Green Lights

We are officially back in the U.S.A after 8 months, crazy right?! Before I begin talking about that, I will do a little recap of the last little bit of Guatemala.

The last time I sent out a blog I talked about PVT (Parent Vision Trip), I showed pictures of Antigua, what went on at squad debrief, and our first week of ministry for my team.

Our ministry plans change very frequently depending the day and our discernment from our ministry hosts so we have to be flexible out on the field. A quick refresh on the schedule of our ministry:

Monday- teaching by House of Prayer and then application in villages

Tuesday- teaching kids english at a school and helping with P.E., then house visits

Wednesday- Either went to Prayer Mountain and did a Bible Study with some older Guatemalan ladies or manual labor to help continue the building of their property 

Thursday- activation held by the LOVELY staff members of the AIM Guate base. (usually involves street evangelism MY FAV)

Friday- Sabbath on Prayer Mountain/ manual labor

Saturday- Out loud Bible Reading and Worship

Sunday- Sabbath as a Squad

 

The Recap

In all honesty, there isn’t too much to say about ministry, but I will share a testimony from the last Thursday we were there!

It was activation day. I LOVE activation days. We get to go out on the streets to talk to people. But on this day we got a little message on going back home to the U.S. We have Good News to tell the people in our own nation! We can’t be like Jonah running away from the Lord when He calls us to give the message we’ve received from Him and when we finally give the message, we can’t cry and be angry when they turn away from their own wickedness because God decides to not bring His wrath upon them anymore. We must celebrate when the truth wins out!! We must carry out the message to the people in the U.S! We are an apostle for Jesus Christ wherever our feet are planted. So, to prepare us, they told some testimonies on what happened when they went back home, how they had to repent for certain mind sets and they way they thought about America, God and America, and they gave us time to sit with the Lord to ask questions. We came back together and they said our assignment this time going out was to talk to foreigners… white people. There were plenty of them! Everyone… or most people were a little nervous talking to white people again. We wouldn’t have to wait to type it out on a translate app and think about what to say next as they typed their response. This was real. A real conversation.

So we got on the vans and headed to Parramos. I ended up being with LJ and Maddie at the park. When we entered the park I immediately saw this white man reading a book and I knew that he was the one we needed to go to, but I didn’t say anything at that point. We stood in a circle to pray and ATL (ask the Lord) for pictures, images, words, names, etc to see where He wanted us to go or do. I got the words “Go wherever, just invite Me into it.” I told LJ and Maddie what I got and LJ got the same thing, Maddie agreed. So the next thing we got to do was to choose someone to talk to, and I told them who I felt we needed to go over to, and LJ said that she felt the same thing before we started praying. The unity and confirmation in the Spirit was already crazy right off the bat. So we prayed to the Lord inviting Him into what we were doing, asking Him to guide the conversation and praying for the man’s heart to receive whatever it is that He wanted to say to Him from Heaven today. We started walking and all of a sudden I got too nervous. I never get nervous when I’m doing street evangelism, so I thought that was very strange. I had to stop, there was so much hesitancy trying to go up to him and overthinking started happening. I took a breath and was like screw this, I have boldness in Jesus’s name!! We started walking again and the conversation started. We held quite a long relational conversation first. Ask him what his name was (Patrick) and where he was from (FL), talked about why he was here and why we were there. We bonded over a few things, asked some more questions to get to know him. It was a really sweet talk!! The book he was reading had a traffic light on the front with all three lights green. I asked him what the book was about; he told me that it was all about how to grow from the red and yellow lights of the life. So when things don’t go our way and life just takes a turn, we know how to grow from it and move on. I felt the Holy Spirit draw a question to my attention. So I asked him, “what do you think the lights are? Just life? or do you think God has ordained things?” He started telling us that he believes in a higher power but not sure what that is. I got to tell him my testimony and how the Lord revealed Himself to me. Then he asked LJ and Maddie “so how did He show Himself to you guys?” They started sharing THEIR testimonies. This man was so tender hearted and so opened to listen to what all of us had to say. It was so precious. I got the passage of the Samaritan Woman. How Jesus tells her everything she ever did. This woman has the revelation of the Messiah, the close and personal God who deeply knows her. So I felt led to tell Patrick that He deeply knows him, more than he knows himself and that He wants a personal relationship with him. I got the verse 2 Corinthians 4:4 that I shared with him. “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” His response was a really intrigued “oh wow, okay, that’s interesting” and explained to him that Jesus is the source of life. People are trying to find the one thing that will satisfy them but Jesus is the Only Way. He was the One that created us and if we aren’t connected to Him, we don’t have LIFE. Previously Patrick had said he needed like facts for him to believe something. I asked if I could pray with him and for the Lord to show himself to him in a way that he needs it, that he would have a special encounter with the Lord. He said “wait, like right now? Here?” I said yes and laughed and he asked how long it would take and I said no longer than 5 minutes. I began praying, for sure the Lord guided my tongue on that because after I said “amen.” He looked up and said “WOW, that was powerful” and I was praising God. This conversation was SO timely, orderly, and divine. I could’ve gone off and said a BILLION things, I could’ve straight up told him cover to cover God’s whole redemption plan, I could’ve focused on talking about sin and how he needs Jesus. But the Lord KNOWS him, knows what he needs. The great shepherd lead this conversation and ended it at the PERFECT time. It was an hour long conversation, and trust me, I wanted to say more, a whole LOT more. But the Lord had done what He needed to do in this man, and it was our time to leave as well. We had to be somewhere in 5 minutes. I could see in this man’s eyes the hunger being stirred up to know more, I could see him begin to hunger and thirst for something greater than he. This was by far the most fruitful conversation I have had ever since I met the Lord. PRAISE GOD! He has chosen us to be His vessels. What an honor it is to be partnering with the Holy Spirit in the Kingdom of God! We love Patrick. Please pray for him for the Lord to continue to reveal Himself!!

 

I felt this in my spirit from the Lord to ask YOU about the green lights. What do you think they are? The red lights and the yellow lights of life. Are you ignoring them? God is trying to speak to you. Jesus not only wants to be your friend but your MASTER. The Bible says to deny yourself, pick up your cross, and FOLLOW Him. Are you following Him, obeying Him, learning from Him, knowing Him as you become like Him? He doesn’t just speak to be heard, He speaks to be obeyed. I feel like the Lord is calling you into deeper intimacy with Him. He has planS for you, not just a plan. Leave everything behind. Everything. What you’re leaving behind cannot compare to the greatness of what He wants to bring to you. HE is the greatest thing. You won’t regret it. Paul puts it as “everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.” I don’t know who this is for but He has been speaking to you. You’re on the fence of the world and wanting to live holy and set apart for His glory. There is something holding you back from FULLY diving in with the Lord. It’s your affection (love) for something. Turn them back to the Lord and put them in their rightful place. Don’t be limited by your affections. The Lord deserves all your devotion and affection! SAY YES TO HIM TODAY. GIVE HIM YOUR ETERNAL YES.
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Coming back from Jamaica in 2022 was hard and I felt so much anxiousness about coming back into the U.S. Going into this country is harder than leaving. I had a huge cultural shock last time and was really affected by it. Just before I left, the Lord gave me unexplainable peace from the Holy Spirit and still do. All the anxiousness is gone. The Lord really wanted to redeem my time from the last. He’s so sweet! 

So we ended our time in Guate cleaning the AIM base, and packing up and left on May 8th. We drove to FL on May 10th for our last week of ministry on the Race. We will leave on May 17th to drive back down to Georgia. We, as of right now, have 10 days left until the whole race is over. In my next blog, I will give an overview of not what the Lord did around me, but what He did in me. I can’t wait to share with you.

Until next blog,

I love you,

Lexi B.