Hey everyone.
Today I just want to share a testimony about how I have seen our Father’s presence here on this earth.
He is here big time and I know for me sometimes that is hard for me to believe and see, but lately I have seen His presence so much! I have seen Him through my World Race squad and team. I have seen Him through the beauty of Albania. I have seen Him through the hospitality and kindness of the locals.
This week at debrief my squad had a night to share testimonies of how we had been seeing God’s presence and I loved it. It was incredible to just celebrate His goodness and see just how present He is and that is what I hope this blog can do for you guys. I hope it can help you see His presence in your lives and His goodness to you.
The story that comes to life for me right now when I think of a time this last month that I saw my Father so present and felt Him so —– was during a time of feedback from my team on a really hard week. I had been just having a really hard time and didn’t like how I had handled things and acted that week towards my team and the culture change. I was really struggling with feeling a lot of shame for all the ‘mess ups’.
So heading into feedback I had so much anxiety and just anticipation waiting for the constructive feedback I just new I would receive because I had already been giving myself that feedback. We all sat down and prayed into feedback time and then it started.
My first teammate said, “Ashton, I have some feedback for you.” Oh here it comes. And then she spoke on how she had seen God through me. This was followed by every single one of my teammates sharing a different way they had seen God in me that week and I just sat there and cried.
I didn’t deserve the amount of love they were showing me. I didn’t deserve the grace or the patience they showed me.
I shared with them what I had been expecting and how I was feeling and they responded in the most incredible way. They said, “we all go through hard times and if you need us to stand in the gap for a little, then we can stand in the gap”. I felt so loved. This is the Father and Jesus with us every single day.
My team in this moment showed me so much of the Father and who He is, and reminded me of His goodness.
We don’t deserve the Father’s love, grace, or patience, but he gives it anyway because Jesus stands in the gap for us every day!
I hope this testimony can encourage you and I hope today you can feel and see His presence because He is here.
Have a blessed day. Love y’all.
Ashton, I am so proud of you and how the Lord is working in and through you! Thank you for your vulnerability and for sharing so openly how good our Heavenly Father truly is!!
Ashton, I am so proud of you letting down walls and being vulnerable! You are such a sweet example to me as well! I love you and miss you so!!!!??
I absolutely LOVE how you have seen God’s different attributes during your mission trip. Jehovah-shammah – God IS There!
Love you, can’t wait to hug your neck.