Mission trips can be one of the most amazing experiences with the Holy Spirit that a person can ever have. You're in a foreign place and your sole mission is to spread the good news of the gospel. Your team prays with and over people for healing or for whatever need they may have, works on projects that benefit the community, and shares the love of God with everyone that you encounter. You prepare for the trip spiritually, mentally, and physically. There is a plan laid before you as you go out and your senses are heightened as you anticipate God's movement. You anxiously await a word from the Lord to show you what to do, where to go, who to approach; and you prepare your heart and your tongue for Him to speak through you. You become hyper sensitive to the leading of the Spirit and aware of His presence. You witness miracles, you pray over deaf ears that suddenly can hear, blind eyes that now can see. I, personally, have never experienced this but I so love to hear the stories and see the changes that happen in people that serve after they return. It leads me to this question; can we have these same experiences in our normal, routine, every day lives? Do we believe that God can move in our lives at home the same way that He moves in the lives of those being ministered to on mission trips?
As Amanda shares some amazing stories of miraculous healing that she experienced during her time in Kenya, we explore these questions and ultimately find that the answer lies more within what we are willing to say "yes" to within our normal, routine, every day lives. Do we spend the time preparing our hearts and minds when we're just going to work or to school or facing one too many kids in the morning? Do we anxiously await a word from the Lord as we anxiously await the traffic in front of us to MOVE ALREADY on our commute home? Do we say yes when we feel a prompting to approach someone at the grocery store and pray over them, or just tell them that they're loved unconditionally by an amazing God? I know that 99% of the time I would have to answer most of these with a big fat "no".
What would happen if we adopted the rule of improvisation to never say no, but to instead answer every question with "yes, and"? If we were actually open to the promptings of the Spirit and obedient to every call, we would never answer with a no. How could, not only our spiritual lives, but the lives of those around us change if we began to ALWAYS answer God with a "yes, and"? Would we be more intentional with our families and loved ones? Would we do a better job of being
the church? Could we have a greater impact on our community? What would happen to our prayer lives? Our faith? Tap into that inner lioness and take the "Yes, and" challenge with us, let's see what God can do through us in our homes, churches, and communities.
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