Meet Abigail, an inspirational young woman who felt called to make a difference in the world. She is authentic with her words, passionate in her calling and has a true heart for the Lord. Be encouraged and be inspired as she shares a day in her journey.
“Our ministry this afternoon is street evangelism.”
I froze. I’m not a great conversationalist. I don’t always know how to relate to people and I’m far too comfortable with silences for small talk to ever feel natural.
But even still, I sat down and engaged in listening prayer with the five other people who were heading into Siem Reap at the same time as me. After a few minutes, Ronny, one of our squad leaders, said he received a very clear picture of a bridge. And so with a bridge in mind, we rolled out. I climbed into a tuk tuk with Ronny and a girl named Cindy.
We ended up sitting down on a footbridge in the city. Cindy turned to the girl next to her and asked where she was from—“Japan,” she answered. That’s where Cindy is from. Immediately they flip from English to Japanese and start getting to know each other.
Ronny turns to a white guy sitting a few feet away from us and jokingly asks, “What, are you from the United States?” He isn’t. His name is Sebastian and he’s from the Netherlands. Either way, Ron begins asking him questions about himself, learning whatever he can about this Dutch app developer.
I’m not talking to anyone yet, so I start to think. The Lord gave Ronny a picture of a bridge…when we sat down at the first bridge we passed, when Cindy sits down and talks to the first girl she sees, she ends up being from Japan. We found a Japanese tourist sitting by herself on a footbridge in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Obviously this is something the Lord ordained.
And so I start to pray.
Sitting on the edge of the bridge, staring down at the water gently passing by, I begin to lift up Ronny and Cindy’s conversations to the Father. Following the promptings of the Holy Spirit, I ask that “the Church as a Body” would be the center of Ronny’s conversation with Sebastian—that it would be clear and obvious to Sebastian that the Lord desires a relationship with him, one where they can get to know each other in a pure and personal way. I pray that Cindy’s conversation would be based in the perfect love of our God—that this girl would come away from her talk with Cindy feeling and knowing the height, width and depth of the Father’s love for her, that she is cared about deeply. I pray that she would notice something different in and about Cindy.
After over an hour of Ron and Cindy talking with these people, I walk back over to them. I still don’t understand what Cindy is saying, but Ronny is talking to Sebastian about the Church, about how Christianity isn’t just showing up to a building and listening to a pastor talk—it’s a religion founded on a God who wants US, who wants to know us and to be known by us, a Father who wants to walk through life with us and be our best friend.
Cindy sits down next to me and shares some of her conversation. At the very end, she prayed with the girl she was talking to, and after she finished up, the girl said she felt something different while Cindy was praying. She said she felt the love of the Father washing over her.
I didn’t talk to anyone that day.
I didn’t sit down and meet anyone new.
I didn’t share the Gospel with anybody.
But the value and importance of prayers of intercession became so much more real. Stepping into the gap and pleading with the Lord on someone else’s behalf, standing up to engage in the spiritual battle constantly waging around us, isn’t something to be overlooked or brushed aside. Interceding for Ronny and Cindy in that moment was a way to release God’s power onto that bridge and into their words—prayers of intercession are invaluable.
Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit…” The only thing I can offer up to the Father is my own broken spirit. My broken past, my broken heart, my broken self…all of it is brokenness. But this brokenness is something the Father chooses to invite along on an adventure with him; a cracked vessel is something he desires. Offering myself, my actions, and my words up to the Lord won’t always look like “converting nonbelievers” or performing miracles in the name of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it’s sitting on the edge of a bridge, staring down at a river, and lifting up my brothers and sisters who are on the frontlines. My sacrifice to my Father is my broken spirit and my broken prayers of intercession. But through the power and authority of Jesus Christ, my prayers were weapons used to fight in that spiritual battle on the bridge. My sacrifice may be broken, but the Father makes it whole. My words may be weak, but the Spirit is so strong in me. Our Lord will never fail.
Hi! My name is Abigailand I’m a 21 year old daughter of the One True King. Toward the end of my sophomore year at Iowa State University, the Lord called me to the nations. So I dropped out of college, bought a 65-liter backpack, and have been working as a missionary abroad in a program called the World Race ever since. While on my adventure with the Holy Spirit, a deep passion for the liberation of women and the oppressed has taken root in my heart. I want to see the power of the Holy Spirit break physical, emotional, and spiritual chains through prayer, love, and connection.
I also want to see Judah and the Lion in concert. But that’s unrelated. God is good and everything I am, everything I want to be, is because of who He is.