Kroger. Purple Shirt. Blue Shoes. What?!?

Hello friends,

I've been discerning whether or not to write this post. But as I've promised the Lord, I will not say no to his leadings. 

Last Sunday my sister and I watched "Father of Lights" (which you TOTALLY should too!) and it has honestly changed my life. 

2 Timothy 1:8 says, "So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord." and Revelation 12:10-12 says, "'Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,

and the authority of his Christ. 

For the accuser of our brothers,

who accuses them before our God day and night,

has been hurled down.

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb 

and by the word of their testimony;

they did not love their lives so much

as to shrink from death.

Therefore rejoice, you heavens

and you who dwell in them!

But woe to the earth and the sea, 

because the devil has gone down to you!

He is filled with fury,

because he knows that his time is short.'"

Wow!!! By the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony! There is power in our testimony, and that is why I write this post, and this blog. I want my God to be glorified beyond all else, and to my dying day I will do all in my ability to make this happen. 

So after watching this movie, a second time alone, I cried out to God, "I want to have that kind of faith, Lord! I want to be bold like that. I want to do your work." Then 5 words were spoken to my spirit. "Kroger. Purple Shirt. Blue Shoes." 

Now wait a minute...I'd heard of this thing called Treasure Hunting, where people wait upon the Lord and he gives them clues about people he wants them to go and find to pray for. I had never taken part in this, but my first thought to God was, "wait...really? You want me to go to Kroger and find someone wearing a purple shirt and blue shoes? Who wears that color combination? What would I say? Right now?" A flood of questions and doubts came to mind, even "I don't know how this works, Lord. I don't know the rules or what is ok to say and not ok to say." He then told me, "There are no rules Sophia." 

Ok ok Lord, I'll go. I can't say no...So I threw my hair up in a pony tail and brushed my teeth. And off I went to Kroger. The whole time I was driving there I couldn't stop thinking about how absolutely CRAZY this was! I even told the Lord I wouldn't stay longer than 20 minutes looking for this person. 

Well my heart beating out of my chest, stopped as soon as I pulled into the Kroger parking lot. There just getting out of her car was a woman wearing a PURPLE SHIRT and BLUE SHOES!!!! OH MY GOSH!! You can only imagine how blown my mind was. My mind went something like this "WHAT!? Are you serious? Are you serious Lord? Purple shirt, blue shoes...oh my gosh...she is wearing them!" So I park my car real quick and hurry in. I see her by the deli and I take one last thought..."Am I really doing this!?" 

"Excuse me."

"Yes?"

"Hi, I was just sitting on my couch at home when the Lord told me to come to Kroger and pray for someone wearing a purple shirt and blue shoes." (She looks down at her outfit...) "I was wondering if I could pray for you?"

"Uh sure?"

"Ok, is there anything I could pray specifically for?" 

"Well, I have some family problems"

"Ok. What is your name?"She responded with her name and then I prayed. I can't even remember what I prayed besides mentioning the love of the Father and supernatural peace and restoration for her family. It was a short prayer, but my voice kept shaking and cracking. Oh man was I terrified! 

I said Amen, and looked up at her. She had her index finger in her mouth, as if wondering what in the world this girl was doing! I said, "Thank you so much for letting me pray for you. I hope you have such a great day!"

And walked right back out of Kroger... in a mere 5 minutes.

My heart was POUNDING!!! But I had done it. I had obeyed the Lord, and my faith was as high as the sky! 

My heart didn't stop pounding for a good while.  I get back home and am overwhelmed with joy and love for this woman. The Lord led me to pray more for her and then I hear "Gas station. Green shirt." What!? God, I just got back home! But I couldn't say no. So off I went to the 7-11 by my house. As soon as I pull in a car drives right past me...and driving it is a man wearing the brightest green shirt!! My jaw just hit the floor...This time I was ready! So I go to park my car watching where this man is going to park, when he just drives off. 

Wait a second Lord...didn't you want me to pray for him? Well I waited for about 10 minutes, put some gas in my car and waited to see anyone else with a green shirt. No one. So as I drive back home a little confused, the Lord told me to pray for that man. So I did. 

I got home and was completely in awe of my God! My mom and sister soon came home and I told them what had happened! My mom asked me, "Were you wearing that shirt?" "Yes, why?"

This was the shirt I was wearing, completely unaware of what it said. It just made us all laugh! How cool is the Lord! 

When I told my mom about the man with the green shirt, she said, "Maybe it wasn't so much for that man or woman that God led you to them, but rather to increase YOUR faith." 

Wow. What grace! I sit here still in complete awe of how faithful our Lord is to answer our prayers. I had simply asked for more faith, and the Lord smiled, replying, "Easy." I can only imagine how much he was laughing at my reactions when I saw the people fitting the clues the instant I pulled into each location. How our father delights to show himself true to his children! 

Luke 11:9 says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." 

So I call out to YOU and encourage you to ask! Ask the Lord to prove himself true. If we would only ask for MORE! For more faith, more wisdom, more humility, more courage! He will surely give abundantly. These and more are the virtues that make up our testimony. Our God has and will do such great things that we cannot afford to not share our testimonies! He has a great story for each of us, we need only to tap into it. It is not easy. It will be terrifying, difficult, and painful, but that is because the enemy knows "his time is short"!! 

God loves you entirely. He longs to be near you. Oh how he loves! So just ask him to draw near. "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you" James 4:8

Our God is truly Great. And we can't even imagine how great our story with him will be when we just surrender it all to Him. He is so worthy of it all!