A Guest Blog by Kristin Phalen
At first, I wasn’t sure I heard God correctly.
I felt the Lord impressing something upon my heart. I knew He wanted me to step out of my comfort zone and learn to lean on Him.
But I wasn’t expecting this.
“You want me to do what, Lord?”, I asked.
I was feeling a prompting from the Lord to go out and purchase 500 long stem roses – to hand them out to those in my community, while sharing the Gospel with them, praying for them and telling them just how much Jesus loves them.
Basically, God asked me to HEAVEN BOMB my hometown!
He wanted to send an explosion of His light, love, and goodness—and He was asking me to do it.
What God was asking me to do was well beyond my strength, resources, and comfort zone.
How could handing out 500 roses to my neighbors possibly help them see Jesus?
What God was asking me to do was well beyond my strength, resources, and comfort zone.
When Jesus Calls Us, We Have Two Options
Evangelism is scary.
Especially in my extremely liberal hometown where people either don’t know Jesus or they specifically detest Him.
Although I was scared, God kept prompting me to take steps of faith.
After a few weeks of praying and researching where I could get 500 roses (without going bankrupt!), I finally placed the order at the floral department in my local grocery store.
After ordering the roses, I went home and collapsed on my bed in tears.
I wanted to believe God was going to do something amazing with all those flowers, but I was scared.
I was nine months pregnant and had two small children at home. The idea of preparing 500 roses and walking around town for an entire day felt overwhelming and daunting.
How could I ever do this by myself?
When Jesus calls us we can say yes and walk forward in faith or we can quench the Holy Spirit and stay in our comfort zone.
When Jesus Calls, We Must Walk in Faith
I prayed and said, “Lord, I can’t physically do all of this on my own. I don’t have the energy nor do I have the strength. How am I going to manage all of this?”
That’s when the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said, “Kristin, I am not asking you to do this by yourself.”
The moment God said that a tremendous weight lifted off of me.
Why hadn’t I thought of that?
Of course, He wasn’t asking me to do it by myself!
That weekend at church, I invited the entire congregation to join me in this mission.
After the service, eighteen amazing women offered to help.
One week later we all got together preparing the roses and attaching tags that read, “You are LOVED, adored and treasured by the King.”
Then we met at church and prayed as we prepared to Heaven Bomb our town. As we prayed, I encouraged everyone to go wherever the Holy Spirit led them.
It was amazing to see how God put different locations on ALL of our hearts and together we covered the ENTIRE valley with roses and God’s love.
It felt like what God was calling me to do was nearly impossible. That’s when the Holy Spirit reminded me I didn't have to do it on my own.
The next day we broke into groups and we spread out across our county.
My dear friend and I, along with my children, began to heaven bomb downtown.
We started with the local market.
My son and daughter ran through the aisle ways with their arms full of roses, loving on every person they encountered.
And then something happened in that grocery store that I will always remember.
The atmosphere changed.
God’s presence was SO tangible.
People started crying and were deeply moved by our act of love.
As we heaven bombed the local DMV, library, pharmacy, furniture store and everywhere in between, we saw God work.
When Jesus call us, we can decide to give in to fear, or choose to walk in faith.
When Jesus Calls, He Equips Us to Do the Work
Later that day, we regrouped at the church and shared what God had done across the valley.
We shared story after story of how God had touched the people of our town.
A woman shared how their group had heaven-bombed her daughter’s school.
One group shared about a man who completely broke down when they told him how much God loves him.
Another group encountered a woman who fell to her knees and burst into tears as the power of God’s love came over her.
Over the following days and weeks, we learned just how much of an effect our act of obedience had on our community.
Some of those who had received roses had posted pictures to social media, inspiring a ripple effect of paying it forward throughout our community.
When Jesus calls us, His power equips us to do the work.
I want to share with you the three things God taught me when I took the steps to walk by faith to love a dying community.
1. When Jesus Calls You Remember—Keep Your Eyes on Him
When God asks us to do something, we must keep our eyes on Him in order to walk by faith.
The moment we take our eyes off of Him, the enemy attacks us with fear, doubt, and worry.
If we keep our focus on Jesus, He will fill us with His Spirit and give us the strength and courage to do what He has asked of us.
If we keep our focus on Jesus, He will fill us with His Spirit and give us the strength and courage to do what He has asked of us.
2. When Jesus Calls You Remember—Lean Not On Your Own Understanding
Proverbs 3: 5-6 reminds us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on to your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.”
When God first asked me to do this, I didn’t understand it.
How would I afford it?
How would I carry it out on my own?
Why did God want to do this in the first place?
I lifted all of these questions up to Him and I trusted that He knew what He was doing even though I didn’t understand it.
And what He accomplished through my obedience was amazing!
3. When Jesus Calls You Remember—Rely on His Strength and Not Your Own
God doesn’t call the qualified, He equips the called.
Over the past few weeks God has walked with me through 2 Corinthians 12:9 and helped my heart understand it’s meaning, “My Grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
God doesn’t call the qualified, He equips the called.God asked me to do something beyond what I could do in my own strength. Fortunately, He was the one who did the work.
As I pressed into Him and acknowledged my own weakness, God filled me with His Holy Spirit and gave me the strength and courage to spend a day loving people to life.
– Kristin Phalen
Six years ago, Kristin encountered Jesus and He radically transformed her life. He took her brokenness, healed it, and now uses her past to encourage and inspire others in their walk with Him. Kristin’s love for God consumes every area of her life and her prayer is that her stories inspire others to step out of the boat and onto the water with Jesus. Kristin blogs at Simply Love and is also on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.
