One of Adventures Core Values is Listening Prayer—the belief that God does speak to us and we can hear what He is saying. Many of our trips have set-aside times of listening prayer ministry, called “Ask the Lord,” or ATL. 

While listening for God’s leading on a family trip to Appalachia, Vici saw different images: a pastor, an ugly boil, and the words “extravagant healing”. She knew God was going to do something awesome; but she had no idea He would use her in the miraculous way He healed Pastor Bo’s cancer.

During our trip to Appalachia, our team gathered to do a type of ministry called “ATL”, or “Ask the Lord”. ATL is when we as a team practice listening prayer, sitting before God and who He wants to minister to that day. 

Very simply, ATL is asking God what He wants to do in that moment in someone’s life and then going out in obedience to find that person.

One day after praying for God’s leading, Vici, an awesome woman of God, came back with a list that included a pastor behind a pulpit, an “ugly boil”  which she described as large, shiny, with black on the top and a stem, and lastly, the words “extravagant healing”. That day, she went out to ministry and spoke to the only pastor she’d met since coming to Appalachia, but while they were talking, she just didn’t feel that he was the person God showed her.

Others on her team saw different things during their time of prayer, and they came back having found those people. But Vici never found her person, so we continued to wait expectantly, knowing that God’s timing was not her own.

The next day at dinner, the pastor of our host church asked to speak with me, the project leader. 

I could tell by the tone of his voice that there was something serious going on, so I followed him outside of the church to see what he had to say.

Pastor Bo told me he needed everyone to pray for him, because he’d just had a colonoscopy, and the findings were not good. As he described the several polyps and cancer his doctor had found, I interrupted him and went running to find Vici. Pastor Bo was the person God had spoken to her about!

I pulled Vici from her dinner and brought her to him, then asked her to describe what she’d seen the day before—which was exactly what the X-ray picture showed. The largest polyp was malignant, black on the top, and connected to his colon by a stem!

Immediately Pastor Bo and I looked at Vici and said “Well, you know what you need to do, right?” And then the prayer was on. I can’t tell you how long it went on, but by the time we were through we were positive he’d been healed. 

A week later, Pastor Bo got his latest pathology report back. The doctors, who had just seven days before were telling him to prepare for a colostomy bag, told him the test came back negative for cancer. They looked everywhere and even in nearby organs, and couldn’t find anything! In fact, Pastor Bo’s doctor said the only word to describe what he saw was “fresh”.

Now, that is extravagant healing!

And guess what? Now members of Pastor Bo’s church are learning how to do ATL too! 

Listening prayer is as simple as it sounds: listening to God. He wants us to go deeper in relationship with Him, to hear what matters to Him, and to trust and obey Him wherever He leads. Vici could have told no one about what she saw. Instead she trusted that she heard God speak, and acted on it in faith!

Are you ready to see your students, family, or even yourself step out in faith while serving God? For 2017 trips to Appalachia, CLICK HERE for youth group trips, HERE for adult trips, and HERE for family trips!