MY STORY:

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At nearly midnight, I heard a knock on the door of my motel room. I opened the door and found one of my students, struggling to light his cigarette with shaking hands. Ryan had always made it clear that he was not a believer when he came to the youth group I was leading. We all knew his mom made him come on the mission trip to Guatemala. As he put the cigarette to his mouth, I noticed his hand was shaking. “What the hell was that, man?”
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Smoking was clearly a breach in the agreement for attending the trip, but I didn’t care at this point. After what we’d experienced on the patio, I wanted to ask him if he had an extra! I chose to overlook the contract breach and responded with shrugged shoulders, “I honestly don’t know!” 

I watched him as he turned toward the lake, puffing smoke toward the sky. “I mean, I think it was God.”
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I had been a youth pastor and a leader in the church for a few years. I had a sincere hunger for God, but God was no longer fitting in the box I had made for Him. He began to break the box open on a chilly evening in Guatemala, on the patio of our lakeside motel. After hearing testimonies of supernatural experiences and healing, our team began to pray for one of our leaders to be healed of multiple sclerosis. I tried to redirect the focus of our prayers to something more realistic, to no avail. This group of Presbyterian teens were charged with faith that God was going to heal.
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We prayed for more than two hours. I had never felt anything that intense in prayer. The atmosphere was electric. I began to have a sense that this was more than our enthusiasm, I wondered if God was visiting our little gathering. We had spontaneous worship more than once, and several kids expressed a renewed passion for Jesus. Upon returning home, the leader we had prayed for went to his doctor. To our shock, the doctor reported that he could find “no evidence of MS” in his system.
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This experience shifted my trajectory and put me on a path in which God was no longer a cold, distant concept, but a present reality. I began to prioritize knowing God over knowing about God. With help, I learned to have conversations with God. The more I experienced His nearness, the more impulsively I worshiped and read scripture. Jesus had described the Kingdom as a treasure hidden in a field, and I had found it. I have a Father who delights in me, and loves to walk and work alongside me through everyday life and challenges.
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The stories that have ensued from this season have been a source of nourishment to my heart, and a testimony of what’s possible to those with whom I’ve shared. My hope in sharing my stories with you is that you would have an increased awareness of and immersion in the love of the Father in the midst of everyday life and challenges.

The Lord once told me, “The best things you have to give away to others all come from your time with Me.” I believe Him. 
INSPIRATIONAL STORIES OF ADVENTURE AND SONSHIP
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