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The most amazing week of my life

We all need prayer. If you’d like someone to pray with you or disciple you, our new blog ministers would like to help (just email me. Or to learn about them, click on their photos on the sidebar at left). From time to time I’ll ask one of them to share. The first of these is Patti Blakely. She ex…
By Seth Barnes
We all need prayer. If you’d like someone to pray with you or disciple you, our new blog ministers would like to help (just email me. Or to learn about them, click on their photos on the sidebar at left). From time to time I’ll ask one of them to share. The first of these is Patti Blakely. She explains how she found the blog and how God subsequently touched her life.  – sb
 
You’ve heard that your life flashes before your eyes before you die. I learned last week that God sometimes takes the opportunity to review your life and leave you still breathing.

A glitch on my laptop led to the most amazing and fullfilling week of my life. I was playing on Facebook and a blog page appeared out of nowhere. I began to read the entries and knew that I had a connection with this person named Seth Barnes. So I sent an email to him. 15 minutes later the phone rang and it was Seth. We talked for no more then 10 minutes and agreed to meet for lunch. Little did I know, but my whole life was about to change.
 
It began with an AIM project in nearby Gainesville. Toya, Cory, Kim were the leaders. Here’s what happened and the two lessons I learned.

Lesson 1:

I had lost my dad seven months ago (November 7th, 2008) and the Lord shut me down, physically, mentally and emotionally. I could no longer work my high power job – I was given a severance package with love.
 
En route to AIM I asked God the question, “What do you want me to do and who do you want me to help?” The answer was, “Trust me today.”

Seth met our bus on the way to the Boys and Girls Club and asked for three volunteers for a special assignment. I raised my hand. He told the story of Robert, a saint amongst us who was dying in the hospital. We were to meet him in a hour to pray with the family, in the same hospital and the same room where my dad had died. I was afraid, but with Seth, Floyd, and Liz by my side we went Robert’s room. Instantly the Lord was at my side so that I could take all the lessons that I had learned and minister to Robert’s wife and oldest daughter. I told them, “You are not alone and Robert is not ending his life, but beginning a new one.”

What I learned:
Ask for support and God will be there even when you don’t know that he is there. When he allows you to experience pain in your life, it is to learn a lesson that will enable you to help heal others.

Lesson 2
I was brought up to be the best at everything I do. Asking for help was a sign of weakness. Being a follower not a leader was a failure. Everything that I said or did was to impress the world and show I was tough.

We had a worship session Tuesday night with Seth and Jake. As Jake led the prayer for us, the Lord spoke to me thru him and laid my life out, faults and all. Who did I think I was fooling for all these years? Not the one who knows me best.

What I learned:
I might fool people around me, but God wanted an up close and personal relationship with me. I learned you cannot impress him, he was impressed with you from before you knew how to breath and called out your name in joy and love.

All of the corporate back-stabbing, dreams of over-achieving, saving the world, and awards, were nothing more than power plays and had no purpose in God’s plan for me. They crowded my heart with nothing but negatives. I’m learning to love him as a Dad. To talk to him, to tell him the truth, to listen for his answers, and just be real.

I have met many new friends in Gainesville this week and will continue to share how wonderful a life video is when you accept the invitation from the one who truly loves you most and wants the best for you.

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