It has begun…the traveling team has hit the road! It is so crazy that we are now living out the vision that God gave Jessie and I back in January. He said go, so we listened!!
It has been a long road to get to the place where we are now. Starting a traveling team is not as easy as you might think. We have spent hours on the phone trying to connect with pastors, sent 100’s of emails with usually no response, and trusted in God that He would provide when it seemed like things would never work out. Of course with 10 no’s came 1 yes and that made all the difference. Jessie and I realized as we were planning and trying to basically build a new ministry that we had to return to our original vision God gave us. We were setting such high expectations on ourselves and getting frustrated when things weren’t working out perfectly. We returned to God’s vision of changing one life at a time. Even if there is not a week full of scheduled ministry that is ok because God wants us to connect to others on an individual basis. Basically we stopped stressing about not making the trip ‘big enough’ and let God be in charge of the way He wanted it all to work out.
So after a long drive I reached the lovely corn filled land of Ohio. We had a great week of ministry. Jessie started it all out by speaking at her church Sunday morning. She shared about how God transformed her on the race and gave her the confidence to become the bold woman she is today. She encouraged the church to seek a life full of the Holy Spirit and talked about how she hears directly from God. It was some good stuff. Then on Wednesday I spoke to the college group at her church. I encouraged the group to seek after God sized dreams. The dreams God gives us are so much more beautiful than the ones we try to reach based off the world’s standards. I was a little nervous about sharing for the 1st time but isn’t that just silly since I sure will be doing a lot of that this year. When I finished I had a great conversation with one of the girls there. She said that the words I spoke were just for her because God knew she needed that exact encouragement. And her words were just what I needed to hear in order to believe that I am capable of this job because of the Christ inside of me.
I fell in love with Ohio and the people. We had some good one on one time with people during the week. I was able to pray over a new friend I met at soccer game and give her some encouraging words from Jesus. We had a delicious dinner with an amazing couple. They blessed us with their hearts of hospitality and hunger for more of God. My favorite part of the evening was hearing where their hearts are in Gods Kingdom and then praying over them. When we finished they thanked us because no one has ever prayed over them as a couple that way. That made me sad because as the church that is what we should be doing all the time. The next day they surprised us with a laundry basket filled with food and goodies. It was ridiculous and amazing. They blessed us more than they realized.
We were even able to drive to Ashland, OH and visit my World Race teammate Melanie Barber and another World Race alum, Mallorie Miller. We had coffee, went to a night of worship at Mallorie’s college, and encouraged one another. It was so refreshing to spend a night with Mel. This girl was my family this past year and it felt like part of my heart just beat stronger when I was with her. Great night!
Bottom line, Ohio is awesome! It was such a great start to this crazy trip. I am such a relational person, so to me the people are what make a city great. Let me tell you Ohio is great. Get used to me saying this, because I am sure I will fall in love with every city for a different reason, but I could see myself in Ohio. Yeah, maybe all those Buckeyes are crazy but they sure have great hearts!
Stay tuned for more adventures from Jessie and Amy….
Sounds like you’re off to a good start! Blessings girl!!!
I am so proud of you girls! Way to go. I sure love you! So awesome you got to see Mel, I bet that was refreshing to the soul! XOXOXO
I better see some ” I love my life” soon, or I won’t believe you are having as incredible as a time. Know that you are both in my heart. I am so excited to see God moving in you and through to awaken others! Awesome!!!!
Love it! Keep the updates coming!!!!
Ohio loves you right back Amy!
Hurray for a good start!
Keep checking in about your itinerary – I usually have someone nearby.