pictures and what not, and the two shyest girls of our group went up to the homeless man and ask him if he wanted a cookie. The man took it and was very grateful for it, the two girls started a conversation about why we were in Chicago and they got to talk to him about God a little bit. Then in a matter of a couple minutes our whole group was around him. We had a very in depth conversation with this man about if God is real and the big bang theory. He was very intelligent, we learned a lot about him and we were challenged at the same time to answer his questions that really made us think. At one point in the conversation a girl sitting next to me was explaining that Gods creations can show that He created the world. At the time she used the wind blowing and the trees moving as an example and from that point on we both noticed that the wind had picked up until we left. God was literally moving in us!! We were all on fire for God for the rest of the week after that. That was a true blessing because if we went to church that would of never of happened. One other thing that we did one night during debrief was meditations. We were to all go away from each other to relax and close our eyes and look for a symbol that God wanted us to see. The first thing I saw was a crescent moon, it was weird because I thought that the moon meant nothing to the trip but I went along with it. And instead of opening up to my favorite scripture I just opened the bible to a random page and saw the word lamp that my finger was on and it was Proverbs 31:18 which read, " She makes sure her dealings are profitable; her lamp burns late into the night." That really gave me a sense in my heart that God meant for that to happen. At first it was a little creepy how that went together so well, but then I thought well maybe I will get to reach out to somebody at night when we go out. But as the trip went on it never happened, even though our trip was still great in our eyes and Gods my vision never came to life. So once we finished our mission and toured the city we went on home and as soon as I left I wanted to go back. I have a passion for the city and maybe to go to Moody one day and that really excites me to know that God may want that for me. So yesterday was a great day to be home but it was also a day that I thought about my future and going back to the city to plant His seeds and I began to worry about all of that. Until I stepped outside to walk my dog and I looked strait up in the night sky to see a crescent moon. God was speaking to me during my trip to let me know that when I get home everything would work out until I was able to go back to the city! That really lit a smile on my face. This is the main story of the trip to Chicago that I so graciously got to experience. I have so much more in my mind that came out of this trip, but it would take me days to write that down. Want to hear even more? Shoot me an email or a comment and I would love to go in detail with you about my journey. But know this... when things don't go the way that you think they should, God will turn it around so that its even better... but in the meantime, don't give up on that. I challenge you this week to try meditation in Gods heart, I would love to hear what you find and how you apply that to your everyday life. Because even though we think that we have everything we need, there is always a space for God in your life.


Word for the day: " But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, accoring to what their actions deserve."
                                                                                       ~ Jeremiah 17:10