Will Obstacles Stop You?

Here at the Honor Academy, we have a 400 acre campus which means we have lots and lots of woods to explore (we call it the back 40)!  I went for a walk to get away and spend some time with the Lord.  Typically when you venture out into the back 40 you tend to reference everything to scripture or to God, it just happens!  I was walking along and as I walked I came across some areas that were slightly difficult or annoying to go through.  For example, the pathway is covered in thorns or there is a tree in the middle of the path.  As I continued I decided that no matter what came in my path I was not going to turn around or backtrack to get around it.  Be careful what you say because God may put it to the test.  About a minute after I said that, I came face to face with this pond.
This pond had dirty water, there were bubbles surfacing all over the place meaning something lives in it!  It didn't seem deep but how can you tell with nasty water?  I kept looking all around trying to find a way to get out of crossing this pond but looking to the left and to the right wasn't an encouragement.  The only way to get around would be to backtrack  but I had just said that I wasn't going to do that.  I was so intimidated by this little dirty pond to the point that I saw a log and thought it was a crocodile!  Paranoid? I think so!!  For 15 minutes I stared at this pond praying and asking God to give me a new way to get across.  Finally I focused soley on the exact spot on the other side that my foot would hit dry land.  I didn't look around me I just looked straight ahead and before I could even realize what happened I was standing on the other side wet.
How difficult do we make things on ourselves when we look around at the "what if's?"  What if there is a snake in here?  What if I catch a disease from this nasty water? What if that log turns into a crocodile?  How much easier are things when we look ahead to the final goal?  I learned that when you set your eyes on the goal and go for it, you will be standing on the other side in no time wondering why it took you so long to jump in the water.

Opportunities Provided

 

 

 

Lately my job in the Honor Academy call center has been a little off.  People have not been answering their phone which means that I don’t get to talk to very many people.  When you work in a call center, the point is to talk to people not to leave 50 voicemails a day.  I was getting slightly irritated until the Lord led me to the most incredible phone call that I have had so far. 

A girl had sent me an email saying that she was interested in coming to the Honor Academy and wanted to know how to get signed up.   I responded and gave her a call.  When she got on the phone I asked her how she was doing and to my surprise she said she was doing “okay” that there had been a lot of things coming up from her past lately.  I left an open invitation for her to talk about anything that she needed to, and praise God she took it.  This girl talked about how she felt that she was unworthy of God’s love that she had messed up so much in her past that she believed herself to be beyond the point of redemption.  She continued to condemn herself saying that the things she had done, the people that she had hurt, were unforgiveable. 

At this point, I related so many of the things she had said to myself and the way that I was.  I began to share parts of my testimony with her. The Lord kept leading me to passages of scripture that I was able to share with her.  We talked and wrestled with different situations and sins.  It was incredible because in a way it was like sharing the gospel with someone for the first time.  When I told her that Jesus had died for all of her sins, not just some, she reacted in amazement.  When I told her that Jesus still saw her as valuable and that He wants her and pursuing her she was so touched. 

After 97 minutes on the phone, I had her pray, we quoted scripture together, and I prayed for her.  Hearing the sincerity in her prayer and the passion that she had was so amazing.  I truly believe that she fully asked out of the deepest and most inner places of her heart for forgiveness and gave it over to God.  I am always so amazed at the ways that God uses me over the phone and it is such a privilege to be able to interact with His children on a daily basis!