Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Stories Part 2: A Broken Down Bus Full of #HersheyParkHappy Middle Schoolers



Adventure of the Day - June 3

Emily and I were driving home from dropping Anna off at a friends house last Saturday evening. It was around 7:30pm. Em was driving and we were making our way home via Hershey Park Drive, just west of Rt 39. As we were driving, we saw an older bus with it's hazards on, parked by the side of the road. The bus driver was standing outside, and was on his cell. I had a passing thought of empathy, but not much else. We had *ice cream and root beer in the car and wanted to get home to make floats!

As we passed, I had the impression that I was to go get a case of water for those on the bus. I'm not going to lie, my first thought was.... aww Lord, I just want to get home. But the impression was strong, and I know His Voice when I hear it. I still hesitated but said to Em..."Okay, we're going on an adventure." She would tell you, her first thought was the same as mine. :) But I immediately said, "I got a prompt from the Lord," and she was like, "Okay! Where are we going?" (Can I just say how fun it is and how much easier it is to follow the Spirit on the adventure of the day, when others are willing to go with you? Thank you dear daughter!!)

She pulled into Weis and right in the front vestibule there were cases of water for sale. Perfect! I grabbed one and Em said, "Should we grab two?" I replied, "No, one should be good." As soon as I was in line, the Spirit was like, Go grab another. So Emily(who heard right the first time!) faithfully went and grabbed another and we bought them both.

I drove this time, and we circled back and pulled up behind the bus, that now had a few adults standing outside. As Emily and I came toward the bus, I said to the driver, "Hi! We're here to bring you water!" He called to another woman who came to meet us, and she looked at us and the two cases with disbelief. I told her we were driving by, and the Lord prompted us to pick up some cases of water for her. She got a little weepy and said, "Some of our kids are a little asthmatic, and really needed water." I said, "Oh! God knew that, and sent us to bring it." Meanwhile, because the bus was an older kind of bus, the windows were opened and I could hear kids laughing and singing inside.

It turns out, these kids were Middle Schoolers from West Virginia, on their way home from the Music in the Park competition... they won first place! I asked "Cindy" if I could pray for her, and still weepy, she welcomed it. As I was praying, one of the kids on the bus began to shush the others and said, "Shhhh!!! she's praying!" When I was done, one of the kids said, "Wow! That was a great prayer! You should be a preacher!" Laughing I said, "Well, I'm the wife of a preacher, does that count?" And he was like, "Guys! She's a preachers wife!" Still laughing I said I'd be praying for them as they were shuttled to a nearby hotel for the night, and as Cindy had to now phone all the parents to tell them their kids would be spending the night in Hershey. As Emily and I were leaving, the same boy said, "Hey! Will you pray for me too?" I stopped, turned around and asked him what his name was. "Marcus!" he said. Looking him in the eye I said, "Marcus, I"m going to especially pray blessing on you and for you." He said, "Guys! I'm getting special prayer from the preachers wife!"

So awesome. And pray we did, that Marcus would be a leader among his peers, that his hunger for others to pray into his life would grow, that he would be gifted and empowered through relationship with his Abba Father to reach his generation for Christ. What a great adventure, and what a joy to share it with Emily.

*No ice cream was harmed in this adventure, and Matt said it was the best root beer float he had ever tasted. :)

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Stories, Part 1

Adventure of the day, June 6

I just got off the phone with a dear younger sister after praying in authority with her over her daughter. I’ve known her ever since I gave her a ride home from school when I was a theater teacher, over 16 years ago.(Theater teacher, I know, right?) Since then, I’ve watched her rejection of Christ grow into less animosity, to interest, to seeking, to finding, to being reborn and now, having the joy of her first born being baptized last weekend. After the baptism, a guy said he “saw” something in the “spiritual realm” over her daughter before she went into the water. When this guy communicated what he saw, my friend was scared and told him so. She called me, somewhat anxious and asked me to speak into it. I explained to her the authority she has in Christ, and explained how she can walk in it. We then prayed and broke off anything that was not of Jesus spoken over her daughter, and spoke blessing into the life and destiny of her daughter, in the name of Jesus.


Adventure of the day, June 2

She sat in our porch last week, in the white wicker chair with the red patterned cushion, decaf in her hand. She poured out her heart. She doesn’t recall others speaking life into her, only where she was a failure in every relationship she had. 2 ½ years ago, she was invited into community for the first time in her adult life. She’s heard life giving words, and has been prayed over so often in this community, with others speaking and calling out the gifts of the Spirit they see in her, that she is beginning to believe she has value and worth in the Body of Christ. She wants more of the abundant life God has promised. She has seen us, even through the hard times, filled with the Spirit and walking in His gifts. She has seen God resource us with more of Himself and although it still makes her nervous, wanted to pray He would fill her with more of everything He wants to give her. We prayed together in agreement. As we prayed, she received a little healing in an area that has been hurting her for awhile, just because God wanted to give that to her. I didn’t know this until the next day, when God prompted me to text her, asking her about this very area. He laid on my heart that she had an issue with this area, through a word of knowledge about it. By faith I asked her about it. She affirmed she had an issue, told me about the partial healing the day before, and after we prayed, she was completely healed! Woo hoo God!!!

Time and Timing

Originally begun January 25, 2017.......

I was struck by a detail of the story of Issac today. I've read this story many times, but today, as I was reading, the Holy Spirit gave revelation. I need revelation these days, because it's been hard to process what He is doing and where He is leading us as a family. It's been hard to wait, to listen and honestly, to hear. And I'm frustrated that it's been hard to hear. Yet I know He will speak as I am still. But being still has been hard....but that's for another time to write about.

Abraham was faithful to send out his servant to find a wife for Issac. His servant had instructions to go to his family and find a wife. His servant carried all sorts of gifts for the family of the girl he would, by faith, find for his master. He carried what he needed for himself for the journey, as well as all the gifts for her, and for her family on camels as he made the trek. Finally, he ends up at a place where he can rest, where his camels can rest, and he calls on the name of the Lord, asking Him to identify a wife for Issac. He asks that the wife of God's own choosing would be the one who would offer to water his camels, which would be no small feat. Rebekah comes to the watering spot with her own sheep, and after giving water to the servant, offers to water the camels. After he finds out she belongs to Abraham's family, he makes request of her family that she journey back with him to marry Issac. Her family agrees if she agrees. She agrees, and leaves her family, her home, all she has ever known, to journey back with the servant to meet her new husband, and live with him and raise a family.

Issac is the Son of Promise. He knows his own life came about because of the sovereignty of God Himself. He knows he will have descendants as numerous as the stars. He knows the covenant God made with his father Abraham. Issac knows that through his own children, this covenant will continue.

Some time passes. No children. A few years pass. No children. A decade passes. No children. Two decades pass. No children.

My mind was struck by this today. God made a promise. Issac believed it. Rebekah left everything she knew to be the wife of Issac, and I have to think she had a belief in God, had to have a sense of destiny to leave all she knew to become Issac's wife. She went to a land barren of friends, of family, of everything familiar to be.... barren.

What could those years have been like for her? What did she battle in her mind? What regrets did she have, what prayers did she cry out to God? What promises did she cling to? What comfort did she have as day after day, year after year, her purpose, her reason for leaving all she knew, never came to bear, to light? There had to have been a purpose for her too, a reason for the delay. There must have been much the Lord spoke to her as she waited, as Issac waited. Or maybe I just imagine this to be true, want this to be true as I so identify with her situation. But God is a God of Hope, and though Scripture doesn't record what her thoughts about the wait were, she must have been crying out to Him, and I know He heard her.

We know that Issac prayed for her, and she conceived. What were those 9 months like, as she literally felt the promise grow within her? And as the "war within her" of twins grew, before she knew they were twins, what were now her thoughts? Was she afraid she would lose the baby? Did she cry out to God, wondering why this, after such a delay?

5 Months Later

I began this post over 5 months ago, and just now, as I am prepping for another post, saw that I had yet to finish this one. I began writing that as we were in the midst of one probably the hardest seasons our family has ever experienced. We had no home of our own, part time work for both of us, a very clear call on our lives that came after 20 days of fasting and prayer, with no foreseeable resources of our own to "make it happen." We had friends who empathized but no partners in the vision. We had Job friends who thought it must be something we had done to cause such calamity in our lives, and shared this openly with us. And we would soon have people specifically speaking against what God had spoken to us, people we had loved and shared life with.

Like Rebekah, I left everything good to come to Hershey. I had deep friendships in Indiana, joy in serving in my sweet spots, love, others who were on mission and with whom we kept pace, vision for the future, security of a beautiful home with land and a garden that even provided shelter for a young couple living with us. Like Rebekah, we left everything dear to follow what we thought was a promise. Like Rebekah, 5 months ago I asked, "If this is so, why then am I this way?" Why do we find ourselves without a home, without what we thought of as security, struggle with those we had loved, struggle within ourselves. All I could do was cling to the hope that there had to be a reason. God is Faithful. That's all I knew.

What I would say to myself 5 months ago is.... hold on. Things you could not even conceive will happen in a very short amount of time. Within 3 weeks you will be in your new home, (the small kind, the one of your dreams, with hydrangeas, rhododendron, clementis, azaleas, all your favorite perennials, just for you.) People you don't know yet will become key influencers in your life. God will visit others in dreams and tell them about you to encourage and heal you in one of your darkest moments. He will give you mentors to walk out the command to church plant. He will deliver you of strongholds. Your joy will exponentially increase. You will be invited into a body of believers who are closing the gap between what the Bible depicts as the "normal" christian life and what you see in the typical American church. He will open financial resources to follow His call to church plant. He will send you on adventures that require courage but will increase faith and joy. You will see others healed through you. He will be EXACTLY who He says He is and empower you to be EXACTLY who HE says you are... not whom others say or expect you to be.

Oh for the perspective of time in the waiting! Courage dear hearts, as you follow Jesus and wait for His timing!