Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:12-13
I believe that encounters with the living God can change lives. Now a testimony of this truth has been indelibly etched upon my own heart. This time last year, I had an encounter with God at a beautifully renovated barn in Louisville, Kentucky. This encounter became the birthplace for personal renewal in my life. Let me tell you about it.
By the middle of last year, I had become weary and weathered after enduring a couple of particularly difficult years. Two uniquely demanding roles in the church and the arts, along with my wonderful young family were all keeping me very busy. The truth is, I was disappointed with God. I had just lost two friends to severe illnesses within a two-month period, leaving me emotionally drained and spiritually numb. I knew that I needed a prayer retreat to recalibrate my heart, but life just kept humming along at breakneck pace. It was time to do something intentional to seek the Lord.
So I took a journey to Louisville, KY to visit some wonderful friends who founded a ministry called Iron Bell (check them out at http://www.ironbellministries.org/about). Iron Bell cultivates a lifestyle of intimacy with God with prayer retreats, leadership summits and incredible worship nights. I thought I was going there to seek the Lord for direction in my life, but God had other plans.
The retreat began on a Wednesday morning with a scheduled prayer session. I was told to be at the barn by 7:30am so a ministry team could pray over me. This team was made up of some dear friends and perfect strangers. Those who didn’t know me were only given my name, “A.J.”, and knew nothing about my life or circumstances as they listened to God on my behalf. One member of the team was a worship leader named Stephen. We met for the first time that morning, and he shared a powerful prophetic vision with me in prayer.
In the vision, Stephen said that he saw me as a little boy building legos on the floor. I kept building them up and knocking them down, saying, “It’s not good enough!” Then the Lord came into the room and took me by the hand, leading me up a set of stairs into an art gallery. God began to show me many different pictures on the wall, and pointed them out to me one at a time saying, “Remember when we made this together?” and, “Let me tell what I love about this one,” describing the works we had created together. The Lord gave me a loving rebuke in the vision, saying to me, “You don’t get to decide whether things you make are good or not. I affirm you, A.J., I tell you what’s good. Ask me what I think and I will tell you. Spend time with me, abide in me, and you will bear much fruit.”
That word was so powerful to me in a time when I was struggling with my calling as an artist and a pastor and unsure about God's direction for my life. Here was God encountering me through a perfect stranger, and telling me that He knows me, has plans for me, and that He loves and affirms me.
A pastoral counselor named Tony was on my prayer team as well. He picked up where Stephen left off, sharing with me that he'd been praying for me in the morning and happened to hear the news that Yogi Berra had just died. Tony always loved the way Yogi could turn a phrase, and as he thought about it, he heard this phrase for me, “You need to try hard to stop trying so hard.” He shared the words of John 15:5 with me, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Tony continued by telling me that God was giving me a new name, and read on to John 15:11, where Jesus says, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Tony said, “A.J. as you spend time with God and stay connected to Him, the fruit of that connection will be, “All-Joy.”
Through this time of prayer, God was lovingly dealing with my lifelong issue of striving. I was reminded that God knows me intimately, and He’s the one who tells me what’s good and valuable. I was given a new name, All-Joy, to serve as a daily reminder to stay connected to Jesus, and abide in Him. My struggles with performance and perfectionism had been unmasked and ministered to in one fell swoop, all before breakfast. And the Father was inviting me to enter into His rest and walk with Him. Tony said, “there are empty stanchions in the art gallery, more things that God desires to create with you, A.J., as you co-labor with Him.” I’ll never forget that.
I received many other powerful and comforting words through prayer that morning, but I wanted to share this prophetic vision with you as a testimony of how God encountered me in Louisville. I am so deeply grateful to the prayer team at Iron Bell for seeking the Lord on my behalf. I will never be the same again after this word was spoken over my life. Now I am All-Joy!
I believe that God wants to speak to you as well. He knows you, He loves, you, and has plans for your life. Maybe it’s time for you to step away from the busy-ness to ask the Lord what He thinks about you. Remember, it only takes one encounter with the living God to change everything.
Our God Hears,
AJ
