The first Walk of the year was last night, and as most of you know, I love this ministry. I love that college students have a place to gather on Sunday nights to worship the King of kings & Lord of lords. It is so special to me.
Last night did not go as the Walk staff planned I am sure with the rain, but I believe it went exactly as God intended. I have been apart of some incredible worship over the past year at the Walk but nothing quite last night. It was as if the more the rain fell, the more the Spirit of God fell, and the presence of the Lord was so evident that it was like I could have reached out and touched Him. If you are a follower of Jesus, you know those moments.
With my natural hair making me look like a lion, I try to avoid people seeing it, so I straightened my hair yesterday. And well, the rain tried to mess up that plan.
I was too lazy to bring a rain jacket even with the forecast, but praise God for the Walk, they bought ponchos for everyone. I quickly put on my poncho and my hair pulled back with a scrunchie. My thought was at least it would still be somewhat straight when I got home.
During worship, the Holy Spirit was really moving as we sang about Jesus and how His blood bought our salvation. With my hands raised high, I felt led to take the hood off and let my hair get wet, to really take in what He had in store for that moment. Getting my hair wet was the absolute last thing I wanted to do, but it was there that God wanted my surrender and to further remove pride from me.
As I yanked off my hood and my hair was soaked, I entered true freedom with the Father. I sang "Good Grace" by Hillsong, no actually I screamed it, and as the raindrops fell down my face, the joy of the Lord filled my heart.
The next song, "Do It Again" by Elevation Worship is such a special song for me because I have sang it out as a prayer to God for many situations: for Him to financially provide for my education, to wake up my friend Boston from a coma, and to heal my aunt from cancer. I have such a personal connection to that song, and God knew I needed to hear it last night,
This summer I dealt with a lot of worry. It was especially a struggle coming back to UT and trying to adjust back to college life. I believe this all rooted from the roller coaster that my life was during the months of March-May. I had a cousin pass away, then a friend from high school pass away, and my aunt was diagnosed with cancer.
All of us who know the Lord know that sometimes He does not show up exactly when we ask, but He will ALWAYS be on time. He never fails on timing. As "Do It Again" began to play last night, I knew the Lord wanted to remind me that there is a light at the end of the tunnel (Him). It was like He wanted me to know He is not going to leave me in my fear; He is going to rescue me.
Overwhelmed with emotions, I kneeled on the ground (yes the soaking wet concrete) and just held my hands out offering all of my worry to the Lord. He really used that moment to show me how powerful surrender can be. This was during worship, everyone was standing up, so it was so out of my comfort zone to kneel down like that. It was so worth it though because God did a work in my heart that needed to be done. When I knelt down, another girl behind me knelt to pray too. When you step out as the Spirit leads, it will encourage others to step with Him too.
I am not sure if my fear is going to return (I am sure it will because the enemy does not quit), but if and when it does, I know to run straight to my Father and let Him have it. He knows what to do.
If Jesus is calling you out of your comfort zone or if you have never surrendered your life to Him, take the poncho off, let your hair get wet, kneel down when no one else is kneeling. The blessings that lie ahead when you decide to lay down our pride are like nothing you have ever seen.
If you are going through a difficult time, let what God did last night in the midst of a rain storm show you He often does His most powerful work in the rain. The storm seemed like something that could have even stopped the Walk last night from happening, but God's plans will prevail even when everything seems to point otherwise. Nothing can and will stop our God. Rest in that promise today, and surrender to that truth.
Photo by Chloe Rummel