Today, we woke up at Walmart in Sacramento, CA!! We made it!
We weren't going to Sacramento, actually, but then we felt really pulled to go. It was God. Once we did our daily routine of teeth brushing and face washing in the Walmart bathroom this morning, we headed towards downtown Sacramento. When we got there it was definitely somewhere we didn't want to be. Lots of homeless people... scary ish. I (Kiersten) sincerely felt like God was saying that we needed to stay downtown, so as we were getting ready to leave, we turned around. We went to the downtown plaza, parked, sat in the van and listened for a new list of clues. I was really impressed that we were supposed to go to the Capitol building, so we wrote it on our list. Then we stood and prayed in the parking garage, and I said, "today is going to be different." It was :)
We headed towards the plaza/mall area, found some people matching clues. It was great, but I kind of think God was distracting us for his perfect timing. We then went to Old Sacramento and walked around, finding nothing and no one. At this point we headed towards the Capitol. We were hungry, but funny thing is though we passed tons of food places we never stopped. When we got to the Capitol, there was a group of people in front. A man was playing the guitar and singing. It was awkward because we didn't know what was going on, but I DID know we were absolutely supposed to be there. I felt like I was burning inside :) Tons of people were wearing livestrong bracelets... one of our many CLUES. I went and asked a random man and woman what was going on and why so many were there. They said the Foundation for Children with Cancer was hosting an event for Team Will. Basically, a group of cyclists were going to come through riding for cancer. The event had begun because of Lance Armstrong and his testicular cancer (A CLUE!). We were shocked. I told the lady why we were there, and she said it was a divine appointment. Fo sho :D
I saw lady with a daughter that had a tinkerbell shirt on, so we talked to them, they were great! She has been healed from cancer!! Her name was Mindy and her daughter was Sophie :)
As the cyclists rode in, Dani saw a woman standing close to us with a sun (clue!!) on her shirt. She was talking to people for a while, and I was thinking, "Okay maybe she's not it, we already found a treasure." But Dani was pretty sure. We finally went over and told her she matched the clue and that she was a treasure. Dani asked her name and she said "Carol."
Yeah. CAROL.
I asked her to repeat it four times I was so shocked!
Then I started crying and told Carol we had been looking for her! God gave me the name, then a dream with the name, and then the name in the sand... read earlier blogs if you don't remember!
I showed her the picture on my phone of the name in the sand (she is probably reading this... Hi Carol!!), and she said she was there representing 200 male prisoners that she teaches and has a missions program with. By the end we were all holding hands in front of the Capitol as she prayed for us and we prayed for her. We are hoping to go to the prison to hand off a box of our Bibles soon.
Please be praying for all those prisoners and their relationships with God. That they would grow deeper and deeper. Many are actually fasting for the cyclists that are riding across the country in the fight for cancer.
As we left the Capitol, the guy playing the guitar sang "what happens next... I dare you to move."
GOD. IS. AWESOME.
Blessings/Funny Stuff
- I(Dani) and Brooke dub Kiersten the "Human Sponge" She drinks so much water...it's crazy!
- "470,000 unexpected treasures" - A billboard as we entered California. We saw it TWICE.
- While driving to Redding, CA (yeah...we finally made it :) ) we passed by a girl who was smiling and waving at us. She had read our van and obviously thought it was really cool. We get to reach people through the writing on our van!
- We didn't run out of gas in a traffic jam.
- Talking with Mindy and Carol.
"I get this from my mommy. Hi mommy. :)" -Dani
"hmmm" -Brooke
"That is a duck with a mullet." -Kiersten
Amy Overman, this is for you. We are bringing Dug home for you!! Get excited!bdk
p.s. We did have other encounters, but we figured this blog was long and good already :)
I read this blog post and cried. Don't know why, just did. Wish I could be in Redding with you guys today. Always wanted to go to their healing rooms, listen to Bill Johnson preach and just soak up all of Bethel that I can.
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DOUG!!!! I miss you guys and sooo does toby! Be safe and come home soon!
ReplyDeleteWell, you were right ladies, I - Carol - AM reading your blog!!!! In fact, I've gone back and read the whole thing! That took several cups of coffee. I'm now shaking like a leaf from the caffine! :-)
ReplyDeleteI am so inspired by your journey of faith and purpose. It is just amazing fun! The fact that the three of you are doing this together makes it pretty special. Eccl. 4:12 says, "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." The three of you are not only tightly wound with each other, but clearly also in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You are like a physical presence of the Trinity traveling around the country ministering to those He wants to touch!
I just love reading about your clues and how God leads you through them. Over the years this is the way God has spoken to me - one clue at a time that I have to step out in faith to claim, then He shows me the next one. And, as we talked about that day on the steps of the capitol, God will test you with taking bigger and bigger risks to grow your faith. There are times I think He is absolutely crazy for the things He leads me to do, but He is always faithful to meet me in the midst of it when I do. And, that builds and strengthens my faith for the next bigger assignment.
Since I had to rush out of our conversation to catch my ride, I totally missed the opportunity to get a picture taken with the three of you, so send me a good one! I also MUST have the picture on Kierstan's phone with my name written in the sand!
I feel like there is more yet to come with our connection, but I don't know what it is. There is a God story brewing here that's bigger than what we can see. It is a Godincidence that we met, not a coincidence, thus I want to continue to travel with you to see what He might bring to us. I also felt there was a big clue for me with the fact that Brooke had on an Evangelical Covenant Church shirt even though that's not where she's currently connected. Since that is the denomination where I am connected (and there were many at the Team Will cancer rally connected with churches from the ECC), I felt like God was saying, "Hey listen, I'm in this. There's something here for you." Can't wait to see what it is!
I now see you are no longer in Sacramento. Bummer! I want to spend more time with you hearing your stories. But, I guess that's what the blog and facebook is for, right?
Speaking of facebook, for those of you in the fb community, you can go to our ministry's MISSION OF GRACE FOUNDATION page to see pictures of the Team Will event at the CA capitol. You'll even get to see a picture of me with my shirt with the SUN clue on it!
I will be seeing the guys in my Passport to Purpose class at the prison this afternoon. I can't wait to tell them about you three women of purpose and faith. They will be so encouraged to hear you too are praying for them. It means the world to them to have anybody care.
So, I've written a book here, but given the magnitude of what went down, I think it's justified! Ladies, keep pressing on pursuing the Lord and His leadings. I'll be keeping tabs on the rest of your journey and can't wait to hear the rest of the story. If you are ever back in Sacramento, you have a place to stay other than Wal-Mart! We actually live in an old church, kinda cool, huh? Stay connected and let's see what clues God gives to us for how we are to be connected in the future to further His AWESOME work!!!!
Love you!!! Carol
BTW, if you want to learn more about who I am and my life work, here's the link to our ministry's e-News.
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