A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to lead a group of middle school students on a trip to Atlanta. It was only a three-day trip but the amount of things the Father did in those students hearts was mind blowing. Nearly every student had an encounter with God and left Atlanta a changed person.
My favorite story from that trip comes from the last day of the trip when we were practicing a thing we like to call ask the Lord, or ATL. ATLs are open spots in the schedule where we ask God what to do and where to go. None of the students in the group had done an ATL before and they were all very nervous. Usually we start praying, have a time of silence, and then share what God is telling us which may be a vision, a Scripture, direction or a feeling. After we prayed I asked the group if they were getting anything but no one spoke up so we prayed again. Slowly but surely the kids started piping up. "I saw a man in a brown jacket!" and another would say "I feel like we are supposed to go to that place where we were yesterday on the prayer walk!" Eventually we put all the pieces together and it became clear where God wanted us which was an ice-cream shop downtown.
We began walking down the street to the place the Spirit was leading us and we prayed and listened along the way. We asked God what we were supposed to do at the ice cream shop once we got there and figured out that he wanted us to pay for everyone who came in and love on them.
As the customers started pouring in the atmosphere turned joyous. Every person had a different reaction for the free treats. Some where shocked, some were thankful, many were excited and quite a few didn't know what to think!
After a few minutes a man walked in who fit the exact description of a man the students saw in a vision. He was around 30 years old wearing a brown hooded jacket and a brown baseball cap. I knew immediately that we had to talk to him. Before I approached him, I listened to what the Father wanted to say to him. I walked up to the man and said, "There are a few people who just had a vision of you in their minds. I wasn't really sure if we would see you or not but I feel like the Lord is telling me that He is chasing you with everything he has and he just wants you to turn around and be with him." The man sighed and looked down, "You are exactly right, man. I just recently stopped going to church and pulled my family out too. I have been avoiding God every chance I get." The man stopped and stared at the ground for a few seconds and looked up again and said, "You know man, I'm gonna start going back to church again and I think I'll start praying again too. Thanks for talking to me."
-Trevor Perla
Trev – YES!!!! This is exactly what I needed to hear this morning and the reminder that our obedience is so much more important than we often realize. Thanks for sharing and for being obedient to God’s calling in your life!