the three day penny challenge

This week’s speaker is Kristy Wilke and she is awesome. She brings such a spice to the way she teaches and it draws me in. She is on fire for Jesus and makes it known. She is teaching on “Hearing God and Intercession.” Her teaching has honestly been life changing. When I have more time I’ll put up the notes I have taken during her teaching, but for right now I want to share with you what her teaching has been doing for me personally.

On Tuesday Kristy gave everyone a penny. The purpose of this penny is to challenge us in our walk with Jesus. Literally, it’s there challenging us while we are walking. She challenged us to put this penny in our shoe for 3 days. The sole purpose of this penny is to remind us to ask God what he would have for us at that exact moment in time. The first couple times I felt the penny I was completely confused, forgetting that I had even put the penny in there. But for me, this is how my Christian walk is. It is a learning process. When I began walking with Jesus I didn’t remember a lot of times to spend adequate time building my relationship with Him. Throughout the day the amount of time it took for me to realize what was in my shoe and then actually turning to Jesus decreased because my awareness had been stretched. Likewise in my walk with Jesus over the years when I am facing a hardship, carrying a burden, troubled, impatient, irritable, joyful, exhausted, grateful, forgiving, etc. I have found that the amount of time it takes me to turn to Jesus has decreased. It isn’t that I’m even close to being perfect, but the more I look to my relationship with Him the more he blesses me. It is crazy to me that He blesses me simply because I find myself being in His presence and He loves that I am soaking in His presence. How and why in the world does he love me (us) this much? All I know is that because of this love He has for me, I fall more and more in love with Him. This penny challenge has been absolutely amazing. I am anticipating what God is going to do in these next two days. Hopefully He’ll continue to bless me and draw me closer to Him each step throughout my day.

this is the beautiful view i am talking about :)

One song that has been speaking to me, specifically today, is You Won’t Relent by Jesus Culture. One of my favorite lines from this song Kim Walker sings and it says, “I don’t want to talk about you like you’re not in the room. Wanna look right at you, wanna sing right to you.” This fits absolutely perfect into the teaching this week. These words Kim sings go straight to my heart. Can you imagine what it would look like to walk throughout the day holding Jesus’ hand instead of simply talking about or to Him like he isn’t there the whole time? Seriously, imagine it. I can imagine myself getting cranky in the morning and then Jesus being like, “Come on Sarah, I know you’re tired, but I love them and I know you love them, let’s show them that we love them together.” I can imagine walking from breakfast, still holding Jesus’ hand, and looking at the mountains and sun rising behind them, and then I can hear Jesus saying, “Sarah, I made this. I made this for you. Isn’t this beautiful? I want you to look at them and be reminded of how beautiful I have made you.” I can imagine going to base worship, small group, base intercession, DTS worship, etc. holding Jesus hand. I can imagine how he would meet me in each of those times. I can imagine sitting next to Jesus in class asking me to challenge the idea I have of Him. I can see Jesus saying, “Sarah, I am speaking directly to you right now through Kristy. Please listen because I know you’re struggling with this.” And this is only my day starting at 7 am and going until 12:30 pm. Honestly, what would our lives look like if we let Jesus really, really, REALLY speak to us throughout the ENTIRE day, not only in our blocked out quiet times (if we even do those)? What would our lives look like if we didn’t listen to lies we feed ourselves, we let others or the devil feed us? Instead of believing the lie that we’re ugly when we leave the house, why don’t we leave the house in the morning holding Jesus’ hand, believing what he has to say about us (that we are unique, beautiful, and wonderfully made)? Instead of feeling inadequate throughout the day, why don’t I ask Jesus how he feels for me at that moment? What a life changing discipline this would be if we were to take our relationship with Jesus serious at every moment of every day. Can you imagine what the church, Jesus’ bride, would look like? I seriously believe that the name ‘Christianity’ would not have as bad as a reputation that it already has. Can you imagine?!?!??!?!?!?? I already see what it’s doing in my life. Pleaseeee…I challenge yourself to put a penny in your shoe for 3 days. Every time you feel that penny ask God what he would have for you at this moment? Would he have you love on your co-worker? Would He ask you to go up to your boss and ask how you could be praying for them? Would he have you put down the remote and serve your community? Would he have you ask for forgiveness from someone? What does he have for you? It’s something. It’s unique. Put yourself at the foot of the cross and get involved. There is only one you. Let Him use you. It’s such a blessing. Ahhhhhhhh. I’m so pumped!! Thank you Jesus.