Mustard Seed Faith

On Thursday, June 25, a large group of people from church headed over the mountains to the Twisp/Okanogan area. Steve and I didn't arrive to the campsite until early Friday morning because of our schedules. This is our third summer in Twisp and our purpose for going is to preach the Gospel message. Our desire is to see God open a door to start a new work in the area.

Anytime you do something for the Lord or something that the Lord wants you to do, you can expect to be attacked by Satan. And, believe me, I was attacked. I have a few weak areas when it comes to sharing the Gospel of Christ, and the devil knows them all to well, but PTL! God knows them too and still can use this unworthy vessel.

One Thursday afternoon I was asked by one of our SPG (Singles Pleasing God) ladies if I was coming out to the Thursday night outreach. I got a little uncomfortable and said I didn't know. But, what I was really saying was "no, I don't think so." I went on to tell her that I felt inadequate and feared man. I went home that evening made myself a pot of coffee, picked up my Bible and was led to read all of IJohn. The Holy Spirit poked me in the chest over and over again as I read through God's Word: 1John 1:6; 2:4-6;23 and many more). I was so convicted I showed up to the outreach fifteen minutes early (and if any of you know me, you know that I always run late). The outreach that evening went well because God was there with me all the way.

I made it through Thursday night and now the Highway 20 Outreach was just around the corner. Do you think after the victory I had on Thursday that Satan would leave me alone? No, as the week approached the fears and doubt began. First, Satan attacked me mentally. I had "a gut feeling" - I just knew something was going to go wrong, and then I felt like I wasn't prepared and prayed up enough to be able to be of any help on the outreach. The second attack was physically made on my little dog Levi. He woke up Friday morning with an infected and sore bum, which led to many disagreements between Steve and I. Everything seem to take longer to get packed in the car, we had physical ailments, we were exhausted, upset and just beat up before we ever got out of Oak Harbor. The ride was long and our moods were unsettled. Trying to pray was even a chore.

We got to the campsite just in time as Brother Geist was finishing up his morning devotion on PB&J (which I heard was excellent). Shortly thereafter, everybody broke into their outreach teams and headed off to their destination. PTL! God was still with me and working on me...despite me. I kept recalling IJohn 1-5, but my nerves were on edge.

We arrived at our destination, received more instruction and then broke off into our teams. Right before we began to leave to go knock on doors, Pastor Sargent says, "and don't forget we are to have conversation with the people". Oh boy. Instantaneously my heart sank to my stomach, my pulse began to beat harder, my breathe got shorter and my mind began racing. I knew one thing for sure and that was I didn't want to disappoint God or my Pastor.

With that said, I knew that I wasn't going to get away with just handing the people a Gospel tract, now a full-fledged conversation was required. PTL! God knew exactly what I needed. This was the second time he partnered me up with a preteen who didn't want to talk. This forced me to led by example and trust in God alone for the words to say. There were times I experienced a boldness that I had not had before and I knew that it came directly from God. I've walked away from this experience knowing that I need to be ready to give an answer to every man. Now, I just need to do the studying. PTL! That God can take a unworthy vessel like me and still use me.

On Sunday morning, Pastor Sargent preached on the parable of the mustard seed. He had two points, 1) The mustard seed gospel and 2) The mustard seed faith. The mustard seed is a very tiny seed and all God asks of me is to have faith the size of a mustard seed. "..Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." My faith is little, but each time I go out, my faith gets a little bit bigger, just as a mustard seed would as it grows. PTL! God is so true to his Word.

I didn't get the opportunity to take as many pictures as I would have liked to, but what photo's I did take I posted as a slideshow. Check it out if you get a moment.