often times my greatest inspirations come late at night...
while i'm typing all lower-case...
despite the craziness i had this week at work, i had a very inspirational week.
God (in caps) spoke to me in a dream the other night. it wasn't a visual dream; it was quite dark actually. but God asked me to pray for two things... one of which i'll share here. but first, some background.
i must have been a sophomore in college when i felt God asking me to consider being a missionary. it was during that time in my life that i was very zealous for God, being a new Christian. it was also a time when the church i was with at the time, was expanding in leaps and bounds and forming new groups within. one of them was an international homegroup (lifegroup or small group, however you want to call it). we had many fond years reaching out to the internationals at nc state. and many rough moments. but our mighty leader later was lead by God to pursue other goals and dreams, thus our little group disbanded...
i later became part of a community homegroup, a mixture of working singles, grad students, families with kids and a few dogs. it was a time after i graduated and a time that i really grew as a person, in faith, and in character. our little group also reached out to internationals; within this group i learned a lot about my evangelical skills. i became friends with many wonderful people, those who were from other countries, those who had missions focus, those have went on missions, those who want to learn about other cultures and countries... i was comfortable in my environment and didn't see that i would leave this homegroup.
then, my mom became sick and i had to move back to the charlotte area. during those times my mom went through treatment, i church shopped. a lot. methodist, baptist, non-denomination, vineyard... all kinds. funny though, because i am single, i try to find a church with a singles focus. some had good groups, others were still in development. but i knew at the time i could not exert too much energy into helping create a new singles group because of my mom and her health.
after my mom past away in August, i took a sabbatical from church... and a month later started to go to a church in the huntersville/cornelius area. strangely enough, from my dad asking me to consider going even though he doesn't go to church! the singles group was humungous but yet not many people younger than 33 (why 33, i don't know). for a time, i wrestled with my thoughts in how to get something going, a younger crowd that i can hang out with, relate to, never been married. i had some thoughts, and actually one wacky idea... but still, i prayed for my calling in this ministry.
then, one night earlier this week i had a dream. i felt God spoke to me in this dream. He told me to pray for two things... one of which is that i should pray for China. singles ministry was never mentioned in my dream. the other i may explain later...
it baffled me but this dream gave me great peace for the first time in a while. and i prayed for China and the other thing God asked me to pray about.
i had a great conversation with a good friend. he just brought up something that got me thinking more. he said this, "I never really saw you as part of a Singles ministry." yes, i have that status as "single" but that shouldn't restrict me from being in other things. he went on to say that since he's known me, i've always been interested in international people.
it's what brought my mom to know Christ. it's what got my dad asking questions about Christianity. there were Chinese Christians i met in the charlotte area and became a part of my life that made a great impact on my parents.
a light bulb came to my head. well, many light bulbs came to my head. now the question is, now what? what do I do with part 1 of my dream?
