About 2 years ago I started feeling a stir in my spirit for the area across Fortification, Midtown. I would go over and visit with some friends that lived on Keener Street, ride in the vans to pick up kids for our Sunday WOW kids service, and stop by Livingston Park to visit with some of the boys I knew. All the while, God was calling out others for this area too, and through some conversations, I began intentionally praying for Midtown and what role the Lord would have me play in His plan.
As time went on, I continued to pray, but nothing was really changing for me to move forward. I began to spend more time in the community by getting involved at Brown Elementary with some different things, met more people that live in the community, and started driving through and praying more. This only intensified my love for Midtown, as well as the burden for those that are living in darkness.
Early this year I knew that God was about to move me from just praying about it, to stepping out in faith to actually moving me there. Around April I was at a big block party that Millsaps was hosting for the Midtown community. I had taken several of the kids with me and as we were leaving, I walked out of the back entrance of the school, across West Street to where I had parked the car. The Lord stopped me right in the middle of West Street and gave me such a hard, but beautiful picture. I saw all of His children walking back into Midtown and He said to me “here are all of my children, walking across.” I literally stood in the middle of the street overwhelmed with the vision, as well as the confirmation that God was indeed calling me to this area.
Several months later, I started looking at houses in the area and after seeing one after another, I pulled up to 317 McTyere Street and my spirit man rose up from deep inside me and I knew that was the house God was going to give me. As I stood in the front yard looking at the house, I turned to my left and looked down the street – it was the very street that God had given me the vision of back in April!
The Lord started speaking to me about the number of the house, that it was not just some random number, but He was so strategic that He was placing me in that house, with that number, for a reason only He could craft and design. I started in the book of Genesis and was going to go through each book to pull out chapter 3, verse 17, to find out what His word said about it. It didn’t take long for me to discover what His promise for me, and His house was.
Joshua 3:17 “And there they stood; those priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant stood firmly planted on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground. Finally the whole nation was across the Jordan, and not one wet foot.”
God gave me a passion in my heart for the area. God gave me a vision of His children walking across to something. God gave me a connection for the house He wants me to live in. God gave me His word to confirm and affirm His promise for me, and more importantly, for His children.
I carry the same presence of the living God deep inside myself that was in that chest. It is my responsibility to stand firm in the middle of that ground, carrying His presence, as He calls His children to himself and they walk across from darkness, despair, hopelessness, into love, hope, grace, mercy and freedom. There were over 2 million people that crossed the Jordan, and it took about 30 days for them to all get across. That means that the priest stood there, with their arms lifted above their heads, holding on to presence of God, until every single person made it across. I know they got tired, they wanted to quit, they wanted to sit down, give up – but they stood firm and God gave them the strength they needed to hold that ground.
God has given me a promise of his provision for every step of the way. I will be buying the house and restoring it to make it livable, as a house used for ministry, a place to love people and share the beauty of His word. My first step is simply to buy the house, which will cost around $12,000. It will take close to another $20,000 - $30,000 for the restoration. I get very overwhelmed when I think about those numbers, and the work ahead of me, but the Lord says “this is MY idea, not yours.”
I am fully trusting that He will provide for every step of the way. All He has asked of me is to say YES to every step.
Ways you can join me in praying:
Pray for me as I transition out of We Will Go and into Midtown. There are many fears the Lord is pulling out of me that I didn’t even know I had. It is not fear of men, or getting robbed, but fear of doing this alone, and fear of getting there and settling back into my own time and losing the intentionality that I am used to. I have been living in rich community and it will be a big adjustment to break away from that. While my We Will Go family will be close by and support me, I am walking into a new season on my own.
Pray for provision for the house. I would like to be living in His house by the end of the year. That seems impossible to me, but Joshua probably thought it was impossible to get 2 million people to the other side of an overflowed river too, and it only took 1 month!
Pray for Midtown. There is a lot going on in the community and I am excited about the honor to be a part of God’s plan for this area. I have been able to connect with so many people already, but there are so many more that God is preparing to hear His word and experience His love.
More stories to come of people experiencing the love of Jesus in Midtown....
This brings me great joy!!!
ReplyDelete