So yeah the faith walk was AMAZING! For those of you that do not know, Faith walk is a yearly event for the IMTs, It consists of all the people meeting outside on the field at 4 am on Saturday morning. We circle together and have prayer and then Ryan Called out what teams were going. Half the team went the other half stayed and did outreaches in OK, and they would keep at least one person back and in prayer for the faith walkers! So anyway, i was 99% sure i was going this weekend and sure enough i was in the second group chosen. It was Hazel, Milly, Nece, and Me, so we grabbed our 6 foot cross got in the car put our blindfolds on and went to sleep. About 3 hours later we came to a stop... The last 30 minutes of the drive was jenny driving in circles on a dirt road... Some quick rules. We cant ask questions, if we get a ride from someone we are only allowed 25 miles per driver, we were only allowed to pack our bible, journal, a change of clothes, and a water bottle. We believe God for everything.
Then Jenny led us out of the car with the cross and our blindfolds on... She told us to take our bandannas of and the first thing we see is a 4 way dirt road and cows. Jenny prays with us then leaves... awesome. So First thing we did clearly was spend time with God. Following this our group stood in the middle of the road, closed our eyes and pointed where we thought we should go. Two people pointed one way, then there were two other directions, so we went with majority. We walked on the dirt road for probably 3 miles and then we came to a PAVED ROAD!!!!!!!! Once we found that we decided to go right so then we walked probably another 6 or 7 miles until we hit a highway... and by highway I mean two lane road with street signs.
After we took a short break, we decided to go left and one thing we did during all our walking was talk about what we were believing for. A couple things was a place to stay with a awesome family who has a teenager, pizza, i thought tacos, someone who would provide food/directions/a ride/money, to be able to talk to some old people, and to not have to walk on Sunday at all. So after we walked for a few miles we talked to a few people, at this point we were pretty sure we were in Oklahoma. We kept walking and finally came to Stratford, Ok. We were excited to be in civilization, first thing we walked to a gas station for the bathrooms and while there two sets of people gave us some money. They said they were so encouraged by us, and in reality they were helping us, it was so cool! So at this point we found out there was a town wide yard sale, so we decided to walk around talking to people. We talked to 2 families i believe, but the first ones were really excited for us and they gave us some water. At this point we decided to head back towards the gas station to get a map for directions.
We walk into the store and inside is Don, he was this older gentleman how noticed who we were, he helped IMT's doing the same thing a few years back. So he was a answer to a few prayers, he gave us some money, food, and directions. After we ate we started walking where he said and we walked past these people in a garage. We walked up and it was a older couple, they were awesome, they were worried for our parents so they offered to call our parents, and on top of that they asked if we wanted a map and gave it to without asking also they gave us some money. After that we started walking towards Ada, which was east. After about 2 miles Don honked the horn and pulled over to give us a ride, He gave us a ride 15 miles to Ada. The question was keep going the last 10 miles and be stuck between 2 towns or stay in Ada and figure something out, we decide to pull into the last store in town and pray about it. While we prayed and talked it over don went inside walgreens, we decided to go the extra 10 miles, so i go in to get don and hes talking to a 19 year old girl Jessica. Later i was told she thought he was crazy, but she asked me what we were doing, and she thought it was cool and drew out directions to the next 2 towns(19 miles) and told me where her church, pastors house, and her parents, and she offered to pick us up if we are still walking.
To be honest I assumed i would never see her again, but anywhoo as luck would have it after a mile or so walking a car pulls up behind us... It was jessica's mom, Tochie (Mrs. Cates) she picked us up, took us to there house, fed us, let us clean up and sleep there for the night. We had tacos! it was amazing, They are such a blessing to us they have no idea! That night we sat together and we listened to Bill (Mr. Cates) tell stories about growing up and God and we wrapped up the night with a prayer. I felt so honored and welcomed to be there. When we got up in the morning we went with bill to help feed the cows, it was awesome! Then we came back and went to There church. Atwood Church of the Nazarene, we found out there was the 100 year celebration of there denomination being created and they were having a big potluck! It was so fun, there were about 50 or so people, Word got out we were there so we all got called up to the front and I spoke for a few minutes about what we were doing and God's provision so far!
After that we went to talked to the youth small group for a while and just poured into them, Then we headed back to church and Brother Larry spoke on 1 peter 2:9-12, about being chosen people and being about reproach from non-believers. Couple things that stood out. 1. God wants to do something in our heart and mind. 2. There are people around us hurting and it is our job to make a difference. 3. God doesn't save us just to keep us out of hell, but to empower us through Christ and make a difference in this generation! It was sick!!!! After service we got ready to leave and realized Jessica had completely arranged rides for us from Atwood to our apartments. She was so amazing! We returned at 530 pm sunday, so excited and fired up for God.
God spoke to me a lot over this time. One thing was that God will provide a way out of every situation, another is that God has our time and divine appointments lined up wether we are hearing from Him or just pointing a direction and walking. That if we didn't do one of the things we did everything after it would probably not have happened... God is AMAZING. God was showing me that with just a little faith He will provide, and He hears and wants to bless my prayers and thoughts. For instance we were talking at one point about food, and what we were believing for and i thought tacos but i didn't even pray it but we had it! It just blew me away about how God wants to bless us and set up help the whole trip, but yet i struggle so much at times to trust God with my future... If He's wanting to bless us with pretty much everything we asked about then why the HECK wont i give everything to God???? To be honest i thought ours was pretty easy, because i was expecting walking 50 miles with no food and sleeping outside. But God was teaching me about faith, love and so much more through this.
Last but definitely not least God put some of the most amazing Families and people in my lives, the Bill, Tochie, and Jess and Don were so servant hearted, there hearts were purely on helping us to the fullest extent. All of them feel like my family, and accepted us immediately.
I thank God for them and there help, and pray blessings pour out on there lives. Thank you everyone for your prayers, and keep the rest of the IMT's in prayer for this week if you dont mind :) I love you all!
