A New Season

Trusting God at the Start of a New Year

A new year is coming and all I know is that I am loved and He’s got me.

I don’t know where my place is.  I don’t know what I am supposed to do.  I don’t know where I am supposed to go.  All I know to do is run to The Father.  After spending Christmas with my family, I do just that and head to my safe place, the Prayer Room.  

Seeking God’s Guidance in Indiana

I drove to Indiana to the home of a spiritual mentor. I intended to spend three days in the prayer room seeking God.  He said to me “You will know when it is time to go and you are welcome here until then.”  It is a truth that has affected every day of my life since. 

Eight days later, I packed my car and drove away not knowing my intended destination.  Maybe Kansas City (International House of Prayer). Maybe a church in Texas. Maybe friends in Colorado or Georgia. Maybe back to Florida.  I said, “God, I am headed to IHOP unles you tell me differently.” 

An hour into the trip, He told me differently.

A Faith-Filled Detour to West Virginia

West Virginia?  I only know one family there.  This is crazy, I thought as I stopped at Walmart to buy toothpaste.  While standing in the toothpaste aisle, asking God for clarity, he responded.  “Go where I tell you to go.”  

As I walk out to the car, I say to God “I will call her and if she answers then I will know this is right.”  If she doesn’t answer, well, I don’t know what I would have done.  Did I mention that it was like eight degrees and super cold?  And I did not have proper attire.  I had borrowed a coat from my sister.  No gloves. No hat. No boots.  

Of course my friend answered the phone and said “yes, I could come.  By the way, I know it won’t bother you, but I am fasting.”  I too had already started that day.  So, I said “great, what are we fasting and for how long?  I am joining you.”  I headed east instead of west and arrived in West Virginia by dinner time.  I explained my crazy story quickly and went to church with them that evening.  I immediately felt comfortable and knew this was my new place.  For now.   Once again, he had provided.

Learning to Be a Blessing Wherever I Go

On the drive from Indiana to West Virginia, I heard the Lord say to me, “You are a blessing wherever you go.”  I have toyed a lot with that but it was for me.  When I stay with someone, I have had to learn that I am there for them as much as for me.  They are not just offering me hospitality and I am not to pay them.  (This is hard as it is not how I was raised or lived my life.)  But I do bless them in many ways as instructed by the Lord.  And usually beyond what I can guess or know.  It has changed my perspective.  As I go, I am not free-loading; I am there on assignment.

My family spent many years taking people in and having them live with us.  I never felt they were a burden.  But it has given me a new perspective being on the other side of the equation and has allowed me to not feel like a burden.

God’s Provision Through Prayer and Fasting

I would remain there with them for 21 days until the end of the fast.  I was there on assignment.  He sent me there  - for them and for me.  Little did I know that our re-connection would have a lasting impact.

My instructions for West Virginia were to sit and pray.  I am an “Acts of Service” girl and I wanted to “earn my keep” but that was not what God had in store.  I prayed for the house, for each family member, for whatever God was doing.  I prayed for my daughter, a type 1 diabetic,  who was now pregnant and having complications early on.  I prayed for the baby.  I cooked for the twelve people that lived in the house (while fasting) and prayed.  

Here’s my God:  As I took over cooking dinner, I also was preparing the menu and buying groceries.  There was no talk of reimbursement for the groceries and there were a lot of people in the house.  So I prayed.  Lord, am I supposed to be spending this much money buying groceries?  It is your money.  I just want to be sure.  The next day, I was Venmo’d money.  This happened two more times.   Money received was almost equal to money spent.  

It would be four months later when I returned again to WV, that God asked me to bless them exactly as they had been praying for plus a little extra.  This involved a shopping spree at the home improvement store as well as a freezer full of food. He is a good God who not only hears our desires, but gives us more.  This time I got to be an answer to prayer.

Following God’s Next Assignment

They attend and work at a non-demoninational, full gospel, full Bible church. I had the opportunity to go to the church as much as I wanted.  It was day 18 of the fast while sitting at the church, the Lord spoke again giving me my orders for the next three months.  I had a three month plan.  I knew where my place was for the next three months.  I was excited.  

I was to complete another 21 day fast in February which would equal 42 days of “Boots on the ground.”  I knew exactly what that meant.  I was going back to Africa.  Fly out of Ohio and take massive luggage with you.  This opened up so many more questions, most of which would wait for another day.

Years ago, my father in law passed away.  There was a property left in a living trust.  The family had been trying to sell it for quite some time.  The market.  The market.  My God.  Day fourteen of the fast and three contracts come in.  Ten days later, a significant sum of money is being wired into my account.  Now God is doing significantly more than I asked or imagined.

I head to Ohio for the closing, a quick visit with my momma and then head back to Florida with one stopover in Georgia.  He had a place for me for another night.

I drove back to Florida and arrived at my friend's house.  Immediately I feel at home and in my place for the next month.