Rejoicing!

The horse is made ready for the day of battle, 

but 

victory rests with the LORD.

Proverbs 21:31

We had a major spiritual breakthrough in a young man's heart tonight! The Holy Spirit moved! Walls are being torn down! It's an exciting thing to witness! In the last couple of years, we have been seeing many victories on the spiritual front!

Clint and I had a long conversation about this young man two nights ago. We've seen the struggle building over the years. We both had the same impressions upon our heart about the source of his pain. We spent some time praying for him.

Today, I spent some time asking God to move in this young man's heart so he would open up and share what his burden was so we could help him with it. While I was praying, I felt like the Lord was telling me to ask the young man a very specific question. I planned to keep praying about that question. I really felt Clint would be better suited to ask it.

This afternoon, the young man came and talked with me. Chit chat stuff. 

While I was talking with him, I felt again like the Lord was telling me to ask a very specific question. I didn't want to ask the question due to the nature of it and for fear the young man would become angry. 

I obeyed and asked the question. IMMEDIATELY a dam burst and an ocean of deep hurt poured forth. Heart wrenching stuff. Deep, deep soul anguish. Awful stuff that leads to dark, desperate thoughts. I was crying on the outside, hurting with him, and also rejoicing that God had let him open up. I texted Clint and asked him to leave work early and come talk with us. He quickly did.

We spent hours talking with the young man. We connected so deeply with him; he didn't want to leave us tonight.

We asked the young man how could I have known what question to ask if it had not been for God imparting that insight to my heart, and through that, couldn't he see God's great love for him? The young man agreed. It had to be God, and God has to love him to work in this way for him. No one could have known exactly what his struggle was without some kind of special knowledge. 

God is at work! This is His doing! He will have the victory! The glory is always the Lord's! He is just allowing us a small and rewarding part through ministry.

Thank you to those who have been praying. We are doing the same things we've been doing for many years, but we are seeing many, many more victories! I haven't been able to share a lot in this area of our lives, but I wanted to share at least one story to let our prayer warriors know, God hears and is responding. Thank you for your prayers! It is an exciting time with many stories like this. Please keep praying for us and with us. Please also keep praying for our safety.

Be easy on the young people. Let them know you see value in them and care about them. We live in a very dark and harsh world with a lot of confusing and conflicting messages. There is enough damage done to today's young people already. They might not feel they can share it, but many of them are hurting. Deeply. Show love, reflect the Healer, offer them hope, and be continually praying.