Seizing the Moment in Chico
Just got back from an amazing IVCF Leadership Summit up in Chico. Great three days of learning about vision for our campuses and God’s will for all of us.
One of the things I grasped this weekend was Saturday’s session of seizing the moments that God gives, and eventually, these moments will turn into movements of His grace and love. We cannot let these moments pass us up! After going to OGN and our lunch break of finding God moments in Chico, I realized that God is setting up moments all the time, it’s just seeing them and seizing them. In such moments, we cannot be afraid or discouraged, but go out on faith to the water’s edge and go and claim the inheritance God has promised us. BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS!
Our lunch break as so awesome though! I really wasn’t expecting to show up in such a powerful way, but He did for sure (not only just with Me, Kim, and David, but with other people at the Leadership Summit as well!)
The adventure began at Jamba Juice in downtown Chico. I decided to go outside and continue to eat the lunch (more like feast) my host family had graciously packed me. After ten minutes though, I decided to look inside to see where Kim and David at, and I see them talking to these three girls. So OGN instincts kicked in and I instantly began praying and asking God for any encouragement for these girls. Before the five of them come out, God gives me two mages of a butterfly AND a group of dolphins. So the five of them come out and we talk for at least 20-25 minutes, in which the mother shares about how she’s planning to go into full time ministry and how her husband received the same calling around the same time as her! We also find out that both the daughters are attending Chico State and wanna get plugged in! They also told us about this awesome conference callled Chrysalis (yes…the outer layer of the pupa of a BUTTERFLY). Before the girls leave, I tell them about the images God gave me, and we were all blown away, especially since the oldest daughter had a butterfly tatoo! HAHAHA. God is so cool!
After Jamba, we decided to walk around downtown to see where God takes us. We eventually end up at the Central Plaza, which has these awesome fountains springing up out of the ground! As I was just walking around, waiting on God, I see Kim instantly start walking toward a guy I saw when I first got to the plaza. I knew something cool was going to happen. So the three of us eventually end up next this guy named Joe, and for almost an hour, we talk to Joe about Chico, what he envisions for the city, his dreams, and his faith background. After, the 3 of us begin to speak love and encouragement into his life, at which during this point, Joe was like, “You can’t be telling me this,” with a look of shock and confusion. We go on to find out that a psychic had told his mom when he was born some of the things we said and that his mom’s boyfriend has dreams of him bringing peace. Before we left, we got to pray with him and give him our contact information, but that hour with Joe was one of those moments when you knew that God was there, tugging at Joe’s heart and prodding at his mind. Later in the night, God gave me a promise for Joe through Scripture
Matthew 5:9
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
Haha. Yeahuh Jesus! I continue to prayer fervently for Joe and the girls, for God is waiting to encounter all of them!
So that was a tiny smidge of my amazing weekend in Chico. I am not excited for this school year to start.
One of the things I grasped this weekend was Saturday’s session of seizing the moments that God gives, and eventually, these moments will turn into movements of His grace and love. We cannot let these moments pass us up! After going to OGN and our lunch break of finding God moments in Chico, I realized that God is setting up moments all the time, it’s just seeing them and seizing them. In such moments, we cannot be afraid or discouraged, but go out on faith to the water’s edge and go and claim the inheritance God has promised us. BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS!
Our lunch break as so awesome though! I really wasn’t expecting to show up in such a powerful way, but He did for sure (not only just with Me, Kim, and David, but with other people at the Leadership Summit as well!)
The adventure began at Jamba Juice in downtown Chico. I decided to go outside and continue to eat the lunch (more like feast) my host family had graciously packed me. After ten minutes though, I decided to look inside to see where Kim and David at, and I see them talking to these three girls. So OGN instincts kicked in and I instantly began praying and asking God for any encouragement for these girls. Before the five of them come out, God gives me two mages of a butterfly AND a group of dolphins. So the five of them come out and we talk for at least 20-25 minutes, in which the mother shares about how she’s planning to go into full time ministry and how her husband received the same calling around the same time as her! We also find out that both the daughters are attending Chico State and wanna get plugged in! They also told us about this awesome conference callled Chrysalis (yes…the outer layer of the pupa of a BUTTERFLY). Before the girls leave, I tell them about the images God gave me, and we were all blown away, especially since the oldest daughter had a butterfly tatoo! HAHAHA. God is so cool!
After Jamba, we decided to walk around downtown to see where God takes us. We eventually end up at the Central Plaza, which has these awesome fountains springing up out of the ground! As I was just walking around, waiting on God, I see Kim instantly start walking toward a guy I saw when I first got to the plaza. I knew something cool was going to happen. So the three of us eventually end up next this guy named Joe, and for almost an hour, we talk to Joe about Chico, what he envisions for the city, his dreams, and his faith background. After, the 3 of us begin to speak love and encouragement into his life, at which during this point, Joe was like, “You can’t be telling me this,” with a look of shock and confusion. We go on to find out that a psychic had told his mom when he was born some of the things we said and that his mom’s boyfriend has dreams of him bringing peace. Before we left, we got to pray with him and give him our contact information, but that hour with Joe was one of those moments when you knew that God was there, tugging at Joe’s heart and prodding at his mind. Later in the night, God gave me a promise for Joe through Scripture
Matthew 5:9
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
Haha. Yeahuh Jesus! I continue to prayer fervently for Joe and the girls, for God is waiting to encounter all of them!
So that was a tiny smidge of my amazing weekend in Chico. I am not excited for this school year to start.
So where did the dolphins come in? Were they part of the fountain?
ReplyDeleteAWESOME stories, by the way!