Angel Eyes; Sammy, the Jeep; and Re-Baptism!
Three amazing stories of planted seeds growing into fruitful trees.
What a fabulous battle has raged over me in the past 2 weeks!
Good and evil have both waged a war over my confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth and good won in a massively decisive victory.
In a period where the enemy has been telling me I am not accomplishing anything; I am not progressing towards my goals as fast I should be…or at all; that my book will never get the funding to be published because I don’t know how to ask; that the amazing business idea I have will never happen because I don’t have the capital to start it and feel blocked as to what the next step is; that the women’s How to be Fearless retreats I want to have are also held up due to funding and more next step blockage. I could really go on and on. I have so many ideas and projects in the works and almost none bring in any money…but is it really all about money? Satan would have me believe so, since that’s what seems to be the thing holding me back the most.
And this is where my God swooped in with 3 amazing stories of how it is really all about sowing seeds and building up His Kingdom in Heaven, where my treasures are stored and can not be destroyed by moths or rust. (Keep reading and you’ll see what I did there.)
Angel Eyes
Monday: I don’t remember the exact context of the conversation, but I do know the Lord really impressed on my heart to share this story to the group at the barn.
Several years ago…2015 maybe? God had a “Let’s Change Your Heart” theme for me and it was all about giving to the people holding signs asking for money at the red lights. Ugh!
Over and over I would see scriptures talking about when someone asks you for something, give it to them. Ugh!
This theme kept coming up at church, in conversations, on the radio, wherever! Ugh!
I had a bad attitude towards the red light people. I avoided them. I changed lanes to avoid them. They annoyed me! I worked hard for my money. Why couldn’t they?
But God kept up the bombardment with His theme and I felt like He wanted me to start giving money to the red light-homeless-sign-holders. I argued that they were everywhere and I didn’t have that kind of money. That would be tons of dollars He knew I didn’t have!
I finally gave in, begrudgingly, and began keeping a stack of dollar bills in my console to give away.
What happened to my heart was amazing!
I went from avoiding the sign-holders like the plague, to seeking them out and changing lanes to get the opportunity to give to them. Inevitably, we would start to have conversations and I began to notice something strange…
Almost all of the sign-holders were ugly, dirty, toothless, and unattractive…but had these exquisite, crystal clear blue or green eyes. I began to wonder if these were angels on assignment…the ones spoken of in Hebrews 13 where it says, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”
I believe my suspicions were confirmed when I was at the light at Wadsworth and C470 in Littleton, Colorado. She was not pretty at all, but those eyes were exquisite! We were talking about the weather and I said, “Yeah, but I think the sun is supposed to come back soon.”
Her response: “Yes, He is!” and the light turned green.
Whoa!!! Wait!!! What???
My whole day was made. You cannot convince me she was not an angel on assignment!! That has stuck with me for years as one of my coolest experiences. Yes, The Son is coming back soon!
So, I finished telling this story to the group in the barn and one of the guys admitted to having the same kind of bad attitude I had at the beginning of the story. He relayed his own story of a nasty experience with a demanding homeless person that had left a semi-traumatic, wholly offensive taste in his mouth. (Maybe that’s the wrong way to put that.)
His aversion was palpable as he spoke about how much resistance he felt towards God’s nudge to give to these people.
I got it! I totally got it! It’s tough to give up your hard-earned money when it seems like the person asking for it is lazy, at best, and a drug addict, at worst. (It could probably be a lot worse, I guess.)
3 nights later, this same guy was at the inaugural night of a new ministry, called Grafted In, God just dropped in my lap. In fact, he and his wife are hosting it.
“Andi, I have a story for you…”
He began to tell me about being at a store the day before and seeing a homeless woman outside and feeling like the Lord was telling him to give her some money.
Resisting…“Andi, I walked around the store for an extra 15 minutes hoping I would not have to walk past her.”
He eventually walked out and felt like God was telling him to walk up to her. Begrudgingly, he did.
She thanked him for walking up to her. He grumbled, “Yeah.”
She began to explain to him that she was not begging for money for herself, but was trying to put together a program to teach kids about the dangers of drugs and the potential of death by fentanyl.
The two spoke for a bit and my friend was still reluctant to give, but felt like the Lord was telling him to give her everything in his pockets…which was $240.
“Ugh!!!” He reluctantly gave her $100 and she thanked him saying that would help.
As he walked away, he felt the Lord say, “That is NOT what I asked.”
Again, reluctantly, he returned to the woman and gave her the rest of what was in his pockets. She responded with a heartfelt thank you and, “The Lord will continue to bless you and your family because of your obedience.” Obedience? How did she know?
He continued with, “Andi, the strangest thing happened! As she was saying that, her eyes changed colors right in front of me to that exquisite, crystal clear blue you talked about.”
What????? Wow!!! Okay, I’d never seen anyone’s eyes change to that exquisite color.
But that’s not the end of the story!
When my friend got home, he had some cash set aside for bills and, when he counted it again, there was an extra $240 there. Exactly how much he’d given angel eyes!
Sammy, the Jeep
Friday afternoon, I walked into a friend’s house to find her on the phone trying to file a claim with the Colorado Attorney General regarding the Jeep she had just had delivered from an auto dealer in New York.
She was so excited to get that Jeep and was so excited to the be able to sell her Porsche so she could start her Sunday Salmon Community Meal Ministry with the excess money. She named the Jeep, Sammy…as in Salmon. Get it?
This is a friend who has watched me thank God over the past few months for some of the most ridiculous things like getting to live in a tent in someone’s garage/shop. It sounds like something no one would aspire to, but I was always thankful and I quickly realized that God was using that situation to protect me immensely.
I didn’t understand why I loved being in that shop so much until I realized that the roof and siding were made of metal. Metal which blocks so much of the EMFs and microwaves from the towers that disrupt my body and my system so much. The EMFs and microwaves that have been assaulting us like crazy since April 2024. God used poverty to protect me!!!
My friend got off the phone and explained to me that the Jeep she was so elated about was gorgeous on the outside and the inside, but not underneath. It was eaten up by rust and the mechanics here expected it to disintegrate at the first pothole it hit. The Jeep was subsequently renamed, Scammy…which is pretty hilarious.
She was crushed. The dealer wouldn’t take it back. It looked like she was out $12K when her whole purpose was to downgrade so she could serve others.
I sat and watched the process.
The crushing…the dismay…the anger…the discouragement…the sadness…
And then the gratefulness…the praise…the resilience…and the utter defeat of the enemy!!
I watched my friend talk herself into praising God for the trials and struggles then watched her stand against the enemy and remind him that God uses all things for good for those who love Him and those who are called according to His purpose (and she certainly does and is!)
I watched her post on social media, initially about her excitement, then about her embarrassment of being scammed, then about how she was still praising God in all of it.
What satan meant to use to destroy her and her dream, God used as a witness to so many others as to how He wants us to do life! Praising Him in all of it!
My favorite part? Her son’s memory verse that week was 1 Thessalonians 5:18 - “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
She had given him a whole sermon on what that meant and when the Jeep situation occurred, HE reminded her to praise God in it. Wow!!!
Re-Baptism
On Sunday, my church had one of its baptism weekends and when the invitation happened, a girl sitting in my row looked at me and excitedly proclaimed, “Re-Baptism!” then took off.
Me: “Huh?”
So, I asked her husband if she was about to get baptized and he said she was.
“What?”
So, I followed after her! God had placed this beautiful person in my life a few months ago and she is also part of the ministry He recently dropped in my lap.
I found her in the baptism sign-up line.
“Are you getting baptized?” I asked.
“Yep!”
“Can I help?” I asked.
“Yes, please!” she hugged.
As we moved closer in line to the baptism pool, my heart was bursting. “Could my story be why she excitedly proclaimed, “Re-Baptism!”?
I was so thrilled for my friend!! When I asked if she was getting baptized she was very adamant that if she was going to be a part of this ministry we’re in, she wanted the Lord to know she was all in! She was all His!
So many emotions were welling up and spilling out of my eyes!
“Why are you crying?” she asked.
“You said ‘re-baptism.’ Is this because of my story?” I asked.
“Of course it is!” she hugged!
Whoa!!! What??? Wow!!! What an honor to think one of these little writings here influenced someone’s decision to get baptized. (Here’s the story: “Monsters in the Mask”)
Seeds had been planted. Seeds had been watered. And, in a season where satan was trying so hard to convince me of how worthless he wanted me to believe I was, God said, “Not today, satan! Each one of those seeds is growing into a fruitful tree!”
I might not have much, but to have even just a tiny amount of influence on growing God’s Kingdom and leading others into a better relationship with Him, is worth more than all the money in the world!