Stories
Radical-in-Florida 's Story
October 8th, 2009
I had to write you and share with you what the Lord has been doing in both my heart and my husband's and how it relates to Brook Hills. We've never met, never been to Brook Hills, never even visited Alabama but God has so used what you and your church are doing to confirm what He has been laying on our hearts. About 6 weeks ago I came across a link to the sermons in the "Radical" series of last year. Prior to that God had begun to answer my prayer, though I did not realize it at that point, to see the world through his eyes. I would pray as I would sing along to the song that I am sure you know, "Give me your eyes for just one second. Give me your eyes so I can see. All of these things that I've been missing. Give me your love for humanity." This also was colliding with what God had also been laying on our hearts regarding caring for orphans and reaching the lost in, yes, India and also Asia. God has so used these sermons to confirm and inspire us onward in this! This confirmation was how I knew that both what we had been listening to in the sermons and what we had been hearing in our hearts were both from God. It went something like: God speaks ideas and realizations to our hearts. We talk through it, trying to fish out the deep, graspable truth at the heart of it. We sit tearfully and in awe as Dr. Platt articulates it perfectly and backs it up with countless scriptures. It was like hearing God's whispers into our hearts spoken back to us loud and clear! After hearing these sermons, I almost wrote the church to see if any further sermons had touched on this again, maybe bringing in more insight, when I decided that I would listen to your "Faith Works" series. I was so happy to find that it almost seems to pick up where the "Radical" series left off. It was perfect! It was like God was holding our hands, walking us through this step by step both through personal revelation in prayer and also through the teaching at Brook Hills. Setting up the desire in our hearts and then walking us through the application. We were so excited to hear about the "Radical Experiment" as we too had been discussing already how we could lessen our lives. What is the price of home that God would deem acceptable? What can we give up? God had already given me the idea, in line with "selling all that I have and giving to the poor," to not just sell the fabric scraps that gather dust in my closet and stand as evidence of my love of sewing, but rather to begin to sew things and sell them, giving all the money to care for the poor and share the gospel. I have had donations of fabric and other sewing notions from Christian friends bringing to profit margin up to 100% for some items- wow!! And how freeing it is!! How freeing to live by faith and trust God to bring in every need. How freeing it is to give up what the world would say is rightfully earned and mine and instead give it away for the glory of God!! "If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?" -- David Livingstone All that to say, praise God! We are walking along with you in this experiment and trying to spread this passion with others here! I like to call it: Live Simply. Live Greatly. Live simply in life but live greatly for God!! Maybe you get emails like this daily, maybe this is one of few, but it is sincere and written with much excitement for the things of the Lord and gratefulness that we share in this. Blessings to you and prayers for Brook Hills and you embark on this adventure!