NLDC BACKSTAGE: FEBRUARY 2008

Press through the Storm!

I remember once I was in a blizzard. The snow was completely blinding, you could hardly see even a few feet in front of yourself. It was so cold it was hardly bearable. It was one of the worst blizzards that I have ever seen. The dark was so impenetrable that it felt like night.

I was supposed to fly from Colorado to Atlanta. The airport almost cancelled the flight because the visibility was so bad. Praise God they didn’t cancel that flight or I wouldn’t have learned a valuable lesson.

After a little delay we finally took off, and began to rise. First the plane flew straight into the storm, and it started to shake violently. Now you have to realize that I have not flown very much at this point. I was scared. I honestly began to think that they were wrong in taking off, and thought that this plane would crash. You could sense the same anxiety from every other person on the airplane as well.

All of the sudden we break through the clouds. We come out from the violence, and everything is calm. Finally we had risen above the storm. The cold was below me now, and the sun was shining so brilliantly, it made my soul laugh. It was like the ultimate contrast. I went from the point of death to the point of bliss in a matter of seconds.

At that moment I realized something. When I was in the storm, the sun was still shining. I couldn’t see it, but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t there. I couldn’t feel its warmth, or see its brilliance because of the storm. The truth was that the sun was shining the entire time, but once I came through, I discovered the truth. All I had to do was rise above in order to see it.

During that storm I relearned a valuable truth from God’s Word.

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified … for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Sometimes we face huge storms in our lives where we can’t feel the presence of God. Sometimes it feels so cold and lonesome, and we don’t think we can make it. We look around ourselves and see nothing but the violence of the storm. It’s in those times that we must place our trust in God even though we don’t see Him. It’s in those times that we must choose to “be strong and courageous”. He is there, waiting on the other side of the storm. He is there waiting for you to press through.

Testimonies from the Road

We got to be with an amazing church in Albuquerque, New Mexico this. Their church’s vision is for reaching out to prison inmates, so the last couple of times they have had teams, we’ve gotten to go to the detention facilities there.

While we were at their church one of their members stood up and shared her testimony with us. The previous team had visited and ministered in the cell block that her son was in, not so coincidently, he got saved! He completely turned his life around and now leads the Bible studies in his block.

He was so excited that he called his mom and told her about our ministry and the church we were with. Mom then called the church, which eventually led to her joining the church. She currently serves them by heading up their Overcomers Outreach program, an outpatient drug abuse rehab course.

It was exciting to see a cornerstone of what another team did by listening to the voice of God and get to build into that as well. Thank God for the privileges we have in visiting and ministering to the inmates.

~ Lisa Stallings

We were staying with a Pastor recently who has a big vision for inmates and makes a huge effort to see them saved. That desire took us to visit and minister at their local detention facility. In two days, we did six different services.

The first day, we had a tougher crowd, with men and then two services for cell blocks, also known as jail pods. Essentially, they were honor pods marked for good behavior. We saw 76 people come to Christ that day.

The second day, we did two regular services and another for men who were in lockdown, we pretty much just did sketches for them while they watched from their cells. Despite the situations’ awkwardness we saw 118 people get to know Jesus that day!

It was amazing and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do with those 194 people. Thank God for the rare opportunity we had to visit with them and minister there.

~Josh Griffith