“You are Loved and Valued!”

We went out last night to the “alternative district” of Chicago last night.  It’s very close to Wrigley Field and is home of numerous bars and clubs.  Things don’t really start happening until about 10pm or so, so we left around 9:30.  Unfortunately, it was raining for about the first hour we arrived, so we spent that first hour just walking and praying for the people we would meet.

OUR GOAL:  To encourage people that they are loved and valued.

We specifically we targeting people who looked like they were having a rough day.  This area of Chicago is also known for it’s prostitution of both male and female, and so we really felt like they were who we were supposed to offer value to.

We went with about 60 roses all tagged saying, “You are loved and valued!”  Obviously we were hoping to get opportunities to share the love of Jesus with them, but we believe just the simple act of giving the flowers was *planting some sort of seed.As I said earlier, the night started out slow, and there were numerous times we just stopped and asked God for direction.  We were really relying on Him to direct our steps to the people He wanted us to see.  The first flower we gave out was to a lady in a Seven-Eleven.  We passed the store and I saw her in the window working.  So we decided to go in and see what happened.  When we got in the store she was in the back and it took her a few minutes to come out (which was slightly awkward standing there with 30 roses in a convenient store for no apparent reason), but when she came out she was in her civilian clothes, she was on her way home.  We offered her a flower telling her we saw her from the street and wanted her to know that she had value.

I can’t describe her smile to you.  You missed out because you weren’t there, but it was beautiful.

It was enough for us to know that God was behind what we were doing.  So we continued on encouraged and energized.  Unfortunately, I can’t tell you about every flower we handed out.  Firstly, because I don’t remember.  Secondly, we don’t have the time.  But I do want to highlight just a few more things that happened because it will encourage your faith and hopefully your prayer life.

The week before we had been there and I had noticed a few transvestites, and as we were on our way to the area I said a quick prayer that we would see them.  Probably three-quarters of the way through the night we did.  We were walking down a street and they were coming down the opposite side from an alley.  I got super excited knowing that the Lord had allowed out paths to cross.  I felt like the Spirit was calling out directions for us, so I did my best to listen.  They ended up just stopping on the corner and we made our way over to their area.  I felt like the girls on our team were supposed to give the flowers and talk to them so Akram and I just walked passed and waited a few steps away.  Our girls said one that one of the girls’ face just lit up, and she ended up being the key for us in being able to hand out flowers to about 6 other girls.  It was awesome to be apart of.  We have no idea what that did in them but we believe it brought them a little closer to God.

The last story I’ll share is a quick one.  It was nearing 2am and we only had three flowers left and we were making our last walk down the street that would take us to the bus stop, I knew we weren’t supposed to take those flowers with us, and so I said a quick prayer out loud that went something like this, “God, please send them our way.”  Almost immediately, a guy dressed like a girl storms out of a door about 10 feet in front of us.  Akram quickly handed her the flower telling her that she is loved.  We were all blown away.

How amazing is our God!?!

At the end of the night none of us had shared to gospel, no one had given anyone lessons on church history, no one had been told they were sinners…but we believe that that area got to see a little bit of God’s love.  Our goal was not to take them from A-Z last night, it was to take them from A-B, or wherever they were at. Little things combined make a big difference.

Do some little things to show God’s love today…and tomorrow…and the next day.

*pun intended