Sunday, February 14, 2010

Here Am I, Send Me: Part Two

Leaving for Waxahachie
I had left Houston around 9:30pm to head for Waxahachie to speak at the Women's Prayer Breakfast at the Cowboy Church of Ellis County the next morning. My GPS told me that I would arrive in Waxahachie around 12:30am. I was so excited, because everything was going perfectly. I knew that going to bed around 1:00am would be just fine for me to get a goodnight’s rest before I was to awake at 6am and prepare for the prayer breakfast. Just as I was getting excited about how smoothly my plan was going… it happened. Houston had shut down part of the main interstate for night construction, and traffic had stopped almost completely. I began to pray and ask God what I was to do. “Lord, do I turn around and stay with one of the siestas for the night and get up early in the morning to leave?” I felt the Lord whisper to my heart, “no this is what you’re suppose to do…keep going, don’t turn around.” I almost cried as I sat there and watch the “arrival time” on my GPS slowly get pushed further and further back… 12:30 am, 12:45am, 1:00am, 1:15am, 1:30am, 1:45am, 2:00am. I almost felt sure that I had maybe missed God’s will at this point, and should have chosen one or the other to have gone to..either the SMT Celebration in Houston or the Prayer Breakfast in Waxahachie.

I sat in Houston traffic for nearly two hours before I finally got a break and was able to travel. I had been on the phone with Siesta Janice, for most of the wait time…, which was great, because she was helping to keep me awake. Then as I got moving and gained mileage towards Waxahachie, I began to pray. It then occurred to me that the traffic jam was the enemy’s plan to break me down and keep me from doing what God had called me to do. It was confirmed that something was trying to stop me from getting to Waxahachie when, about an hour from my hotel, I came upon some really bad smoke that almost looked like fog. There had been a wreck on the other side of the interstate. The moment the smoke had cleared, I saw it. It looked as if there was a gigantic log lying in the middle of my lane (no other debris around… just this single log in my lane.) I had no time to swerve….and it sounded like the bottom part of my car was ripped off as my car bounced over top of it, (but continued driving, to see if I could notice the damage.)

Simultaneously, my phone began to ring, and the jolt from hitting the log threw my phone into the floorboard… I managed to grab it and it was, Kathleen, one of my many “mothers” (I have collected several over the past two years) who had been praying for me over this trip. She was calling to check to see if I had made it to Waxahachie safely, which was so ironic, since I was kind of freaking out from hitting the Log. I was so scared that I had done some damage that might cause my car to blow up or something, but I was too scared to pull over on the side of the dark stretch of highway to look for things that I had no clue about. I assured Kathleen that everything would probably be fine (although I had no clue) and she assured me that I had better call her if it wasn’t and that she would continue praying for me. I totally felt the prayers, because I continued driving without any problems (and without the car blowing up.) I finally made it to Waxahachie at 2 o’clock in the morning, and prayed over my car that nothing was punctured underneath and that all the oil and other car juices would still be intact when I awoke a few hours later.



Women’s Prayer Breakfast
I checked into my hotel and immediately crashed, looking at the clock and counting up the hours that I had before I had to wake up…three hours. I prayed that the Lord would miraculously give me a full nights rest within the three hours that I had to sleep….and then I drifted off.

The next sound that I heard was the rooster crowing on my alarm clock. It was 6am. Time to get up, meet with the Lord, and prepare for the Women’s Prayer Breakfast at 8am. God is so amazing, because I was literally not tired when I awoke. Okay, I don’t mean for that to sound all blissful and perfect… I mean, I was tired, but I had this excitement, then renewed surge of energy. I was so excited too to walk into the lobby and see piping hot coffee with biscuits and gravy as a complimentary breakfast. I thanked Jesus for every single bite, because biscuits and gravy is my absolute favorite breakfast…period. And the gravy was SOOO very creamy. Yum.

God had been amazing the entire morning. I had gotten ready by jamming out to praise music and spending time repeating scriptures to myself. I was totally at peace. It might have been the fact that I didn’t really have time to be nervous, but I was so at peace with the message I was to deliver. Then I remembered..... was my car okay??? I immediately went outside to look to make sure nothing had fallen off or leaked. PRAISE THE LORD, there was not a spot on the ground from any leakage or anything. I always pray a bubble of Jesus around my car before trips, and thankfully His bubble had really been there when I hit that log!

Once I arrived at the prayer breakfast, I met up with Liz Prater, who had been the one in charge of the event.



I was able to have everything set up and ready to go as the women walked in. It was such a joy going around and introducing myself to several of the women there and meeting them. I had gotten up to deliver my message, and God showed up in such big ways. He ignited so much in my heart while I was speaking; I knew that if the women weren’t getting anything from it… I sure was.






However, that wasn’t the case at all. After it was all said and done, I had several women come up to me to tell me what the Lord had spoken to their heart from the words that I said. I’m constantly praying, that whenever I do something publicly for Christ, I pray that He would bring just one person to me to give me confirmation that He was using me. God outdid my prayer this day. I had women, one after the other, sharing their stories with me and blessing His name. One woman, was so precious…I mention in my message that I needed a translation of the Bible to meet me on my level of understanding when I’m reading to comprehend…well, this sweet lady came up to me almost in tears, as if a relief had come off her shoulders, with the concept that she didn’t have to read from the version that she had always known, but never understood. She asked me what kind of translation I used so she could go and buy it. Well, God didn’t stop there, my friend Amy, had already decided to bless me with one of the bibles that the church orders in bulk (which was the God’s Word translation-an easier to understand version) and she had brought down an extra one. Wouldn’t you know it? The Lord had already chosen that bible to go to that sweet woman. I can almost guess that she immediately went home to open it up and explore the bible in a way that she could understand. Bless God!

It is so incredibly amazing how God will break down walls for people. I have met many people who use to think that you could only “walk” with the Lord a certain way, could only read from a certain translation of the Bible, and could only sing certain songs. How cool is it though, that God can enter in… in all His glory….and reveal that He is everywhere…we can commune with Him in all kind of ways, and He meets us just where we are. Wow, We have such a wonderful Father! Just gets me all kinds of excited!

After the breakfast was over, it was time to hang out and fellowship with four of my dearest friends that I had met at a women’s conference the previous year. Andrea, Teena, Jessica, and Amy. Well, I had met Andrea, Teena, and Amy at the conference… and had gotten to know Jessica through Facebook. We were all so excited to be able to hang out and had planned to have a “girl’s day out” for the rest of the day.





We went shopping and browsing around all over the place, laughing and cutting up and just having such a good time by simply being together. While we were browsing around at Kirklands, Jessica decided to bless me with a travel journal. An empty-paged brown book with a cross on the front…such a beautiful book. Jessica made me promise that I was to use it to allow people that blessed me to sign it. That book has been such a blessing, as I had everyone that I encountered sign it on that trip, and God has blessed me so much through the things that they have written. I am so blessed to love and know these wonderful people who allowed me into their lives over the two-week span.

Later that night, God showed up in such a powerful way as Jessica, Teena, and I sat down and poured our hearts out to each other on behalf of what the Lord had done in our lives. In those moments, I was able to witness how God’s healing transformation can come in the simplest form…sharing and listening. It doesn’t take an altar call or splash of anointing oil to receive healing from the Lord. Sometimes it just takes a couple of friends with open ears and open hearts, ready to receive what the Lord has to offer. Boy, did we ever drink from the healing cup that night…. How precious is the Father to pour out His love for us through His Son. How precious…





His love-fest among these precious women and I didn’t end there, the next morning I went to breakfast with Andrea.



She and I have become so close through e-mails this past year and God has touched both of our hearts in such special ways. It was Andrea that had been praying over the prayer breakfast fervently a few weeks prior, and we had spoken about this trip many, many times. I was so thrilled when she invited me to breakfast to hang out one-on-one. It was one of the moments that I had prayed over, because before the trip I had prayed that the Lord would use me in every situation from the large groups that I would speak in front of, to the small groups of fellowship, and all the way down to the one-on-one times….which, at times, can be the most monumental in the way God moves. God opened both of our hearts and allowed me to peer inside this woman’s walk and love her more. She has such a radiant love for God and it is so inspiring.

After breakfast we went to church, and it was the first time I had ever been to a Cowboy Church. I was thoroughly blessed by the simplicity that God has wrapped among the believers there. Such a pure way of doing things and allows you to feel right at home.






I enjoyed spending the rest of the day with my friends in Waxahachie …complete with authentic Louisiana gumbo (courtesy of Jessica, ha!) It may have only been two days, but it’s memories that will last a lifetime.

But that is not it. This blog is still in the beginning stories of my wonderful road trip, after Waxahachie, I ventured to Dallas to spend time with one of my dear friends Ms. Janice, then another speaking engagement in Red Oak, OK, then had another lovely visit with a dear friend and her family in Antlers, a breakfast in Atoka, went back to Dallas for a surprise blessing, and then over to Shreveport to finish the two weeks before I headed back to GA.

There is so much to write about (and not enough time to proofread, I apologize!)… and I know I am not able to tell it all in a way that shows it’s true worthiness.

To be continued soon, in Here Am I, Send me: Part Three…

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Miranda! God is using you even now. As I was reading your post I just got this mental image of God protecting and just prayed for the same protection-I wrote this radio spot with what this post inspired-it will air soon on Life Path Moments: I think it’s interesting to see celebrities gather at events or going into a concert. Often they stroll casually into the
building stopping to speak with reporters and have publicity shots taken. Sometimes though, the crowds are just a little unruly. The attention of the crowd is focused on one person headed for their scheduled destination. That is tremendous pressure. The crowd can go into mob mentality any moment. Most of these people are only fans but there are some who mean harm or worse. I love the body guard that covers this person like a shield and runs them into the building. That person has a task to complete and the bodyguard makes sure it happens.
There are times when we have tasks this important to complete. We need the strength of God to wrap around us, a very real presence just like that bodyguard, to run us through the crowd and to our assigned place for His plan. “God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble.” Psalm 46:1 God is just that real. Wrap around me, Lord and help me today!

Miranda Riley said...

Wow!! AMEN TO THAT!!! Thank you for sharing!!