When a big, hairy hand reached out and grabbed me as I made my way down the narrow aisle of the airplane, I was startled! I was absorbed in prayer asking God to confirm that I was where I was supposed to be which was me heading to Dallas for a leadership conference. I knew that I had heard Him correctly three months ago when we booked our flights…but because of spiritual warfare around me….things happening at home…and the accusing voice in my head that I have learned to recognize as Satan…I was in prayer just asking God to reassure me.
As I was praying that prayer, a hairy arm and hand literally reached out from nowhere and grabbed me. It was the very nice Gamecock fan that Brewer and I had encountered in the airport food court. Brewer had on his Clemson pullover and the guy teasingly said, “You got on the wrong colors!” Haha! I then said, “Be nice. His father played football at Carolina!” At that point he asked who my husband was and I told him it was Bill Bradshaw. He said that he remembered Bill. We smiled and then parted ways.
At that moment, when he grabbed my hand on the plane, he said,”This is a divine moment! I was trying to figure out how I was going to get to you. My wife called right before we were taking off and I told her Bill Bradshaw was on the plane and she said, ‘Oh my, I just forwarded you his wife’s Back 9 blog post yesterday. You just met her?!!!'”
He then proceeded to share how much he appreciated the blog and how it had helped to encourage he and his wife. He even told me specifically what he had read that helped him. He continued to share with me the extremely harsh circumstances they had been walking through. He thanked me for my posts and asked if I would call his wife. He then handed me his card with her cell phone number on the back! I told him I would be glad to call.
I made it to the bathroom where the tears started to flow. You see, at that exact moment I was praying silently for God to confirm our decision to travel to Dallas. Then this stranger reached out to me and said, “This is a divine moment.” Not only did God encourage me that we were supposed to be headed for Dallas, but He also confirmed, yet again, the call on my life…to write and speak.
Please, if you are a Back 9’er, or you are reading for the first time, learn from me and what God is showing me. He wants you to filter every step you take through His Will and His hands. Understand…God knows our hearts and our motives. He does! If we are sincere in wanting to know, He will show us. He will guide our every step, big and small. If we doubt or need reassurance because of spiritual warfare, He will reassure. He did it for me.
You see, when I got up to go the bathroom on that plane, we were experiencing great turbulence. If you know me, you know I struggle with flying and airplanes. God has been giving me victory in the last three years but it still is not my favorite thing to do. I had also been sleepless the night before. The thoughts going through mind were from Satan.
“You shouldn’t be going.”
“The plane you are on tomorrow is going to crash.”
“Your dad needs you bad.”
“Your daughter needs you.”
On and on and on went the negative, doubting thoughts. I had prayed in the night and asked the Lord to quiet my mind and He did. It wasn’t until we got to the airport that the negative and familiar accusing thoughts resurfaced with a vengeance. I was in silent prayer in the car, in the security checks and while sitting on the plane as we took off. The Lord knew my thoughts. Psalm 139:1-3, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.”
Prayer is key.
A constant state of prayer is where I stay when I feel these attacks.
I have learned the battle has to be won in prayer. God does show up and He does show out. It truly grows your intimate faith in God when you pray continually about the big and the small. When you see Him in the small everyday things, then you can trust Him greatly in the bigger things.
One last thing….we have a new friend!! So excited to fly back to Columbia and reach out to them.
God’s best for our lives is more than we can imagine. A surrendered life allows God to bless in ways you cannot imagine or even see coming. It is a blind trust. Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”
So I encourage you today, seek God in all things big and small. Spend time praying specifically about all things in your life. Ask Him to confirm the steps you are taking or to redirect you. He is faithful. He will show you. And when He does, it is like your faith has been given a “steroid” shot!!! Build that muscle today…with Steroids from God. They will give you a supernatural strength!!
Matthew 10:29-31, “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”