Well, it's been a long long while since i've written in this blog. Boy has time passed. about nine months have come and gone, and i am a completely different person.
What's really on my heart actually is to share what happened on my mission trip back in March to Arcata, CA.
I journeyed with a group of about twenty or so others to the humid and misty shores of Eureka and Arcata, where it's known as the "Redwood Curtain". A self proclaimed region who has purposely segregated itself from the government, or so they think. It's also a well known hippie area that's dabbling in New Age antics. It sure was an adventure because i had no idea what we were in for.
I couldn’t have asked for a better team, or more encouraging leaders! I felt completely set up by God because of the miraculous, special, and intentional ways He revealed himself to me on this trip.
In the beginning I was hoping to travel internationally. However, God’s plans are always perfect, and it was the best thing that could have happened to me in my own opinion. The basis of our trip was to love on the Arcata/Eureka Area, minister to the Lighthouse church community, and build a strong connection with the Bethel School of Supernatural Discipleship (BSSD) students. Honestly, I had no idea what our trip would look like. All I knew was that I was going to be stretched in ways I hadn’t been before.
Before the trip I was starting to get nervous about what “outreach” would look like for me. I believe in evangelism and the power of street ministry, yet I had never actually done something like that before. I definitely had hesitations, but God spoke through so many people that it would be easy, and I even felt He said that what I put effort into is what I would see manifest in my trip. Then I got excited…it’s amazing now looking back, that I had no IDEA the way God would intricately amaze me through His goodness in this trip.
On the first day, after we arrived and had done some introductions, our team began to prophesy over the BSSD students. At the time, I got nothing. I was getting a blank. Instead all I kept hearing was the comparison of the students against our words. I decided not to get discouraged and instead went to the bathroom. There I faced God and asked for a word, anything to turn off the competitiveness and turn the focus on God’s goodness. Then I got downloaded with a word and went out in front of the group feeling confident. Normally, before, I would have waited until someone would have said, “Hey Amy are you getting anything?” But instead I just felt I was suppose to initiate. So I grabbed the mic. In that moment I knew two things: I felt God give me the name James, and then I saw a detailed picture, and I also knew I had a prophetic word for the girl I had just met named Sandrine, a french descendant who loves Jesus. As I stepped up, I felt a whole new boldness overwhelm me. To be safe, I decided that since I didn’t think anyones name was James, that I would start with that word and finish with the prophetic word just incase.
When I asked if anyone was names James, there was no response, so I just moved on and prophesied over Sandrine. She was highlighted to me from the first moment I met her. Indeed there is an incredible calling on her life. After the Lord spoke through the word she spoke up and said, “Actually, my mom’s maiden name is James.” I knew it wasn’t just a coincidence, so I decided to speak out the vision I had earlier in the bathroom. It was a picture of a pure golden heart. God’s delight was all over the heart and it was glorious. The Lord was singing to the heart to get a response, He was singing because the heart had a song that needed to be sung and he was singing it back to life. Her response is was floored me. She then precedes to tell me that her mom is one of the last ministers of the Huguenot tribe in France and that their actual people song hadn’t been sung in France in over 100 years!!! At the time I had no idea the gravity of this revelation. It seemed like a perfect puzzle piece to bring the two words together. I was so delighted that God was moving in such a powerful way. I still had a desire to pray for her afterward and in that time she blessed me with the blessing of her people. Again, at the time I had no idea the weight of this glory packed blessing, and I wouldn’t understand it until I returned home.
After that day it seemed everything I wanted to do was flowing smoothly. I wanted to push myself, I wanted to challenge myself in uncomfortable ways and see what God would do, because I had nothing to lose. I had come here for that specific reason and wasn't leaving for anything less.
The next day was spent visiting many beautiful sights around the Redwood Empire, although I’m sure they would have been much more enjoyable without the pouring rain, haha. Throughout the day we were suppose to “keep our antenna up” and listen for Holy Spirit prompting. At some point we made our way to a cute, vintage coffee shop to revive ourselves. As soon as I sat down I thought, “hey this isn’t why I came, I want to go love on some people!” So I turn to my new friend Paul from New Zealand and say, “hey I’ve never done a treasure hunt.” A treasure hunt is a fun process with Holy Spirit where you listen for details about someone that he’s highlighting to you. So Paul encourages me and the first “treasure” I feel I find is a man within the coffee shop. I was scared, but I knew that God had promised to bless my efforts on this trip, so I just went for it. Because of that one act of boldness and obedience I saw God move and love on so many strangers. I was also really blessed to learn from Paul as he taught me how to stop for the one and love on people without an agenda.
Before, in my life, evangelism felt like a chore I wasn’t good at. I felt that if I didn’t mention Jesus or asked someone if they wanted to get saved that I wasn’t doing a good job. Now think about God as a good Father. Think about you as His son/daughter. As a parent (or hopeful parent) if you saw your child intentionally loving on someone else or doing something for another child out of pure intentions, how could you scold them because they didn’t follow a specific formula - “Im sorry, you tried, but it wasn’t good enough, you didn’t do enough and therefore I wont love you…” What a skewed view of the Father we have if we believe He only loves us when someone is saved from our efforts…it’s not even about us in the first place! HAHA!
Anyway, as a few of us spent the next couple of days loving on strangers by continually going on treasure hunts Paul and I encountered a man who had been to prison 21 times over an 18 year period. He was a legal weed grower and he was our treasure. As soon as we tell him we believe in Jesus he exclaims that he had already encountered Jesus through some witchcraft and conjuring of stones. Knowing Holy Spirit really wanted to get this mans attention, we preceded to keep talking to him. Then I felt this tingle in my right heel that I hadn’t ever felt before. So I ask him, “hey, this may sound weird but do you have pain in your right heel?” He replied that he did in fact and wondered what I was going to do about it. So, very abruptly and boldly I exclaimed, “I can heal that!” Then realizing what I said I turned to Paul with a look of, “Oh sweet Jesus don’t fail me now!” So I ask if I can pray for it and he lets us. Honestly, I couldn’t believe this was happening because it was definitely a first! So I murmur a quick 10 second prayer and some tongues and just believe Jesus will reveal himself. I was about to just walk away out of sheer nervousness, and then Paul reminds me and asks him, “hey can you feel anything different?” Turns out, the pain left! HALLELUJAH JESUS! It was my first word of knowledge for healing and actually healing I has witnessed outside the church!
There were so many more testimonies where God loved on people through us. It was just an honoring experience. We were also able to be apart of their healing rooms. During that time I saw dumbness leave feet and nerve endings start to rebore (through a tingling sensation), a hurt knee healed after years of pain, and so much more!
On Saturday we got the privilege to intercede at the Arcata farmers market. I even got to be apart of the “spiritual readings” booth where we gave out prophetic words in-disguise. During that day I ran into my old dance instructor! It was such a small world in that instance since I hadn’t seen her since I was 12 and she lived in a different town altogether! But it was a significant moment nonetheless. I felt God say that no matter where you go, when you go with Him, you’re never alone, and theres always going to be family and community around you. It was a refreshing experience. The rest of the day was spent prayer walking certain neighborhoods and blessing each town.
Later that night, at church, the Humboldt State students were present due to a class requirement, although I believe there are no coincidences! I decided that during worship I was going to dance. I just had the urge pulsing through me. Unlike other times, I boldly walked up to the balcony area where the dancers where and asked if I could join in. The lady there hesitated then said yes, and I was delighted. After a powerful set, I turned to the lady again and thanked her for letting me join in. She said she actually doesn’t normally let people dance that she doesn't know. So, me being a stranger was no different, except she said, “I saw your streamer and I figured you were legit.” It’s amazing where boldness and initiation will get you. Instead of waiting for someone to say, “hey amy I think you should be dancing…” I just went for it! Again, God backed my efforts. The lady I ended up talking to was actually the leader of the dance team in that church! FAVOR!! She thought I flowed so well so she invited me to dance with her dance team Sunday night and I quickly accepted. I couldn’t believe the favor I just received just by stepping out.
So Sunday night rolls around and I was excited and anticipatory about worship because the HSU students are still there and instead of being prophesied over like the night before, they were getting to hear from Dan McCollum. Like planned, I danced with the team. The experience I was swept up into next was unlike any I’ve had before. I’ve been “tranced” before while prophetically dancing where I believe I’ve gone into a deeper realm, but this time I was overcome, body, soul, and spirit with a passionate love for Jesus. All my thoughts were about loving Jesus, all my body could do was worship him, all my spirit could manage was to give him praise. I described that point to my mom as, “seeing a glimpse of what Heaven will be like.” I was so overcome with love for Jesus, literally everything fell away, I couldn't think about anyone else, or see anything around me. I was enveloped in His love and passion and I didn’t want to leave. When I finally came to, I realized I had had a holy experience. The next thing I know I’m sitting listening to Dan speak on the highest form of worship described in the Hebrew language, “halle”. And I knew, that I had just experienced that “halle” moment…and THAT is what Heaven will be like, forever giving our highest praise to the One who gave it all.
The trip finished out nicely and I left feeling refreshed and full (not just emotionally or spiritually, but physically as well because they kept feeding us and we were never hungry!) I had pushed myself so hard as an introvert. With little sleep each night, being fully engaged throughout the day to love on people I’ve never met before required a lot of energy. But I was so fulfilled, and yet unsatisfied.
This trip contained a lot of firsts for me: first time prophesying over a mic, first word of knowledge for healing, first healing outside the church, which “spiritual reading”, first “halle” experience, and first treasure hunt. In fact, before we even got to Arcata, a girl from my team said to me, “You know Amy. I feel like God is saying, ‘You thought this trip is like taking one step forward’ but He’s actually saying, ‘You’re taking ten steps ahead.’” And it was true. There were so many things that happened because I chose to step out and be bold.
To follow up my story about he Huguenots; when I returned to school in Redding, I was speaking with my intern Jenny. I was telling her about what had happened during my bold moment of stepping out in faith and seeing God move when all of a sudden she freaks out and is like, “DO YOU KNOW WHAT’S JUST HAPPENED TO YOU?! DO YOU KNOW WHO THOSE PEOPLE ARE!?” She goes on to tell me that the Huguenots were a Charismatic Gypsy-like tribe in the southern mountains of France who were persecuted for their beliefs. Because of the persecution, they fled France, and like Sandrine's family, ended up in the USA. They held a legacy of breakthrough, a pioneering people before their time. Jenny had experienced their culture through a mission trip a few years back and told me about how people she knows are praying and interceding for that area to break out in revival! She had even been apart of it herself, calling the Huguenots home….
The craziest thing is is that I had NO idea about ANY of this! When I gave the word, I had no idea about her heritage, the price her people had to pay for their beliefs, nor the exquisite detail Holy Spirit poured into that word to remind a people group to return to their foundational beliefs and return to their homeland. That being said, the biggest lesson I learned was that YOUR WORDS ARE POWERFUL, and they WILL lead movements! When you move in boldness because you know who you are and whose you are, you leave a legacy people can follow, you change atmospheres, you bring Heaven to earth, and THAT was Jesus desire as believers.
Next time you're faced with a choice to stay back and watch to step out in boldness, know God will always back you, and you never know WHO you will be speaking to, but know your words ARE powerful, and the CAN and WILL lead nations!
I bless you with the same blessing I received, that you may encounter God with your very own “halle” moment, see his people through his eyes, stop for the one, love without an agenda, and move in boldness to change the course of history. You already have everything it takes because Jesus died for you to be One in him, and be the powerful person he created you to be!