The Great American Journey

GAP WALK JOURNALS - III

Wednesday May 28, 2008    Day 83    0.0  miles

Total North Carolina miles - 118.9    Walking Days - 40

Accumulative miles 590.9

You may notice that less than half of the days that I’ve been on this journey have been walking days. For 43 days of this walk I have been “on hold” so to speak. A few days here, a week or two there, it has all added up to 43 days of no walking. Of course some of that has been the regular days off - Sundays and moving days - but much of it has been due to other reasons beyond my control.

Beyond my control - an interesting thought. Yet I know the One who is in control of it all, and I am convinced that each delay is in His hands. As I look at this latest delay with the loss of Snow White (my shuttle van) I have seen God’s hand at work in incredible ways. Becky and I (and sometimes Bob, too) have talked much about this and each day we see a little more of what God is doing in this time.

We have recognized that this area needs a lot of prayer, and so I have indeed been praying extra for this area and certain things that have come up.

This morning I had the opportunity to speak on the phone with Pastor Doug Bartlett of the Mount Olive First Pentecostal Holiness Church.  This is the church that Lynn, who took us in after the accident, attends. As we talked he asked lots of questions about my beliefs. I was happy to answer, and so appreciated his questions, his concern for his “flock” as he considered allowing me to speak to the people he pastors. How I wish more pastors had that concern for their people.

By the time we hung up he had invited me to come that night to speak to the people of his church, and share with them about the journey that Joni, Sam, and I took from Washington state to Florida praying for our nation, and to tell of the walk I am presently on.

Throughout the day I worked on sorting stuff from Snow White, and got it down to where I was comfortable with things so they are ready to put into whatever van I get next. I spent quite a bit of time visiting with Becky and Bob, and working on paper work in my room, and responded to several phone calls and text messages.

We had an early dinner, then headed for Mount Olive in the rain, yes, it rained most of the day today. Arriving at the church I was introduced to Dave, who was in charge of the sound/projection equipment. He helped me get my presentation onto a flash drive/thumb drive, or whatever it is they call those little things that go into the USB port on the computer. You notice how knowledgeable about this I am. (Smiles)

Then two other men came - one would be in charge of videotaping the program for me, one to keep the slides moving as I signaled them, and Dave would make sure the CD’s with the music was played at the right time to go with the right pictures, and that everything worked together as it should. They were a wonderful team.

Once we were set I went back downstairs to be ready to speak at the right time. Meanwhile Bob and Becky had made sure things were set up downstairs, and stood by to watch over all my stuff there. They are a great team also.

Then the pastor introduced me, and I shared the story of walking and praying for a nation. What an awesome time. This audience was with me all the way. But part way through the second song a picture got stuck, and there was no moving it. The song finished, and the three men were able to jump ahead to the picture just past the song, and I continued speaking. This little “glitch” was just another one of those things that was out of our control, but since I still know the One who is in control it was not a big deal.

The rest of the program went smoothly. At the end Pastor Doug prayed for me and the journey as the congregation held outstretched arms in my direction, and joined in on praying for me. It truly was a very moving time. He had me go to the back first and encouraged the people to stop and talk with me, which they did. Several shared how they had been challenged during the evening. Some shared that they had seen me walking on Monday. One lady shared that she had seen me walking and waving to people on Monday, and had sensed then that I was praying for people.  She told me she took time then to pray for me. Wow!

Several people bought books, and one asked for prayer. Becky and Bob and someone from the church just took charge of everything else so I could talk with people. I was truly blessed by this whole experience. They gave me both a DVD and a CD of the program. This was to fulfill a request from Focus on the Family to see a DVD of me doing a live presentation.

Finally we headed home to Bob and Becky’s (the rain had stopped) where we enjoyed Shoo-fly pie that Becky had made earlier in the day - delicious!

It was late when we all headed for bed, but it had been a grand day, and we felt so blessed to be used by God in this small way.

Thinking later about the challenge that I give at the end of each presentation, I thought of how so often we are challenged by something when we first hear it, but do we follow through on it after we get home. I hope and pray that people do take the challenge home, talk about it, pray about it, and let God work through them.

I often feel like such a “nobody” - just an ordinary girl who grew up in the country on a farm, the youngest of eleven, with no college education - yet miraculously God chose to use me. But you know, God also chooses to use you. The question now is, “Will you be obedient and let Him use you?”