Have you ever tried to give something to God, but still felt the burden weighing you down? Sophia shares the secret she learned to completely surrender her desires to the Lord by understanding that “His ways are higher than our ways.” (Isaiah 55:9)
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~ Sophia
April 2011 Journey
The Lord seriously convicted me through the messages brought to us by Mr. Phil Garvin and Dr. Gothard on the last Monday of my Journey, where we were instructed in how to be true “fisherman” for Jesus. I have to confess, that at age 23, I have never led a single person to Christ. Matthew 7 says that He shall know us by our fruits. I really had to ask myself, am I a true follower of Jesus Christ?!
That night I prayed and asked the Lord to give me a sincere desire to Follow Him—to make disciples of the nations. I prayed that He would give me a glimpse of His Vision and His Kingdom. Furthermore, I prayed that He would place individuals in my path during my flight home, with whom He would like me to share the Good News, and I prayed that He would give me the boldness and the words that I needed.
The Lord gave me the opportunity to share the Gospel with the young man sitting next to me on my flight back to Vancouver. His name is Elliot, and he is a self-described “professional gambler” who was just returning home from a week-long poker tournament in LA. I was able to lead him through Mr. Garvin’s basketball tract, and even had him read Romans 6:23 from my Bible. Although he did not receive Christ during the flight, I was amazed at how open he was to discussing the question of salvation, and how the Holy Spirit was slowly directing me through the whole conversation as to what the say. Now I know what is means in Psalms 48 when He says “Seek my will in all you do, and I will direct your paths!”
The Lord has directed me since then to share the Gospel with friends and strangers alike on multiple occasions. He has used a major weakness in my life (timidity in social situations, poor conversationalist) and used it for his glory. I know that nothing I do is on my own strength, but on Him who will give me the strength I need every day to have His will carried out in my life!
~ Aaron
August 2010 Journey
My mom encouraged me to go on a Journey, but I said I’d rather buy a rifle. Well, that changed four months later! God showed me that I needed a better relationship with Him by convicting me of sin in several areas.
I got a plane ticket just ten days prior to the journey for two hundred eighteen dollars. The very next day the price had gone up to five hundred sixty-five dollars, which would have been well out of my range!
The Journey dynamically changed my life. As I dealt with the sin in my life, I felt the communication lines with God open up. I prayed to God with my whole heart and not just my intellect. Now I am guarding my heart and seeking the Lord.
I am thankful to all the men on my team, especially Eric, Nathan, and Wesley for their spiritual insights and thoughts. I would like to recommend this journey for anyone who would like to deepen their relationship with God.
~ Mark
August 2010 Journey
Hey! I’m Katie and I am preparing to go on the September girls Journey to the Heart!
For three nights in a row last week, I would wake up having dreamed about being attacked by someone or something. One night, I woke up startled from one of these dreams and gripped with a fear of my future as well as a fear of pain or getting hurt. I knew that God did not want me to live in or sleep with these fears and dreams, but how could I get rid of them? I didn’t know.
The next morning, Mr. Gothard called a few of us into his office for a time of prayer. He asked around the little group to see if any of us had any prayer requests. For a moment, I didn’t want to say anything. I thought, “Hey; these people would hear what I was struggling with!” But God prompted me to go ahead and ask them to pray for me.
Mr. Gothard seized the opportunity to impart some wisdom and explained several simple truths. He first asked if I had ever dedicated my life to God, to which I answered “yes”. He then explained that because my body belonged to God, Satan could not attack me in any way that God did not allow. He also mentioned that if I ever were to be attacked, that I should just cry out to God, and He would protect me according to Psalm 50:15: “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”
Mr. Gothard shared how when he was younger, he purposed to die for God. He didn’t care how or when, but knew that when he died, it was going to be God’s appointed time and way. He encouraged me to do the same thing.
That night I knelt down beside my bed and rededicated my body to God. I told God that I was willing and ready to die for Him. I also prayed out loud and completely gave God my sleep. Then I prayed that if it was His Will, I would be able to rest well and wake up whenever He wanted me to. And finally, I prayed that I would be able to get something good out of my Bible time the next morning. With that, I rolled over and fell into a deep sleep.
I woke up with my alarm at six ‘o-clock the next morning . . . refreshed! And I don’t remember even waking up at all after I asked God for sleep. I got out of bed, and started reading through a part of Psalm 119. As I was reading through the verses, one stood out to me which I took for my rhema that day. It was Psalm 119:37 and says, “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.” My challenge now is to live out this rhema by looking continually towards the Lord instead of being distracted by anything that does not bring about an eternal impact!
When I cried out to the Lord, He answered me. It has now been over a week and none of those fears have come back!
I now know that if I am ever struggling with doubts, fears, or anything else, I can bring it to Him in prayer. The well known and deeply loved hymn, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, expresses this so well:
“What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
~ Katie
September 2010 Girls’ Journey
Thank you so much for praying for the last guys’ Journey to the Heart! God worked mightily through your prayers.
As we continued as a team in the Word of God, I saw the truth setting lives free. Free to live in Christ, to experience God’s love and to give it to others.
I had the great privilege of seeing relationships restored. Early in the week, one young man who had been in rebellion responded to God’s conviction in repentance and called his parents to ask their forgiveness. He was just beaming when he got off the phone, and the next morning I was again struck by the Joy of the Lord in him!
Many of the young men commented that they wouldn’t have traded this journey for anything!
God was so good to me. When I arrived at HQ for the Journey at 2 a.m. last Sunday, I’ll admit I was a little tired. I had just spent ten days in OKC taking several law exams and doing a moot court, not exactly sleep-accommodating exercises. But throughout the journey, God gave me His strength (although I’m a bit tired now)!
Thank you again for your prayers!
~ Marty Moore
Team Leader, August 2010 Journey
For the first time in my life I experienced God. God is alive! He is real. I felt the power of His Spirit that week. We would pray for hours, crying out to God, and it would only feel like a few minutes. It was the most beautiful experience of my life, and one that I will never forget.
It was on my Journey to the Heart that I learned how to have a personal relationship with God. You cannot experience the power of the Christian life until you lay aside and choose to remove anything and everything from your life that will hinder you from serving God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Choose to be rid of the things of this world. Choose to be surrendered to the Lord, and the power of Jesus will be made evident in your life.
For the very first time in my life, I had hope, hope for the future and hope for my life. I now had something to live for.
I am not telling you that the moment I found God, that my life fell into place, that I never had a struggle again. Jesus says, “Take up your cross daily”. It is a 
personal choice for me, everyday to surrender my will to God and trust Him. I struggled for many months with surrendering everything to God; I struggled with bitterness toward the ones that had hurt me, especially the young man that I had left behind.
It has now been over a year since I first stepped on the plane to Chicago. I can say with all sincerity that God has given me freedom from my past. My desire is to know God, and in doing so, lead as many as possible to Him.
~ Olivia
June 2009 Journey
I was one of about 45 ATI dads who met in Oak Brook, Illinois at the IBLP campus and then drove in four vans to the Northwoods Conference Center on the upper peninsula of Michigan. 
Are you looking for something that will change your life forever? Do you desire to love Jesus Christ with all of your heart, and to know that He is truly your best friend?©2008 Robert Staddon. Design by Abundant Designs
