I am not one who normally sets goals for myself, but New Years Day I got together with some friends and each of us were given reflection cards - reflecting not only on the previous year but also the year we had just begun. Not wanting to disappoint, I decided to indulge and really think about both (which included setting goals for this next year). One of the goals I felt led to set was "becoming more bold." I love that God does not disappoint- ask & you shall receive.  When Danielle invited us to come out to a Friday Night Lights, the Lord gently reminded me it was the perfect opportunity to help achieve this goal I had set. 

Friday night comes and I show up.  The fun part is I had told Danielle about my goal and she in her kindness thought it would be fun to dive right in.  We didn't write anything down.  We just walked around and asked the Lord to highlight a store for us to go into. She felt led to go into Macy's, so off we went.  There wasn't anyone at the first location we went to inside the store so we decided to walk around.  As we rounded the corner I heard the Lord say "turn around".  I told Danielle what I had heard and we did but initially I didn't see anyone.  However, God had someone in mind & she popped out from behind a clothing rack.  I heard the Lord ask me to tell her she was beautiful. I was so nervous and wasn't sure I would be able to convey the message.  Danielle again in her kindness reassured me I could do it and gave me some tips to help me get past the awkward.  I walked up to the woman and told her who I was and where I went to school.  I asked her if I could give her a word of encouragement and reluctantly she said "yes."  I told her what I heard the Lord say and she immediately became receptive to the message.  She thanked me and told me I was very kind.  I was so overcome with joy I felt like I would burst.  I had been bold & had stepped out, and God was so faithful.  He used me to bless someone and in turn I was blessed! 

The next store God highlighted was, Dillard's.  When I asked for clues, I heard the Lord say "Clinique and woman in blue".  So off we went.  I love that God gives us clues & we get to search for the treasure, because that is just what happened.  The woman in blue was actually across from the Clinique counter and the minute we walked up, she was someone who was receptive to the encouragement God had for her.  What was even more amazing, she shared with us that her granddaughter (whose name was Danielle) was missing and that this encounter was a reminder that God hears her prayers. We were not only able to bless her with an encouraging word from the Lord, but we were able to pray for her and her granddaughter.  

I am still in awe of the lengths God went to, to orchestrate the whole night.  The people He paired up to go out and be blessings to the ones who needed to be blessed.  The specific clues He gave and the encouragement He poured out was so specific for the people we gave it to, it was incredible.  I love that I serve a God who is so mighty and so lavish in His affection and kindness.  He is so faithful and loves when we say "yes". 

Rachel’s Story

Out of all the strangers on the street, I don't know why they stood out among the rest. Some friends and I were out on the Christmas outreach, passing out gifts on the streets of Nashville. My friend and I didn't even have the right gifts, but we headed over to talk to them anyways, unable to shake the feeling that a God encounter was waiting on the other side of the street where they sat against the corner.

In the dance of small talk, they told us their story -- about how they found themselves in Nashville for the day by taking the wrong train and how they planned to be gone when night came. As we talked, something in me connected with the one in the middle and I started to sense things about his story that I shouldn't have known. I sensed that he had known the Lord from an earlier time in his life and because of pain, left what he knew even though he still longed to know that those things were true despite where his path had taken him. 

Attempting to sound as least churchy as possible and afraid that I might be getting it completely wrong, God began to share His heart with me for this stranger and I started describe the way God wanted to pursue him again. His eyes softened and he began to tell me his story, the one that God had shown me just minutes before. They let us pray for them before we had to leave, but I'm still processing what happened today.

In the span of a few minutes, my life intersected with a stranger in a city he didn't belong for a day, sitting on a corner I wouldn't normally go, yet God wanted to make His heart known and I got to step into the story that God was already writing for this man. I don't know what to do with the beauty of a God where he goes to such lengths to find us...for no other reason than to let us know that we are loved, that we're seen and that our story's not forgotten by Him. These are the mysteries that we get to spend the rest of our lives discovering!

Emily’s Story

I love so much that we get the honor to love people exactly where they are! Sometimes that means sitting on a street corner listening to someone's story. Not judging them, not condemning them, not shaming them or telling them what they "should" do, but just loving them and blessing their day. My new friend said even though he hates and doesn't believe in region, he likes Jesus and believes that would "hang out with people like us." And I agree. Sitting on the corner of 2nd Ave, I saw the heart of the Father being poured out through an encouraging word Rachel gave one of these guys! It's such an incredible honor and privilege that God trusts us to be His hands, His feet, His heart, and His mouth!

I want to share a story about how I chose to step out and bless someone in need! 

The other night, I needed to go get some groceries and so I decided to go to Kroger down the street. It was a lot later than I usually go grocery shopping so I was very aware of my surroundings. As I was walking up to the door, I noticed an older man fiddling around his pockets looking for change. We made eye contact and he very politely asked if I had any change. I knew that I had some change because I just made a quick stop somewhere else and paid cash. 

I told him that I had some change and he went on to say how he just has the worst of luck. I asked him why he felt that way and he said that he couldn’t catch a break. In that moment, I felt an overwhelming sense of compassion for him. I introduced myself and asked him if i could pray for him. He said “of course honey, I’m never gonna turn down prayer”. I prayed for him to have financial provision and that the Lord would bless him not only in his finances, but in every area of his life! After I prayed for him, he gave me a big hug and said thank you! Before I went inside to shop, I asked him if he needed food. He said no, so we said our goodbyes!

After we parted, I went inside and started looking in the produce section. All of a sudden, I saw my new friend out of the corner of my eye. He came in and said how he actually could use some food. I asked him what he would like and he wanted some bologna and bread. Unfortunately our Kroger is under construction and the whole cold cut section was blocked off. He said that he would take some sardines and bread, so that’s what I got him! We checked out and he gave me a huge hug with tears in his eyes and thanked me! 

I love that I was able to bless my new friend and bring the hope of God to his life! Spending $6 on a few cans of sardines and some bread really changed his night! I would encourage you, to step out and help someone in need! 

It's that time again! We will be having our annual Christmas outreach! Bring any type of gift in a gift bag and meet us at the Nashville Farmers Market at 2pm! We will go out into the community and give Christmas gifts and encouragement!! We'll see you then!! 

by Gabe Puckett | @gabriel_puckett

A couple weeks ago, I was picking up my Dad up at the airport. I found a spot to charge my phone next to an Asian girl that had missed her flight and was going to have to stay there for the night. We made light conversation, then I went to go check when my Dad’s flight would come in.

I kept thinking about the girl and I thought to myself, maybe I should go pray for her. I went back and asked her if there was anything I could pray for her about. She said “You’re a Christian?”, I said “Yea.”, she said “Me too.” Her name was Alena. She told me about how she had started a Bible class at her school back in China.  She was super cool!

I prayed for her that God would increase her ability to hear His voice. I also prayed for her to receive a fresh revelation of the Father's love and His heart for her. I blessed her to receive dreams and visions and preach the gospel powerfully. I know that she will! I don’t have the power to give her these things, but God does and He gives good gifts to His children.

God totally lined up our paths.  It was an awesome opportunity to encourage a sister that was stuck at the airport and also commission her to go back home with a spiritual upgrade. I know that God is going to bless her. She had an earnest hunger in her heart. It’s cool to think about how just by stepping out and praying for a random stranger, I was actually sowing kingdom seeds into a community in China. God works in mysterious ways. He’s always cool.

When I first moved to New York, my friend Jordan and I saw this man, Sael and his daughter on the train. His eye looked horrible. He is blind, but one eye was gashed and bloodshot.

It was obvious that he and his daughter had a very special relationship. Jordan and I both felt tons of affection from the Father for both of them. We also both felt compelled to pray for them. The train stopped and he and his daughter got off. We kept going. Later we had a conversation about how we wished we had stepped out in boldness to pray for him.

Little did we know, God would give us another chance. Within a week we were on the train again. In a city of 8 million people who should walk back into our path but Sael and his daughter! This time we knew we had to go for it! We encouraged each other and then mustered up the courage to approach them.

The week before he had bent over to hug his daughter and gashed his eyeball on a bus sign. He was in a lot of pain. I prayed for him that God would restore his sight and heal his vision. His sight did not return, but he said that He felt the presence of God and felt something moving around in his head behind his eyes. He said he felt the peace of God and knew it was the Holy Spirit moving in his body. Woohoo! God is good!!!

My wife and I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. Our best friends are there, family and family friends, and the church homes we grew up in.  It was home.  We even owned a home and loved it but, we wanted more. 

To clarify, we were both satisfied with our living situation, our small home, two old cars, and more friends than we could cram into our house, but there was something in our spirits that was hungry for more of God; to know Him more and to be used by Him in even greater ways. 

Several factors lead to these desires: 

Reading the Bible was the main one. It contains stories of peoples encounters with the Lord, their deep relationship with Him, and even the sufferings they went through for His name. (Romans 5:3-5) Their testimonies were drawing us to want to experience the Living God the way people did in the Bible. On top of that, we started meeting people whose testimonies, stories, encounters, and ministries were reflective of these very things we were reading about. 

One particular couple I had become friends with oozed Jesus out of their mouths, actions, hearts, eyes, prayers, love, and ministry. Just being around them made me feel closer to Jesus. They helped elevate my belief that God really was the God of the impossible and I wanted to know more. 

All that to say, we wanted to be around them so we decided that we would go with them on a one month mission trip to Asia that they took every year with small teams of people. We wanted to watch, glean, learn, and help them with their ministry. The kicker, though, was that we would have to quit our jobs to do it.  It wasn’t going to work out with our job situations to take off for a whole month. My wife was quite pleased at that thought because she was unhappy at her work but I had massive reservations. I loved my job! So we spent a whole year praying, worrying, debating, praying, crying, praying etc… 

Finally, we decided to take the plunge. So in August of 2013, in fear and trembling, we left our home, moved to Nashville to attend an amazing school of ministry, and headed to Asia the following May. (Now, I would love to share more about our experience at the School of Supernatural Life at Grace Center in Nashville,TN but there isn’t enough room in this article. I’ll just say that it played an AMAZING role in helping us understand the depth of the love of God and understanding the “supernatural life” that is available to all of His children.)

Long story short, Asia was amazing but hard.  We loved the ministry but felt like fish out of water culturally.  This particular ministry was everything we hoped for but the geographical location itself was a big shock to this southern boys system… in more ways than one. We met some amazing people and had some awesome experiences but we were so thankful to be on a plane back to hamburgers, air conditioning, paved roads, deodorant, order, etc… I’ll never complain about American driving again. 

We left with many mixed emotions.  Mainly the confusion of what to do now. We left everything for this one trip, hoping and expecting that it would lead us to the next step in our lives. Now we were going back to…??… with no jobs, no direction, no clue what we were supposed to do next. Questions like, “did we get this wrong, did we make the right decision, what were we thinking” began to invade. 

To shorten an even longer story, we stopped in Europe on our way “home” to visit with friends. One particular visit in Germany led us to a meet a pastor at a church in Ramstein. Over the past year we stayed in touch and in May of this last year I was offered a job as an Associate Pastor at this church. It's not the “gun slinging”, “wild west”, in the deepest, darkest parts of the world, Jim Elliot style way I had envisioned myself going into five years ago, but it is the perfect cross-cultural transition for our family right now, and exactly where God wants us to be for the next season of our lives.  In many ways its even better than we could have “asked or imagined” (Eph. 3:20), which we never would have known about if we hadn’t taken the “plunge.”

The Bible says, “the righteous shall be bold as lions.” (Prov. 28:1)  I can’t say we felt bold in many parts of our journey the past three years but we are “cultivating” boldness, which is actually leading to more boldness!  Cultivating boldness is choosing to believe that God is for us, has a better plan than our own, and taking steps of faith in line with His will.  It doesn’t mean picking up everything and moving, but even in small steps, its choosing to be bold in the face of fear and moving towards the things God calls us to.  Sometimes that’s even just as simple as talking to someone God is putting on your heart. (Which sometimes feels more scary than moving across the world!) 

I have been extremely encouraged by testimonies left on this site, and I hope our story encourages someone else, even ever so slightly, to take a step of faith. Thanks for reading!

About a year ago, I graduated from ministry school (SOSL). I had no job, no money, and was living at my Mom’s. I didn't know what I was going do with my life, but I knew that God had a plan. I felt like He wanted me to go apply to a nearby pizza place called Jet’s Pizza. I was having pride issues with that because it’s pretty much fast food, and I was almost 30 years old. Thirty- year old pizza delivery drivers aren't exactly the poster boys of the world’s most eligible bachelors. Oh well, I went in, applied, and got the job. That week I had four dreams in a row where God was calling me to be a teacher. By humbling myself and stepping out in obedience, God had revealed to me the next steps in my destiny.  

I quickly got to work applying to various programs and researching different schools. After months of research and hard work, I was approached by a network of charter schools in NYC. (Spoiler alert: I am writing this story down on a napkin in a Starbucks in East Village.) I was so excited that they were interested in me! Out of all the schools that I had researched, this network of charter schools was my number one choice.  

During the phone interview, the lady kept talking about chess. I was so surprised! I had taught chess before, but did not expect that to be the topic of our conversation. I explained to her that I am really not that good at chess. They wanted me to interview anyway! The next week I was on a plane on my way to NYC to interview for a position as a full time chess teacher.  

It cost me about 1/3 of my savings to fly to NYC on such short notice and do the interview, but I knew I had to take the chance!  The interview went horribly - a kid threw up a banana during my demo lesson, I failed all of their chess quizzes, and left the interview feeling really crummy.  

I decided I was going to make the most of my time in New York City, so I went exploring and found a church that was having a worship night. After the interview, I had felt like crap all day, but then during worship, God started to heal my heart. The pastor shared the story of Gideon: how God kept taking away all of his warriors, so that when he won the battle, everyone would know that it was the Lord’s victory. I thought to myself, if I get this job, it’s going to be just like that because throughout the interview process it was only my inadequacies and insecurities that had risen to the surface. If I got the job, I knew it was going to be the Lord’s victory. The presence was thick during worship. The pastor had everyone release a shout of victory, so everyone started yelling “Hallelujah” at the top of their lungs, especially me. Suddenly, my phone rang.  I ran outside. They told me I had the job, they were going to pay for my masters, and pay me $10,000 more than I expected!! They also told me that they believed I was going to be a rockstar teacher!

God is faithful. He put a dream in my heart and then brought it to fruition. Right now, I’m sitting in a coffee shop in East Village enjoying this amazing summer day. The city is beautiful. By acting in obedience, and stepping out boldly, I was able to turn the page to the next chapter of my destiny. I am so stoked to be here, and I know that God brought me here for more than just teaching. I’ve already had several opportunities to pray for people in the streets, in the parks, and on the trains. God loves this city so much, and I am so honored to partner with Him in serving and sowing in New York City. 

The other day, my co-workers and I decided to work off campus. We had a plan to go to Barista Parlor, but at the last minute we decided to go to Starbucks because it was convenient. When we walked in, I noticed a man working on his computer and I felt like the Lord gave me a prophetic word of encouragement for him. The word I got was concerning his business and was very very specific. 

Since the word was very specific, I was scared to tell him what I felt like God told me for him. I am not sure why I tend to get scared when the words are more specific, but I was STRUGGLING! Since I was struggling, I decided to write down the word to just hand to him without having to talk to him. Though that was my "chicken plan",  I knew what I needed to do! Every time I would get the courage to say something to him, something else would come up for work or there wasn't available seating by him. Since I was having an internal battle about whether or not to tell him what I felt like I heard from God, I made a deal with myself. I told myself "the next time someone next to him gets up... I am going to go over and talk to him". 

About five minutes after telling myself that, the gentlemen to his left got up to leave. I knew this was go time. Though I wasn't sure how to even start a conversation with him, I just got up and walked over to him. I started the conversation with telling him how I am practicing hearing God's voice and that I felt like I had a word of encouragement for him. He said it was fine to share with him. 

 I started to deliver the word,  and he got a huge grin on his face. As I was still struggling with self-doubt, I was convinced in my head that he was about to blow me off because I couldn't tell what kind of smile he had on his face. As I wrapped it up, he asked if he could tell me about his day and how relevant the word was for his current situation. In this moment of feeling relieved, I was so excited about what he had to say! He went on to tell me how he had a meeting earlier that day and how specific phrases that the Lord gave me for him was exactly what he and his board member talked about. After sharing his testimony of God's goodness through this act of boldness, he decided to leave because he felt like he couldn't work since his mind was blown by God!

After hearing about what he was pursuing in life, I was in tears at how great God was. I was amazed that God knew we weren't going to Barista Parlor and how we were going to go to Starbucks and meet LaShane! After LaShane left, I was trying to tell my co-workers what had happened, but there were so many details. I didn't feel like I was doing the story justice! Just I was wrapping up the story with my co-workers, LaShane walked back in and was SO excited because he had read the card that I gave him and he remembered more things he wanted to tell me about the word! I thought it was perfect timing because I thought how it would have been awesome to get a video testimony of God's goodness in LaShane's life but in the emotion of it all I forgot. Since LaShane came back I asked him if he would make a short video and here is what he had to say....

This video is about LaShane's Story

After hearing this wonderful testimony of God's goodness at work in LaShane's life, I was so glad that I pushed through the struggles that I was having with my confidence and went for it! His life was changed for the better that day and so was mine! I would encourage all of our readers to push through your struggle and BE BOLD!!!!

This is a personal story of breakthrough.  As of late, I was asked to create a 10 year vision + goals for my life by new part-time employer (Lululemon Athletica).  I am a visionary by nature, but most often with the big stuff it looks more like fleeting thoughts: “what ifs” and “someday I will…”  Therefore, this was a challenge.  A huge risk of the heart to take.  It’s one thing to dream with God in seeking possibilities;  it’s another thing to write them down and make by whens.  Now they are real. 

Believe it or not, this was a really difficult exercise for me.  It’s not my lack of optimism— I have plenty.  It was the realization that I had not made room for creating my future.  Not enough at least.  I have only taken one step at a time.  Taking what has been handed to me, rather than FINDING favor.  Searching it out.  In addition, these goals (personal, career, & health) are to be displayed for the public to view.  Wait!! I have to share the most vulnerable thing ever?!  My dreams, my heart. 

Growing up, I had learned that there are dream killers.  “Be careful, because people won’t believe you can do it, and they’ll squash your dreams.”  I have held onto a lot of my dreams, keeping them safe as I know how.  There is truth to doing so, like the Scripture says “Don’t cast your pearls before the swine.”  I think on this journey, we need to find the balance.  Less self-protection, and more faith that God is going to make a way for us, even in opposition.  The key is boldness, not fear.  Boldness cannot go outward, unless theres boldness inward.  Now that I have freed myself and shared some of my vision with others, they actually have a greater understanding of who I am.  Oh, to be known.

As I saw her, I didn’t really have anything for her, but I knew I was supposed to talk to her. I walked up and introduced myself and as I did that, I instantly got a prophetic word of encouragement for her. I felt that God wanted her to know that He was going to restore some family relationships and that she was a good mother, specifically to her daughter. As I kept sharing what I felt like the Lord had given me for her, I could not read her face at all. I wasn’t sure if she was receiving the word or confused or ready to leave. Finally, I got to the end of what I felt like the Lord had for her and she asked if she could give feedback. 

When she was giving me feedback, she said how accurately I heard from the Lord and that she was encouraged by what He had given me for her. After the good feedback, we continued to talk about spirituality and hearing God speak to us. It was a great time of connecting and I could really tell she was really touched by God. 

It would have been so easy not to walk up to her since the prompting that I felt from God wasn’t a huge outstanding push or shove. I basically had a little nudge from Him and then was obedient and she was impacted by His love. I would encourage our readers to follow those small nudges and be bold! God will be right by your side when you choose to partner with Him and step out to bring encouragement! 

Kylie Jean's Story

Day one of Cultivate Boldness Seattle was absolutely amazing!! It was so beautiful to see the how God not only touched the people we encountered, but also touched each team member. It was such an honor to step out in boldness, encouraging, praying, and valuing people all around Seattle and in the famous Pike Place Market!! We saw hands, feet, and legs healed, and people radically encounter the love of God.  It was only the beginning of what God has for this Trip!! I'm so excited for what He has for the rest of the week!!

Danielle's Story

Today was a great day! Before going on our adventures today, I felt like the Lord said that I would encounter a woman on crutches and that I would know that it is her. So throughout the day, I kept my eye out for crutches! As we were walking around Pike Place Market, I would see people here and there with crutches but I kept referring back to what the Lord said about “knowing it was her”.  So as we were ending our day and walking towards somewhere to eat for dinner, I saw a crutch leaning against a column and on the other side of the column, there was a person playing music. As I walked towards that person, I noticed a young lady on crutches and just knew she was the one!

I can’t explain how I knew it was her, but I just knew! I headed straight for her and introduced myself. She seemed to be excited and receptive of me praying for her ankle. I went ahead an prayed and she was super encouraged. In all the excitement, I forgot to even ask if she felt a difference in her pain level because by the time I stopped praying, I had a word of encouragement for her, as did Kylie Jean! The word was concerning some upcoming travel and just some plans that the Lord had for her. As she was sharing her feedback, I was reminded of what the Lord said to me earlier about the woman I would meet on crutches. He said that I would "see people walk freely”. 

Though I didn’t see her walk freely without her crutches, I did see a sparkle of purpose and excitement in her eyes about what God has for her next! It’s always exciting to run into fellow believers and I am so excited to see what she’s about to walk into! 

Falguni's Story

The Cultivate Boldness Trip has really helped me to step out in faith. I was a little timid and shy to share and encourage people with what God had laid on my  heart, but as the night went on it got easier. It's because the Lord was walking before me and I put all the distractions aside. It became fun for me to encourage and empower someone and to share the love of Christ. If you want to step out of your comfort zone and learn how to hear from the Lord, then you need to go on this trip! Life changing! 

Shannon's Story

Before we left for the day, as I was asking God about the day, I felt like we would be spending time that day at Pike Place Market. In my mind's eye I saw a place in the market that I've been before and got an impression that we would run into street musicians. Later when we got to the place I'd seen, there were a couple of guys sitting against the wall one had a guitar. We went up and introduces ourselves and asked if we could give them an encouraging word. They said yes. Their names were Joe and Jacob. As we began to speak over them they were visually impacted by our words. Jacob commented on our "approach" obviously waiting for us to lay out the plan of salvation or something to them. They were stunned that our only agenda was sharing God's love and care for them. Then Danielle had a word ok knowledge about pain in an ankle also her hand was really hot. Jacob said his feet were both hurting and he had pain in his hand. She prayed for him and the pain left. 

This weekend Fly Youth is partnering with us to hit the streets of Gatlinburg with God's love! For the last month, the Fly Youth students have been getting equipped to step out in boldness, praying for the sick and prophetic ministry! We are so excited to take the teens out and see people's lives changed through God's amazing and radical love!

We will be out from February 19-22. We would love for you to pray for our safety, the weather and for lives to be impacted by God's heart! If you would like to follow our journey, the best way to get real time stories will be to follow the hashtags #CBFly2015 and #cultivateboldness on instagram, twitter and facebook! 

We are going to have our very first Cultivate Boldness Challenge starting January 4, 2015!! The CB Challenge is going to be 4 weeks long and the purpose is to help you step out in boldness to make stepping out part of your everyday life! The challenge is broken into 3 categories: praying, encouraging, and creative gifts. 

The prayer week is going to be January 4-10. During this week, we are going to challenge you to step out and pray for people that you come across in your everyday life! This could be praying for anything. You can pray for healing, hope, deliverance, encouragement, financial hardship, etc.

The encouraging week is going to be January 11-17. During this week we are going to challenge you to step out and bring encouragement to the people around you! This could be a simple “you look nice today” to a prophetic word. You can choose what is a step of boldness for you! 

The creative gifts week is going to be January 18-24. During this week, we are going to challenge you to get creative! You can make people gifts and give them a word of encouragement, you can pay for the person behind you at your favorite coffee shop, you can paint a picture for someone! 

The final week is going to be January 25-31. During this week, we would love for you to be creative and be bold in any way you would like! By this time, being bold will be part of your life, so it should be easy for you to choose! You can pray for the sick, give a word of encouragement, paint a picture for someone, by someone’s groceries, you get to choose whatever you would like!!!

During this challenge, we would love to hear your stories of boldness. You can submit your story to share on our website at the link below! If you capture any pictures from your experiences and would like to post on social media, please be sure to use #cultivateboldness!

November 1, 2014- Today when we arrived in Nassau we were told our sailing/ snorkeling excursion had been canceled. So, we decided to do a tour of the city and some shopping. While at the straw market I found myself talking to and blessing all the craft stall workers because I just didn't have much that I needed to buy. I prophesied and prayed for Howardella ( named after Howard) and then a little later met a sweet lady named Doris. As I was looking at earrings we began to chat. She really seemed a bit down so I asked her questions and then bought some earrings and a painting from her. While she was bagging things up... I asked her if she had pain in her body... She said OH yes! Then she told me her knees and back. So, i asked get if I could pray, she said "oh yes"... I led her through a 4 line prayer and she then told me she went from a 10 to a 2 in pain. I was excited to her smile on her face. We prayed again and she just kept praising Jesus. Then she said- "Jesus is a Spirit and he cares. he told you I was in pain and then he took it away". I prayed and blessed her business, as I had been her first customer of the day.

Danielle's Story: Today was so touching! We felt like we were to go buy our new homeless friends some goodies! It was a step of faith buying the stuff for them, because we didn't actually know if they were going to be in the spot where they were yesterday! Thankfully, we heard from the Lord correctly, because they were all still hanging out in the same spot as yesterday! We took them blankets, toiletries, food and coffee! It was amazing seeing their faces when we walked up to them this morning! They felt so honored and loved that we had come back! 

I think one of my favorite moments was when I had the pleasure of buying my new friend Donnie some jeans. He had only had shorts to wear and it was definitely below 40 degrees last night. He asked me to buy him some pants and when he asked that, it would have been so easy just to blow him off and say that I couldn't, but thankfully I bought him some jeans! He was so excited when I walked up and gave them to him. He hurried off and put them on and came back to showcase them! 

It was a joy to be able to bring someone excitement and love through something as simple as buying some jeans! I loved that we were able to serve this crew of our homeless friends! They are all amazing people! It was such an honor that they shared their stories with us! We told them if they ever make it up to Nashville that we would definitely need to hang out and get some food! Love them! 

Amy's Story: Jesus!! Today was incredible. We got to hang out with our houseless friends again. Walking up, seeing the look on Bebe's face when he saw us, and a handshake of friendship that lasted seemingly forever are moments that I now hold dear. There is something so beautiful about being known and being received that Jesus released through us this weekend.  Even the simplest of things like sharing coffee and conversation can shift someone's reality. It was such an honor to be a part of their story.

Holy Spirit gave me a word of knowledge while we were shopping at Walmart to make goodie bags for our friends - buy art supplies. It turns out there were many artists that hung out with our friends in Little Five Points but the person who was the most excited about the opportunity to create and bless others through his art was Donnie. He is temporarily homeless but is not letting that define his future. He shared his painful childhood with us and got real about where he's at.  Our team was able to listen, provide encouragement, and pray for healing and dreams fulfilled.  Jesus loves us right where we're at and today He poured hope and love into one of his favorites.

Some of my favorite photos were taken today where you can see the visible love of God transforming those He rushes in to breathe life into. Going to Atlanta was worth it for just one of these new friends we met but God blessed us with so many more. God is faithful. He is full of love. And He gets all the glory.   

Kimberly's Story: Today was the last day of #CultivateBoldness Atlanta 2014. We started the day by journaling and then discussing what we had each heard from the Lord. God put the ball in our court and we decided to visit Walmart and get blankets and other items to give to the friends we'd made at Little Five Points (LFP) on yesterday.

Thankfully when we arrived to LFP our friends from yesterday, including Bebe, were all there! We gave out the goodies we had and then we went to Starbucks and bought them coffee. After everyone had coffee, we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with our friends and getting to know them better.

I spent the majority of my time talking with Bebe. He shared how grateful he was that we had visited with them on yesterday, and also for our visit today. And honestly, we are just as grateful. It was an honor to be in the presence of Bebe and the rest of the crew on yesterday and today. They are so intelligent (no exaggeration), compassionate and simply put - cool people. I hope to remember them forever and to pray for them each time that I do. I pray that you'd do the same. I know that they would each appreciate it.