I was a little hesitant to leave home early go to Columbus for a couple days, to meet my teammate, Carly Blalock’s family. I’m going to be gone for so long already, and I felt like I should be spending that time at home; but the Lord has shown me that I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.

2 Timothy 4:2

On the first plane I took from Tulsa to Houston I met a guy who was in the middle of a lot of pain and hurt. He shared with me how he was in the army and as well as physical injury; the things that he had seen and done had destroyed him emotionally. It touched me to see how open and how curious he was, because of the hope that he was yearning for. The Spirit had been stirring inside of him and had opened doors for this divine appointment. One of the best things about telling people about the Lord is that you’re really not telling them at all. The Lord calls us to listen to him and others, to pray, and to speak when he gives us the words; nothing comes from us at all. My hope for him is not that anything I said has a lasting impression or changes his life, but that the Holy Spirit continues working in him and drawing him in.

Then after I got off the plane that took me from Houston to Atlanta I took a shuttle from the Atlanta to Columbus. Maybe it’s the way I look, but people have a habit of coming up and speaking Spanish to me. At the shuttle stop a lady named Margarita started up a conversation and we sat together on the bus. She began telling me all about her life, and I told her what I was about to do. She told me about her whole family and then shared with me that her 43 year old daughter was dying of liver failure. Funny thing about liver failure is that ever since I’ve had it I keep meeting people who have liver problems that we pray for and the Lord heals. Not so coincidentally Margarita asked if Carly and I would come to the hospital and pray for her daughter.

When we got there the room was filled with so much despair and hopelessness, it was hard just being there. But Maria and her husband were open to prayer and so we invited the Lord to cover them in grace and peace.

When we were praying I heard the Lord speak that he wanted to save her. I know that he could heal her physical body, but I knew that he was more concerned with her being. He wanted to redeem her dying with his peace that surpasses all understanding.

I don’t know all the Lord did there and is doing, but I do know that I felt a shift in the atmosphere. Jesus changes everything, and I trust that because he loves them he will do and be exactly what they need.

I am truly blessed to have such a strong support system at home sending me out. Knowing that they are praying with and for me means so much, because that is the most valuable and effective thing we can do.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)

Prayer is our most powerful and effective weapon.

This Past year being at OU was hard, to say the least. I knew that God had called me there, and I wanted to be obedient to what he had for me, so I did all that I thought I was supposed to be doing. First I went “put-luck” instead of rooming with someone I already knew, I joined a sorority, I began visiting churches, and even got a job. I did all the things that I should because I had known so many other good Christian girls who had done all those things and were so happy at OU.
One of the things that I kept praying for at OU was to have a solid community that I could love and grow with. Someone that was older and wiser that could pour into me, some girls that I could grow with and be accountable to, and one or two girls that I could pour into and encourage. But this did not happen, last year was one of the loneliest seasons of my life and I had no community. There is a reason I was there, and even though I felt alone I know God hadn’t forsaken me.
But second semester I felt that God had begun to shine his face on me again and I was beginning to breathe again. I got connected with a halfway house in OKC that aids women getting out of prostitution and I finally felt like I had some purpose again. My grades even improved and God gave me the best news I’d heard in a while- He released me from Norman.