...and I couldn't be more happy for her. Here's the first blog post Anna has written since getting to Phuket, Thailand:
THE BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE
I’ve never been mistaken for drunk before.
Wednesday night I was. And it was amazing.
Ever since Tuesday night, when we had worship with the Real Lifers and prayed and sent them out to do their ministry, I’d been dying to get out on Bangala Road again. Waking up Wednesday morning, I was already praying for that night. I didn’t fast, but I spent the day in that attitude. Even in the shower, when the electricity (and subsequently the water) died for half an hour or so (right after I put shampoo in my hair of course) I was praying, communicating with God. I just knew that there was gonna be a battle that night. That I needed to be drenched in His spirit, His love and His truth. I prayed it over the girls on my team. I prayed and prayed and looked forward to what God would do.
He didn’t disappoint.
As soon as the nightly worship started, I felt this incredible zeal. This warrior-like energy filled me and the anticipation I’d felt before was nothing compared to the excitement now overpowering me. Out in the truck, before we even left, our team continued the exaltation. Never has simply singing felt so powerful to me. The chorus of my favorite song we sang says, “I will bring praise, I will bring praise. No weapon formed against me shall remain.” I can’t even guess how many times I sang (or screamed) out those words over the course of the night.
By the time we got to Bangala Road it was a little later than usual, and a lot busier than it had been the first night we were there. We separated into our small groups of threes and four and headed out. At first my mind was going crazy. I’d been looking forward to it so much, and thinking about it so much that now I wanted to talk to everyone I saw and pray for every single thing. I was a spastic, charged-up child. Fortunately for me, God had an astounding plan in mind.
It started raining.
Ooh big deal. It rained during raining season on a tropical island. But see, it was a big deal. It hadn’t really rained much while we’d been in Phuket, and as the rain started falling, the streets cleared. Everyone headed for the shelters of the overhanging bars and shops’ roofs. For a little while, we stood under that semi-covering, my teammate Sophia singing and me purposefully praying loudly, but after some of our other teammates passed us, brazenly singing at the tops of their lungs, striding down the street so confident in Jesus I believe everyone looking at them had to see it, the leader with us allowed us to follow them. So we marched down the street singing/screaming “Let it rain! Open the floodgates of Heaven!” and by the time we reached the end of Bangala Road I was soaring in my spirit.
We joined our other teammates in song and just called down Heavenly rain onto Bangala. People gawked at us and that was okay. No, that was great! They were hearing us say the name of Jesus right there in front of strip clubs!
As the rain ended and we moved off in our separate groups, a woman in one of the stores lining the street motioned to me. After a few minutes of conversation she asked how much I’d been drinking. My teammates assured her I hadn’t had a drop of alcohol, while I just laughed and thought to myself, actually, I am drunk. With God’s love and this life that he has given me.
I could fill ten more blog posts with all the other incredible and awful things we saw and did that night but I’ll wrap this up by saying Wednesday night was the best night of my life. I could literally do that every night of my life. And I cannot wait to get back down there.
THE BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFEI’ve never been mistaken for drunk before.
Wednesday night I was. And it was amazing.
Ever since Tuesday night, when we had worship with the Real Lifers and prayed and sent them out to do their ministry, I’d been dying to get out on Bangala Road again. Waking up Wednesday morning, I was already praying for that night. I didn’t fast, but I spent the day in that attitude. Even in the shower, when the electricity (and subsequently the water) died for half an hour or so (right after I put shampoo in my hair of course) I was praying, communicating with God. I just knew that there was gonna be a battle that night. That I needed to be drenched in His spirit, His love and His truth. I prayed it over the girls on my team. I prayed and prayed and looked forward to what God would do.
He didn’t disappoint.
As soon as the nightly worship started, I felt this incredible zeal. This warrior-like energy filled me and the anticipation I’d felt before was nothing compared to the excitement now overpowering me. Out in the truck, before we even left, our team continued the exaltation. Never has simply singing felt so powerful to me. The chorus of my favorite song we sang says, “I will bring praise, I will bring praise. No weapon formed against me shall remain.” I can’t even guess how many times I sang (or screamed) out those words over the course of the night.
By the time we got to Bangala Road it was a little later than usual, and a lot busier than it had been the first night we were there. We separated into our small groups of threes and four and headed out. At first my mind was going crazy. I’d been looking forward to it so much, and thinking about it so much that now I wanted to talk to everyone I saw and pray for every single thing. I was a spastic, charged-up child. Fortunately for me, God had an astounding plan in mind.
It started raining.
Ooh big deal. It rained during raining season on a tropical island. But see, it was a big deal. It hadn’t really rained much while we’d been in Phuket, and as the rain started falling, the streets cleared. Everyone headed for the shelters of the overhanging bars and shops’ roofs. For a little while, we stood under that semi-covering, my teammate Sophia singing and me purposefully praying loudly, but after some of our other teammates passed us, brazenly singing at the tops of their lungs, striding down the street so confident in Jesus I believe everyone looking at them had to see it, the leader with us allowed us to follow them. So we marched down the street singing/screaming “Let it rain! Open the floodgates of Heaven!” and by the time we reached the end of Bangala Road I was soaring in my spirit.
We joined our other teammates in song and just called down Heavenly rain onto Bangala. People gawked at us and that was okay. No, that was great! They were hearing us say the name of Jesus right there in front of strip clubs!
As the rain ended and we moved off in our separate groups, a woman in one of the stores lining the street motioned to me. After a few minutes of conversation she asked how much I’d been drinking. My teammates assured her I hadn’t had a drop of alcohol, while I just laughed and thought to myself, actually, I am drunk. With God’s love and this life that he has given me.
I could fill ten more blog posts with all the other incredible and awful things we saw and did that night but I’ll wrap this up by saying Wednesday night was the best night of my life. I could literally do that every night of my life. And I cannot wait to get back down there.
To read more about what God is doing in Anna's life and through her team, visit their blog: http://thailand-hs.adventures.org/
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