…real Amazing Grace

Last week my team and I went down to Biloxi, Mississippi with a church that we partner with from up north. They had invited us to come down to work on the rebuilding that is still taking place from Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast. It was a bit difficult for some of us because there was alot of mudding, scraping etc but not a lot of people interaction. I am glad to have learned about insulation, putting up drywall and even mudding corners (it was fun to learn these new skills!) but I also want the Word to able to be shared. I know that we were praying for people to come across our path so we could hear their stories. Midweek we came to the house we were working on and the neighbor next door was just walking into his house. We yelled a hello and he came over. It was a short conversation because he was about to go to sleep after working all night. So we thought that was that. A couple hours later the man came back over announcing that he had a surprise for us! This caused us to try to guess what the surprise might be. Was it food? Was it a dance? What could it be?!

The man, whose name we discovered was Willie, came back over with a saxaphone in his hand. He said that he used to play the saxaphone when he was a child and just yesterday (our first day being at that house) was the first day that he picked it up again. As he laid his head on his pillow to sleep a couple hours earlier he heard a voice tell him to pick up his saxaphone and to come over and play a song for us. He didn’t have the music for the song, but the song, the notes, just came into his mind! What he started to play for us was Amazing Grace. I could just feel the amazement we felt in the air. It was beautiful. The notes just danced through this house admidst the insulation and walls that were just being put up. He played the whole song perfectly, even though he had never played it before. He said he was not a religious man and that he never heard that voice before.

When he first came over he acknowledged that the voice was God.

Our Father wants to raise up worshipers that will worship in Spirit and in truth. He was running after this man. This man heard this voice and obeyed. His obedience amazed me because so many of us believers wouldn’t have obeyed so quickly! He could have felt really foolish but I didn’t even sense this from him. I believe that through our prayers and the Holy Spirit within us, the Holy Spirit was able to reach this man next door. Oh, may he keep responding!

…the children ran.

Last Saturday morning was a landmark day!

It was the 39th year of the Cairo Levee footrace where there was a 5k, a 10k run or a fun walk that you could take part in.

Normally there are more people from outside of Cairo that run than actual Cairo residents.  This year was different!  What was unusual about this day is there was also twenty or so 4th, 5th or 6th graders from Cairo that also ran the 5k or 3 mile race.  We had been training with them through their school and the community group that organizes the race for six weeks.  There had been many that dropped out.  There had been much complaining and fooling around.

BUT on the day of the race these children showed up.  They ran.  And they finished!  They saw that they could do it.  They saw that the more they had trained, the more they were prepared.  They saw that there was people that would cheer and encourage them on to finish well.

Oh, this in itself was huge!  This was something that even as Sara and I trained for our half-marathon last year and ran around Cairo was something that we prayed could take place.  It was something so dear to my heart.  And to see it happen, to see it as something the community of Cairo came together to do, was beautiful.  It gave me hope that yes, revival, and transformation for this town would come from the children.  I saw this as only a beginning, a glimpse of even what my Father wants to do spiritually in this place.  And the children will lead this community. 

It encouraged my soul to see the children cheering me on as I finished a very difficult windy 6 mile run.

Oh, what praise was on my lips this whole day!

And to top it off, I got my second trophy (last year at this race, i got my very first!) for 2nd place in woman’s overall for the 10k race…I shouldn’t mention but I will, there were only three of us women that even ran in the 10k!  And Sara was right by my side! 

(I’m sorry about the duplication of pictures, I’m still trying to figure this picture thing out!

…waiting on my Father.

I’ve been on this “Waiting” kick lately. It’s not that I’ve chosen to wait, sometimes I have, but I’ve realized how much in my life, in my day to day life, that I’ve been waiting for. Much of my life actually consists of waiting! My Father has really spoken it into my mind, heart and spirit. I think I used to remind myself more often but it had kind of drifted away from my vocab and mind. These last years there has been much focus on believing and faith, buts as I read Hebrews 11:1 again, “Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”, is not faith an active kind of waiting? Since I felt God speaking ” Waiting” to me, I picked up a devotional called “Waiting on God” by Andrew Murray. How much it has gotten me excited to wait! Right now instead of looking at waiting as a passive thing, I have seen how much it changes our hearts and the directions of our minds.

So, what am I waiting for?

I’m waiting for Jesus to come back.

I’m waiting to see Him face to face.

I’m waiting for the government to be on Jesus’ shoulders!

I’m waiting for the place He has prepared for me.

I’m waitng to see heaven come to earth.

I’m waiting to see answers.

I’m waiting to see hearts change.

I’m waiting to see salvation for so many.

I’m waiting to see all nations, tribes and tongues bow before our Father!

I’m waiting for the waste places to be built up!

I’m waiting for the captives to be set free!

I’m waiting for the church to know who they are and to live like it!

I’m waiting for complete healing.

I’m waiting for the past to not hurt so much.

I’m waiting for freedom.

I’m waiting for unity between believers.

I’m waiting to see peace in people’s lives.

I’m waiting for what I hope for!

I’m waiting for the unseen.

I’m waiting for eternity.

I’m waiting for what He has promised.

I’m waiting for what I know is to come in my life, and others.

I’m waiting for Cairo to be rebuilt, to be a city of refuge etc (so much!!!)

I’m waiting to see light in dark places!

I’m waiting for holiness, righteousness and purity.

I’m waiting to reign with Him.

I’m waiting to see this generation rise up and lead! (I’m seeing the beginnings of it!)

I’m waiting to see the “greatest story ever told” to unfold….

(I will end here but oh, there are so many more!)

What are you waiting for?? Who are you waiting for??

When we’re waiting, we know that we are waiting for someone or something. We wait for someone to pick us up. We wait for Christmas. We wait because we know they are coming. We don’t just wait to wait with no promise at the end of our waiting. Now, it may feel like that sometimes. I know I do because I forget who or what I’m actually waiting for. It has been a long time. My mind is not on the hope I have of the fulfillment of the waiting, it is more focused on grumbling that I have to wait! BUT, friends, with most of our waiting, as with my list above, we are waiting for the movement of our Father. We are really waiting for Him when it comes down to it. It is good to know what we are waiting for isn’t it? It is good to know that what we are waiting for will come, will happen and that our waiting is not in vain. Because its not. We have the victory, we know who wins.

He promises to come back. He promises to hear us when we call to Him. He promises to answer. He promises that He will never leave us.

As my devotional keeps reminding me, My soul wait thou only upon God! 

 

Be still and know that I am God.

- Psalm 46:10 

 

“Blessed are all they that wait for Him” – Isaiah 30:18

…we’ve moved.

You have not heard from me in a while!  Basically, we had vacation at the end of August and most of our September has been full of finishing what we can downstairs in the house we’re moving into as a ministry and packing and moving out of the center we’ve set up base for more than three years.  We’ve also tried to keep up with our regular ministry as much as possible. Whew!  What a month!  Its very much an ending of one season and entering into a new season kind of time.  I thought I would share this article we put in the Cairo newspaper recently.  We’ve had a lot of chuckles over the years over how the community tries to understand who we are and what we do.  We have a hard enough time putting it into words ourselves!  We know this move will take a while for people to get used to here…this is why this article was written.

Two Rivers Ministries Are Moving to 321 26th Street. Open House on October 4, 2008.

by: Stacy Ciha

During the last couple of weeks in August we heard that there were rumors floating around about us in Cairo. We have little spies that heard them (I am just kidding of course!). These rumors were around the fact that we, all those ladies and one gentleman that hang around the old St. Joe building, moved. Well, we didn’t actually move then. We were visiting our families who have given us up for most of the months of the year. We are now back. We are not moving out of Cairo, but we are moving to another location. We will not be moving to the old junior high school, but our computer lab will be. The computer lab should be reopening mid October and you can expect to hear more about that in the coming weeks. We will be moving to a house that we have been fixing up for the last three years. This house is at 321 26th Street and although it will not be completely done, this will be where you can find us coming October 1st. September 30th will be our last day at 421 Cross Street.

Who exactly are “we”? Well, that does seem to be a popular question! That is a question that we often ask ourselves and when people ask me I am often not sure which “me” you will identify with. We know that you wonder about us. What should you call us? Over the years we have been called “the people at the old St. Joe school”, Kid’s Club, Youthworks, the youth group, Two Rivers, foster children (although many of us look really young we are all over the age of 25) Youth Enterprise, Youthworkers, Tribe of Judah, Tillmans and gang and those people that walk and pray. Whew, that was a mouthful! People have also thought that we lived at the center. To clear that misconception up, we have never lived at the center. We actually live together between two different houses in town. We have had many groups stay at the center when they visit so this is probably where this misunderstanding could have been created. We don’t blame you for thinking this because many people have come in and out of that brick building over the years! We will also not be living at this new house that we are moving into, this house will be for you as much as it is for us.

Seriously now, we are simply a group of people that love the Lord and are trying to be obedient to Him. God told us to come to Cairo, so we came. He has told us to stay, so we’ve stayed. “Officially” you can call us prayer missionaries. We would even rather have you call us friends. Over the last couple of years we have changed from an organization to more of a family, with prayer always being at our core. We started throwing the word family around and really that is the best word to describe us. As a family it even seems fitting that now we are moving to this house. Slowly, people have been added to our numbers and we count them each as family where we desire to live in community like the early church in Acts. We are a work in progress. We don’t take offense at the confusion over what to call us. We care less that you know our name and more that you know the name of Jesus. It is His name that we want to exalt and not our own. In our new location we are simply calling it the Cairo House of Prayer. It is a house. We will be praying in it. It is for all of you and not just us. We are not exclusive because Jesus was not exclusive. It is a place where we hope you can come to meet with and worship your Father. One such time is on Fridays at 6:30 p.m. when we have a time of prayer and worship each week.

 

We thank you for the many names that you’ve given us over the years. We just thank you that you have welcomed us no matter what you’ve called us. I do hope the mystery of who we are is solved. If not, it is okay.

 

J We are okay being nameless as long as we point you to Jesus. Please do come and visit us. 

…Snapshots from the Summer

(These snapshots are the inside of my head type.  And hopefully the inside of your head will understand…)

The days of walking into worship at the beginning of every week and meeting new people from around the country has ended.  You honestly get really used to not knowing people’s names.  In other words, summer has ended in Cairo.  We’ve had our break.  And now we’re back for another year, our fourth one together to be exact.  Before I can begin this new year though, I need to go back and share more from the summer with you.  There are always those moments where you stop and you know that something just happened that you KNOW you did not do and that it was purely God moving.  It is those moments or what I like to call snapshots that I want to share with you…

 

1. Snapshots of UNITY.

…WITH YOUTHWORKS STAFF.  There was such unity in heart and vision with the YW staff and us this summer.  It started from day one.  God gave them a heart for Cairo and prayer from the very beginning.  There were so many times this summer that I had to stand back in amazement because this unity had not taken any work to create and really they didn’t feel like YW staff to me but brother and sisters in Christ on a common mission.  This was a taste of unity like I had experienced before, we pray for it all the time and it was refreshing!

…WITH TIGERET METHODIST.  It was wonderful to have another church support YW along with us in town.  They understand YW and our heart in a way that hasn’t happened locally before!

…WITH HANNAH’S HOUSE.  We didn’t have a lot of YW groups there this summer but I saw unity through my staff as we worked like never before to finish it.  One time that does stick out in my mind when we did have a group there for only 20 minutes and the amount of work and joy they had during that time was more than we could have ever imagined!

           

1. Snapshots of PRAYER JOURNEYS.

…One local church.  We had one pastor in town ask us to pray at her church.  Even though the air-conditioning chose to go out that day, it was such a privilege to pray and agree with this pastor.  God truly led this time.

…Thebes.   An adult leader had a desire to pray over this nearby town and invited us to come with her once she found out that we were a prayer ministry.  Kristy actually owns some land here now!  It is hard to explain in words how significant this time was but just believe me that it was!

…Pastor Jordan.  We actually ended up going to his church 3 times this summer with YW which is very unusual.  During one of these times there was a youth that had actually come to Cairo and his church three summers before and this had radically changed him and he got to thank Pastor Jordan.

…Prayer Walks.  These were encouraging times for staff as we saw teens pray like they’ve never prayed before, things that the Lord has spoken to us were confirmed through visitors and saw you Lord divinely set up these times such as praying for the superintendant and then he walks up!

 

1. Snapshots of BREAKTHROUGH.

…June 29, 2008.  Dishon (The Kid’s Club staff) spoke at Tigeret Methodist Church.  The pastor was going to be gone and asked him to speak in his place.  This was probably the first time a black man, an African actually, probably spoke from their pulpit.

…Kids Club.  It was amazing to see these mostly black kids of Cairo being invited into this mainly white church all summer!  One day as we were praying there, we saw peace signs put up as we were praying for peace.  The place quieted down as soon as we started praying.

…Thursdays.  Most Thursdays were powerful days in where I God moving.  Maybe I was just more aware on that day, I’m not sure!

 

 

1. Snapshots of CHILDREN.

…Three boys joined us for worship at the projects one Friday night.  They stayed the whole time, although part of it may have been that a watermelon that was also there may have been calling their names.  At any rate at the end of the night they wanted to come up with their “band” to freestyle.  We told them that it had to be about Jesus, God etc.  What came from these mouths of babes was a call for righteous, holy living…which had to be from the Lord.

 

…Each week we went to one of the Projects on Tuesday afternoons to do some type of service.  Each week there was a different group of kiddos.  One week we had kids from one family come and write and draw prayers in chalk at every corner around the projects.  God led them beyond their years in their prayers and it was amazing to see color around this usually dismal environment.

 

…Hali, the girl that I mentor from outside of town, grew to love reading and libraries when at the beginning of the summer she did not like reading!

 

…Devin and Bryce, two seventh graders helped out with Kid’s Club the whole summer.  It was amazing to see them rise to leadership.

 

…There were girls that were visiting their grandma down the street from me that would ride their bikes back and forth during summer night and often knock on our doors.  They came over one night telling me about a guy that they heard had been shot.  I asked one of the girls that I knew the best to pray and each of the girls prayed from their hearts.

 

       5. RANDOM snapshots.

                       …Strays…we had many stray animals meander their way to each of    our houses this summer.  The white house had an orange cat takeover of cats living on their porch and one that was welcomed inside.  At my house we had the cutest stray ever named Honey stay with us for a few weeks.  My “fondest” memory was Honey pooping out an Oscar Meyer Weiner wrapper as my team started praying for me!

 

And I know those were not the only ways that God moved in Cairo this summer.  These are only some snapshots.  Oh, may we have our eyes open to really see our Father in our everyday lives.  I know that I don’t always want to only see in part…

 

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

…being a steward of our Father’s land.

In the beginning God made the Heavens and the Earth.  He made light, day, night, Heaven, earth, waters, stars, creatures….

He saw they were good.

He then created us, humans.  He even made us after His own image (This is pretty amazing for me to comprehend).  He put us in charge over the fish of the sea, birds of the heavens, over all the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing.

He then blessed us.  He wanted the best for us.  He wanted us to succeed.

Basically, as a book I’m reading (RELEASING HEAVEN ON EARTH:GOD’S PRINCIPLES FOR RESTORING THE LAND by Alistair Petrie) puts it, “We are, therefore, stewards on a divine mission” or “Stewardship is neither a season nor a program; rather, it is a COMPLETE WAY OF LIFE”.

This whole idea of being a steward of this land and the importance of land is something that has been rolling around in my head this summer.  It all started with a cell phone.  As I was trying to figure out what I was going to do for a phone after I had spilled juice on mine, I realized how much we try to live independently of each other.  Why did I think my only option was buying a new one?  Many people probably have old ones just sitting around.  Why support the creation of a new phone, all the energy e that it took in producing it, when there was an old one just sitting around waiting to be used?  I have things I can give or lend to others so they don’t have to purchase their own.  We waste so much! Why do we not share more often?  This was after all, something we learned from the moment that we began interacting with others!  This began many questions in my mind with how I was choosing to live my life.  I realized anew that each decision I made did affect others and the future…what now may be a normality could in the future be a luxary.  We can see this is the rising gas prices.

Yet, I believe that God created us to live here on this earth and that He meant us to be able to sustain it until He came back.  As believers this is part of our mission.  As we are to care for His people, be stewards of His money,  we are also to care for His land.

In our modern culture there has been much talk about “going green”.  It is sad that much of the talk of caring for the land has come from nonbelievers.  This is where I have been convicted recently.  I am as much to blame as anyone else!  I did more in high school, such as refusing to use any styrofoam at lunch, then I’m doing now, as I am more mature in my faith.  So, this summer I decided to start making changes in how I live my daily life.  The first part was to start researching how we can reduce our waste, save water etc. so that I could even be aware of what kind of changes I could make.  The second part was to choose to do things differently so that I could start adopting it as a habit into my life.  I see how much we get used to how we do things, that it takes conscious effort to make a change.  It really does!  I am so selfish in my choices.  I can also be very lazy.  I am motivated wanting to honor God in all that I do.  So, even as I’ve been overwhelmed, this keeps me going.  So far I’ve chosen some days (at least one day a week) to ride my bike instead of driving my car and I’ve started using cloth shopping bags rather than those plastic bags.  It is a beginning…

In the past, I’ve had a tendency to be all about an issue, saying I was doing it in the name of Jesus, but I was more about the issue and really unaware of how God actually felt about it.  I was very oblivious to what the Word said about it.  This is something I’ve had to repent of and seek God’s forgiveness in.  I want God more than I want anything else.  Oh, may my words and actions reflect this!  I say this, because I think it is our natural tendency and I don’t want to every lead people down that path!  We are to only worship God.  We don’t ever worship the earth, even as we seek to care for it.  We worship the one who made it and us.  So, let us, seek what God desires us to do.  May we bless Him in all of our daily actions.   Amen.

p.s. Here is a very interesting blog to read, www.noimpactman.typepad.com.  This family, in NYC of all places, tried to for a year, to make no negative impact on the earth.  Yes, they even composted their poop!  This all amazes me….

…in wonder and amazement. (summer week one)

Last week in Cairo was the first week of YouthWorks. For those that do not know what this means, it means that suddenly youth groups start showing up every Sunday afternoon for a missions trip where they live at our building and serve around Cairo with the children and painting houses. It is really quite a sight in a small town that is not used to having that many vistors all at once! They leave every Friday morning and then the week starts over on Sunday afternoon again. We get four additional staff that work directly with the groups (Yes, we all used to work for Youthworks) and in the past our ministry has been really involved with almost every part of Youthworks.

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” ~ Acts 2:42

 

 This summer we felt the Lord directing us to take a step back. They are still living at our building. We simply are not taking charge of parts like Kid’s Club where we have in the past. Our main calling is basically what it says above in Acts 2:42. We are to be a devoted people. We are to be devoted to our Lord first, to prayer and to other believers. Then we are to share the gospel of the Kingdom and to heal as Jesus always instructed his diciples. A pastor I heard recently talk on this passage said about the early church, “They didn’t have a place, but people.” This is where we found ourselves this summer. We sensed that the thing that our Father really wanted us to do was to pray. To pray for this city that He has put in our hearts beyond reason and to pray on location. So far, no building has popped up as a constant place where we can pray. So, during the first week of the summer we prayed, broke bread, and had bible study at the local park, at Hannah’s House (the house we’re fixing up for the children of Cairo), back at our building, and during the weekly community BBQ.

“And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done though the apostles.” ~ Acts 2:43

Truly, more than any other week that I can remember “awe came upon every soul” in our group of Two Rivers, Youthworks staff and the group that had come for the week. God did amazing things!

There was so much unity between the Youthworks staff and our family of Two Rivers. We are just beginning to know one another but God created such agreement between us very quickly. It did not feel like two separate ministries, but one, as it should be. They invited us to be a part of everything. They asked us and welcomed us to pray at places like Kid’s Club. We stepped back and I believe that this allowed God to completely take over. We all were in agreement to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us.

The youth that came were so open to their Father! Many wanted prayer over tough things in their lives.

On Monday night a girl accepted Christ as her Savior!

On Tuesday during prayer walks around Cairo many who never had prayed aloud before, prayed aloud. The Lord specifically led them what to pray for.

 On Wednesday night we were asked to stay after their worship time at night because there were some youth that asked for prayer. Sara, Melissa and I sat in the prayer room as a couple adult leaders came in and then a few girls. One of the girls was sobbing after being in pain the whole afternoon because of her back. She had scoliosis which is basically having a curve in your spine when your spine is supposed to be straight. We all started praying and after about fifteen minutes we asked her how she was feeling and through her tears she said her pain was gone! She could move in a way she couldn’t before! We all looked at each other and said “Really?!” We were surprised even though we knew what our God could do. We should not be surprised! This same girl, prayed for her friend that brought her in who has suffered with really bad headaches, and even had surgery for it, and her headache was healed and the swelling she had on her neck was gone! We prayed also with a few other girls with tough things that had gone on all year as they tried to follow God. Truly, this was the mood in the prayer room that night….

“And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him” (talking about the lame begger being healed at the Beautiful Gate in Acts)

I don’t think anyone wanted to leave. We just kept praising God! I did not know how to sleep after seeing two girls get healed before my eyes! (read Sara’s blog for the whole story)

On Thursday morning I walked into worship still in amazement from the night before and I saw the girl whose back was healed walk around as if she had never had a problem in her back before! She was still crying such tears of joy. She really felt God’s presence on her and said that she felt it throughout the night. We had quite a time of worship that morning… 

 

 We went on a prayer walk that morning all together, praying and singing around one of the housing projects in town. We had a lady asking for prayer and a car was fixed that we prayed for.

At the community BBQ that night we had children praying for each other, a lady who couldn’t move her finger could now move it and Gary’s shoulder was healed!

Awe came upon every soul as we finished our week…

“…to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion-to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit…” ~Isaiah 61:2-3

For me personally it was a week of intense emotions. I experienced pain and sorrow at the beginning of the week but God brought forth such praise from my spirit as the week went on and I saw how specific he was ministering to me and the wonders He was doing in the community. He gave me the oil of gladness instead of mourning and the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit. He really did! What He says in His Word is the truth for each one of us. I saw it before my eyes and in my own heart. Our God can do anything.

 ”Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, WHO ALONE DOES WONDROUS THINGS. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!” ~ Psalm 72:18-19

 

 

…God is really specific.

Within the last couple of weeks I’ve been noticing how specific God has been with me. As I’ve been sharing with my community here I find myself keep saying the same thing at the end, “God was so specific”. This must be the lesson that He is teaching me currently. In the Psalms it says that when we call out to Him, that He hears us. I cling to that often as I pray. No matter if I see movement on prayer, I know that He DOES hear it and that He WILL answer.

Right now answers to very specific prayers have come really quick, if not immediately. I can barely keep up with writing them in my journal! When God wants us to act immediately, He will answer immediately. Last week was our first week of the summer when missions groups came to Cairo. I believe that God has been really specific with me because He wanted me to be ready for the summer. There were things that I needed to address and lay before Him so that I could be open to Him this summer. He also wants to be specific in ministry because He knows exactly how someone needs healing.

Here are just a few examples:

Two weeks ago God told me when someone had something to tell me, that night that person told me they had something to tell me. By God telling me beforehand it prepared me. God is really, really kind.

We had talked about neighbors in our Bible Study and how we did not know our neighbors as well as we would like to. We prayed about it. A few days later, one of our teenage neighbors came to our Friday night worship time (she had been invited many times before!). This hit me as I sat across the table from her at dinner that she was here and we had just prayed for her! I shared that with her and I know that also really touched her.

There have times this last week that I have not wanted to do something, something was difficult, and the Lord has literally made me do it by not allowing it to leave my mind and putting scripture in my mind that deal exactly to it.

The staff for YouthWorks that gives the talks to the youth at night felt last Monday night that she was not suppose to give the talk she had already planned. This was the first week for the missions groups to come and she had only ever given one talk to them or anyone this summer, and that was the night before! God put a couple of specific things that He wanted her to speak to the group about. The rest of the week, there were so many things that happened in the teenagers’ lives, one girl accepted Christ, there were healings, (I will talk about that in my next blog) they really opened up, and I think this only all happened because she said yes to the Holy Spirt’s leading. Together as Two Rivers Staff and Youthworks staff we all desire to be led by the Holy Spirit. After all the amazing testimonies from last week I believe in the power of unity!

I love all natural food. Natural food is so expensive. Food in general is getting to be more expensive and so with that, and living on faith, we have to shop as cheaply as possible. So, I do not always buy what I would really would like to buy. Today we got a bag on our porch that full of all natural food! Many of my favorites were in there! This shows how God does provide and how specific He is in providing!

It is so much fun remembering all the ways that God has been so specific.  He is amazing!  Really, it is not boring following this Father of ours.

 

I believe that our Father is very specific with each one of us. It is not just me. We are His pride and joy. He knows each of us intimately, so of course as He answers us He will also be very specific and personal with each one of us. He loves us. As we love Him and spend more time with Him, we will be able to hear him more clearly and know His voice. This makes sense because as we spend more time with a person, we get to know their voice more than the million other voices in the world. They are more real to us. May God’s voice be more real than any other voice clamoring for our attention.

Thank you Father for being such a specific God.

 

…living in “Narnian time”.

Edmund (In Prince Caspian) says, “Well, don’t you see? You know that, however long we seemed to have lived in Narnia, when we got back through the wardrobe it seemed to have taken no time at all? And that means that once you’re out of Narnia you have no idea how Narnian time is going. Why shouln’t hundreds of year have gone past in Narnia while only one year has passed for us in England?”

Someone recently described time in missionary life as similar to Narnian time. I would have to agree. This completely describes how life/ministry has been the past few months. It really only feels like a couple days since the beginning of April when I was anticipating a weekend trip to Colfax, Il and the half-marathon that was coming up, but no, it has been two months! I have not been able to predict life, each week has its new surprises, or new visitors that throws the idea of having a “normal routine” out of the window. I have also had surprise times of travel that has taken me out of Cairo more than I expected. I love this and at the same time I still struggle with constant change.

Over and over I have to return to that A. God is in control and not me. B. God never leaves me. C. God has not promised that we will not have any struggles in life but HE IS GOOD AND FAITHFUL. Is He ever! He never changes and He never makes mistakes. D. I need to let go of me and my plans for HIS. “Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” Matthew 10:37-39 These are the basics. We’ve heard them over and over again. There is a difference though in simply knowing them and allowing them to become the truth that you live. I want what I read in the Word to be the truth that I believe, know and live. My prayer is for a completely renewed mind. I know that I need it…how about you?!

As of September 1st I will have been in Cairo for three years. As I walked into the sixth grade graduation last week everything felt so familiar. The air had that “end of school” feeling but it was something more. Over the last week with another school year ending and another Youthworks staff arriving I have realized it is this “Cairo cycle of life” (kind of like Circle of Life from the Lion King!) that I’ve adjusted to. At least that is what I will call it. I have seen almost three complete years of life here in Cairo. I have gotten used to the rhythm of this community. I have never been in a community this long or been so involved to have experienced this. I really appreciate being a part of this community. There is much that we are calling on God to transform (It can be hard to not be so adjusted to life here that we accept things that are not God’s best and we do NOT want to do that), there is much that is not according to His Word here, there are incredibly difficult parts of living here but it is still a privilege in my mind (Oh, God, allow me to remember this on the difficult days!) to be here and to even now feel accepted as a part of the community.

I am thankful for this season in life.

…when God comes and we show up (Lakeland, Florida Outpouring

On April 2nd a man came to Lakeland, Florida to speak at a church for a week.  He was coming for five days.  God had a different idea.  God began moving in miraculous healings, in power and His presence rested upon these meetings.  They could not stop the meetings, just because they had not planned to go longer!  They broke outside of the American mindset and they continue to meet together.  Tonight will be the 43rd night!  It is not about this man or this church.  People are being healed simply as they worship, by being in the presence of God.  There is great faith rising among this gathering by the testimonies that continue to go forth.  Faith pleases our Father and He rewards those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)  I have seen how faith and healing go hand in hand.  More than 30 people have been able to walk out of their wheelchairs!  People are getting healed daily from cancer, deafness and blindness.  When God comes, there are naturally healings in His presence.  We saw that in the gospels time and time again as Jesus walked, there were healings and people came to believe in God.   We are seeing that TODAY.

 People are coming from all  over the world to Lakeland.  With this outpouring of God, we could not not go!  We want all that God desires for us.  We want more of God.  We know there is always more of Him.  So, our family went last week.  I’ve never made a decision or bought a plane ticket that quickly! (Thank you tax refund money!)

“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul THIRSTS for you; my flesh FAINTS for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.  SO I HAVE LOOKED UPON YOU IN THE SANCTUARY, BEHOLDING YOUR POWER AND GLORY.  Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.  So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.” ~Psalm 63:1-4

As I spent my time in Lakeland this is what I saw.  I saw people incredibly hungry and thirsty for God.  Yes, many want to be healed, but they are not just there to “get from God” they are there to be with God.  This was so refreshing!  It was not church as usual.  I saw people running for prayer, running to be in the front to worship their Father and laying on the ground to be closer to Him.  As I looked down to the ground level of the area where we were meeting and saw hundreds of people laying on the cement floor I felt like I was in another country, not America.  In America we often don’t get desperate.  Here, there was such a spirit of desperation!

The first night that we were there a little girl sat in front of me.  I just knew that I had to talk to her.  I wondered, what was she thinking?  As we started to worship I bent down and told her that we were asking Jesus to come right now.  With expectant eyes, she begins to look around, looking for Jesus appearing!  Oh, I love the immediated belief of a child!  We need to be that expectant!  I would glance at her every now again in worship and she would look with big eyes and jump up and down.  At one point, she also asked me, “Why is He taking so long?”  

I must admit that some of this has been difficult for me to accept.  What I see is sometimes hard for me to accept, especially if it is something I’ve never experienced before.  I wonder if it is REAL.   I have asked many questions within my sometimes skeptical mind.   I have something within me that never wants to follow the mass majority or just do something to do it.  I do not want to get caught up in the works of God and stray from God himself.   This can be a good quality but it also can keep me from experiencing God in new ways.  I do not want to miss anything that God has for me! 

  Something that God has impressed upon me in the last couple weeks is that we think too much.  Normally, I have to figure something out and then I will believe.  This is the complete opposite way that we are supposed to live as believers.  We need to deprogram the way the world has taught us.  We really do.  We are supposed to walk by faith and NOT BY SIGHT.  This is why we need a renewed mind.  My time in Florida challenged me to simply believe.  That understanding or revelation may come later.  God knows what we can handle at our level of maturity with Him.  We may never understand it.  His ways are not our ways.  When we say we must understand, we are really saying that we need to be control.  If we are saying we are in control, we are not committing our way to God, trusting Him, so He can act! (Ps 37)  I am saying this to myself as much as I am saying it to you.   This can all be really offensive to our flesh.  What I have to remember is that sometimes I need to be offended to realize where I am in error.  Also, Jesus was offensive to the world when He came.  I would rather be offensive than not to share what I’ve experienced to be true.

This has been called a healing revival.  Sometimes I have a difficult time saying revival because it is word, at least in the community where I live, that is thrown around so much.  It is used for a planned meeting.  I don’t think you can plan a revival! I also know that this is only a beginning.  I know that God longs to revive entire towns.  That is what we’re contending for here in Cairo.  I am not sure how God would define this, or even if He would care with our terminology!  What I do know is that God IS genuinely moving.  Perhaps that is what is important.   People are truly being healed.  People are accepting Christ through being healed or through witnessing healings.  I do not always have to understand Him or explain Him.  He can and will do that Himself…

(Come meet with God every night through www. God.tv or www.ignitedchurch.com 6 pm to 7pm to experience the revival yourself.)