So it would've been really easy to skip tonight and just write this tomorrow. I have the perfect excuse... I am taking my Law School Admissions Test at the crack of dawn tomorrow. I was just going to go to bed, but then this little voice spoke to my heart and said, "He didn't just ask you to do this when it was convenient, did He?" Obviously the answer is no, so here I am writing this ... out of obedience.
This morning I went to the good Starbucks... yes, one is better than another... and they had messed up their orders so I had to wait a few minutes in the drive thru. I wasn't really in a hurry so it didn't bother me but the girl working in the window struck up a conversation with me and asked if I had plans for the weekend. I said that I was taking my admissions test for law school the next day.
She began to talk about the ability of positive thoughts and all this stuff. As I listened to her, I realized that she was a Christian and longing to be able to pray with people, but she was at work and didn't know if she could or not even though her spirit was encouraging her to do so. I had a nice but brief conversation with her, but neither of us offered to pray for one another. As I left I said, "Have a Really Blessed Day!" I saw her face light up.
This has to be the first time when a perfect stranger wanted to pray for me. I must say, I kind of liked it. I wonder if this is how other strangers feel when we pray for them at random ( or not so at random )? I wonder if they leave feeling blessed. If I knew that they would, I wonder if I would be more bold about praying with people?
Maybe I should just pretend they are all going to love being prayed for and then if they aren't thrilled it's ok, but at least I will have tried!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Day 271 - Thursday
Yesterday I prayed with a friend of mine via text message for her mom who had fallen at home and injured herself very badly and had to be taken to the Emergency Room. As my friend and I prayed I knew God was working on her body as fast as I could type the words on my phone. (Which is not all that fast as Swype and I do not always agree on which word to use!) :O)
I got the good report today that they were able to send her home and that she is doing fine other than a nasty bruise. No broken bones and no concussion! YAY GOD!
Another friend sent me a text today asking for 40 year old Sandy who had a stroke and is in the hospital. We prayed via phone but I would love it if you all would agree with me in prayer for complete restoration in Sandy - in every part of her brain and her body!
This afternoon I had to run to St Louis to make sure that I knew where to go on Saturday when I take my LSAT exam. Since I was over there I thought I should make a little run over to the Italian section of town, simply known as The Hill. There are all of these FABULOUS Italian restaurants and bakeries and delis and all sorts of other things. Just walking up and down the sidewalks the smells are intoxicating! :O)
I was in search of one of my all time favorite things: cannoli. They are fabulous, delicious, amazing... I could go on! Anyway, I finally found the bakery that I was looking for. I waited my turn, mouth watering, wishing I had brought more cash. When it was my turn, I placed my order. After I had paid for the delicious treats, I turned to leave. This little voice interrupted my thoughts and said, "Ask her (the woman behind the counter) if she needs prayer."
Yeah, you guessed it... I totally dismissed the voice and turned and walked out of there without another word besides "Have a good day!" I walked back to my car and thought about it for a few minutes. Maybe I should have gone back. What am I afraid of, I will never see that woman again. Well, maybe I will on Saturday because I think I am going to back and pick up some more cannoli. MMMMMMMMMMMM :O)
I got the good report today that they were able to send her home and that she is doing fine other than a nasty bruise. No broken bones and no concussion! YAY GOD!
Another friend sent me a text today asking for 40 year old Sandy who had a stroke and is in the hospital. We prayed via phone but I would love it if you all would agree with me in prayer for complete restoration in Sandy - in every part of her brain and her body!
This afternoon I had to run to St Louis to make sure that I knew where to go on Saturday when I take my LSAT exam. Since I was over there I thought I should make a little run over to the Italian section of town, simply known as The Hill. There are all of these FABULOUS Italian restaurants and bakeries and delis and all sorts of other things. Just walking up and down the sidewalks the smells are intoxicating! :O)
I was in search of one of my all time favorite things: cannoli. They are fabulous, delicious, amazing... I could go on! Anyway, I finally found the bakery that I was looking for. I waited my turn, mouth watering, wishing I had brought more cash. When it was my turn, I placed my order. After I had paid for the delicious treats, I turned to leave. This little voice interrupted my thoughts and said, "Ask her (the woman behind the counter) if she needs prayer."
Yeah, you guessed it... I totally dismissed the voice and turned and walked out of there without another word besides "Have a good day!" I walked back to my car and thought about it for a few minutes. Maybe I should have gone back. What am I afraid of, I will never see that woman again. Well, maybe I will on Saturday because I think I am going to back and pick up some more cannoli. MMMMMMMMMMMM :O)
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Day 270 - Wednesday
I got to pray for my mom tonight at church and her knee was completely healed. The pain completely left and the swelling and knot in her kneecap went away! Yay God! I love how when we come to Him with little things He takes care of them before they turn into big things!
It reminds me that He will take care of my little and big things too... :O)
It reminds me that He will take care of my little and big things too... :O)
Day 269 - Tuesday
I was so exhausted that I passed out on the couch before writing last night, so here is a brief recap :O)
Best part of the day: Walking out of our weekly prayer meeting at church where the Lord totally touched me and took away all of my LSAT and Internship stress for over an hour before I decided I apparently prefer to be stressed out and took it back... Someday I will be better at trusting Him :o/
But as we were walking out my mom called to tell me she had prayed for one of her co-workers at work for him to be healed following a surgery where he had had some nasty complications and was trying to work despite his health issues. Long story short he came to her the next day and thanked her for her prayers and the issues that he was having entirely cleared up!
Talk about being a light in a dark place! Way to GO MOM!
Best part of the day: Walking out of our weekly prayer meeting at church where the Lord totally touched me and took away all of my LSAT and Internship stress for over an hour before I decided I apparently prefer to be stressed out and took it back... Someday I will be better at trusting Him :o/
But as we were walking out my mom called to tell me she had prayed for one of her co-workers at work for him to be healed following a surgery where he had had some nasty complications and was trying to work despite his health issues. Long story short he came to her the next day and thanked her for her prayers and the issues that he was having entirely cleared up!
Talk about being a light in a dark place! Way to GO MOM!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Day 268 - Monday
So completely unmotivated to write this tonight, but I am doing it anyway. Yay for Obedience, right?!?! So I walked past two girls on crutches and two people in wheelchairs today. Did I stop and ask if I could pray for them??? No, I did not. Did I ask God what He was doing in that situation??? No, I did not.
What did I do? Welllllll... there has to be some positive to the day, right? I bought someone lunch and I was their friend. I am really glad I took the time to do that. It was definitely worth it AND it makes me feel better about walking past all those other people.
A friend was telling me that Kevin Dedmon had been invited back to our church, which I think is fantastic! That weekend changed my life... this is the residual from that one weekend over a year ago. However, I was thinking about how much I struggle with carrying out and living out that fire that was ignited that weekend. We went out in groups and somehow that made walking up to some random stranger and asking them if they needed prayer for something so much easier. So I guess, I am praying for an adventure buddy. Someone who will go out and "plunder Hell to populate Heaven" with me. In the interim, I guess I need to pray for more compassion for people... if I cared more for others than I did for myself I am betting I wouldn't have this problem... hmmmmmmmmm
What did I do? Welllllll... there has to be some positive to the day, right? I bought someone lunch and I was their friend. I am really glad I took the time to do that. It was definitely worth it AND it makes me feel better about walking past all those other people.
A friend was telling me that Kevin Dedmon had been invited back to our church, which I think is fantastic! That weekend changed my life... this is the residual from that one weekend over a year ago. However, I was thinking about how much I struggle with carrying out and living out that fire that was ignited that weekend. We went out in groups and somehow that made walking up to some random stranger and asking them if they needed prayer for something so much easier. So I guess, I am praying for an adventure buddy. Someone who will go out and "plunder Hell to populate Heaven" with me. In the interim, I guess I need to pray for more compassion for people... if I cared more for others than I did for myself I am betting I wouldn't have this problem... hmmmmmmmmm
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Day 267 - Sunday
Wow! God always surprises me! Even when my attitude is the worst and I don't deserve it! I am so glad His grace is sufficient! I got to pray with so many people today expecting to see God do a miracle in their lives. It was incredible. But the greatest miracle is how He continually shows me where I am wrong.
He corrects those He loves.
Last week our founding pastor whom I love dearly announced that they were going to be playing a lot of the old pentecostal revival music this Sunday night. That is enough to make me want to skip church, I know that sounds terrible, but that sort of constant clapping toe stomping music is not my cup of tea. My attitude stunk... I even dreamt they cancelled "ho down night" as I lovingly like to refer to it.
The atmosphere in the prayer room was fantastic. I didn't want to leave... for more reasons than one! LOL We got down stairs and they played a good song and then pastor got up and began to preach. I thought, "Hallelujah! She changed her mind!" Then the tent revival music started. It wasn't as horrible as I remembered and once it got going it wasn't so bad. I asked the Father what He was up to in all of this and then I kept seeing us having a healing line. I thought to myself, NO WAY! Not on "Ho-down Sunday". After about 6 or 7 songs pastor announced that she wanted to pray for people and sure enough... we had an amazing healing line where people were touched and healed. It was incredible.
In all of this the Lord is beginning to work on me to quit having such a bad attitude and prejudge everything. I am so grateful that He cares enough to take the time to show us things like this, rather than leaving us there in our iniquity.
He corrects those He loves.
Last week our founding pastor whom I love dearly announced that they were going to be playing a lot of the old pentecostal revival music this Sunday night. That is enough to make me want to skip church, I know that sounds terrible, but that sort of constant clapping toe stomping music is not my cup of tea. My attitude stunk... I even dreamt they cancelled "ho down night" as I lovingly like to refer to it.
The atmosphere in the prayer room was fantastic. I didn't want to leave... for more reasons than one! LOL We got down stairs and they played a good song and then pastor got up and began to preach. I thought, "Hallelujah! She changed her mind!" Then the tent revival music started. It wasn't as horrible as I remembered and once it got going it wasn't so bad. I asked the Father what He was up to in all of this and then I kept seeing us having a healing line. I thought to myself, NO WAY! Not on "Ho-down Sunday". After about 6 or 7 songs pastor announced that she wanted to pray for people and sure enough... we had an amazing healing line where people were touched and healed. It was incredible.
In all of this the Lord is beginning to work on me to quit having such a bad attitude and prejudge everything. I am so grateful that He cares enough to take the time to show us things like this, rather than leaving us there in our iniquity.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Day 266 - Saturday
I finished reading an incredible book today, Miracles Among Muslims, by Christine Darg. This book was incredible. Beyond the amazing nature of the countless stories of personal experiences that she and Muslims in the area where she ministers, she spoke about dreams and visions and how God uses them to communicate with us. As always, it was God's perfect timing. The line that touched me so much though was toward the end of the book and it was a very inauspicious sentence: "In addition to dreams, visions, signs, wonders, and ministry gifts, however, love still remains the greatest gift" (171).
It reminded me that no matter what is going on around me, no matter what God is doing through me... love is the most important component... for without it we are nothing but a sounding brass and clanging symbol. Love is also the only one of the gifts that the enemy cannot counterfeit. You can't fake love no matter how hard you try. Some might be deceived by false love but the real deal cannot be made up and eventually the faker will be outed. I think that is why Jesus told the disciples that we are to be known because we love our brethren.
God, help me to love like You love.
It reminded me that no matter what is going on around me, no matter what God is doing through me... love is the most important component... for without it we are nothing but a sounding brass and clanging symbol. Love is also the only one of the gifts that the enemy cannot counterfeit. You can't fake love no matter how hard you try. Some might be deceived by false love but the real deal cannot be made up and eventually the faker will be outed. I think that is why Jesus told the disciples that we are to be known because we love our brethren.
God, help me to love like You love.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Day 265 -Friday - I just want to make sure I see my friend in Heaven
This one isn't really mine, but it is too cute not to share! My son will probably not appreciate it, but he doesn't have to know!
This afternoon I came downstairs as I was getting things ready to go, Mason was helping me by folding the load of laundry that had just come out of the dryer. Out of nowhere he says to me, "Mom, I told Sinan about Jesus." Sinan is his friend that lives down the street. He seems like a very nice boy although he hasn't spent much time here. Mason told me that he asked him if he knew God. His friend replied that he did ... he is Muslim. So Mason asked him if he knew Jesus and told him that he wanted to make sure that he saw him in Heaven so he asked his friend if he would pray a prayer with him and invite Jesus into his heart. Sinan agreed and Mason led him in a prayer to invite Jesus in to his heart!
I am still blown away. My son didn't understand my astonishment at all. He just said, "Mom, I just wanted to make sure that he would be in heaven with me." If we would all just look at all the hurting and lost people out there like my son looked at his friend. I just want to make sure you will be there with me!
Like Reinhard Bonnke says... "I am going to plunder Hell to populate Heaven!"
This afternoon I came downstairs as I was getting things ready to go, Mason was helping me by folding the load of laundry that had just come out of the dryer. Out of nowhere he says to me, "Mom, I told Sinan about Jesus." Sinan is his friend that lives down the street. He seems like a very nice boy although he hasn't spent much time here. Mason told me that he asked him if he knew God. His friend replied that he did ... he is Muslim. So Mason asked him if he knew Jesus and told him that he wanted to make sure that he saw him in Heaven so he asked his friend if he would pray a prayer with him and invite Jesus into his heart. Sinan agreed and Mason led him in a prayer to invite Jesus in to his heart!
I am still blown away. My son didn't understand my astonishment at all. He just said, "Mom, I just wanted to make sure that he would be in heaven with me." If we would all just look at all the hurting and lost people out there like my son looked at his friend. I just want to make sure you will be there with me!
Like Reinhard Bonnke says... "I am going to plunder Hell to populate Heaven!"
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Day 264 - Thursday
Tonight I was up at church getting ready for the Diversion group meeting - a group of kids who have gotten in trouble with the law but have received an opportunity at a second chance through completing this six month program. One of the other girls who volunteers with me brings her 13 year old daughter with her to the meetings. Her daughter came in with a headache. I asked her if she wanted to ask God to take it away from her. She said she did, but I could tell she was a little reluctant.
Then one of the older girls from our church youth group came in to the room because she was waiting for the Discipleship Training class to start. I asked her if she would mind praying with us. Really, this was an ambush... Kadie did all the praying and I just stood there for moral support! :O)
Within a few minutes the 13 year old was completely healed and had no more pain in her head or pressure behind her eye! How amazing to see the looks of astonishment on both girls faces! We all fist bumped and thanked God for His goodness! It is so awesome to share with others the things that God has given to me - the faith to believe that He wants to heal everyone all the time.
Then one of the older girls from our church youth group came in to the room because she was waiting for the Discipleship Training class to start. I asked her if she would mind praying with us. Really, this was an ambush... Kadie did all the praying and I just stood there for moral support! :O)
Within a few minutes the 13 year old was completely healed and had no more pain in her head or pressure behind her eye! How amazing to see the looks of astonishment on both girls faces! We all fist bumped and thanked God for His goodness! It is so awesome to share with others the things that God has given to me - the faith to believe that He wants to heal everyone all the time.
Day 263 ~ Wednesday
Ok, it is 3 o'clock in the morning... Quick, Take a Picture! This is me being obedient! LOL I just finished writing a paper that is due in about 6 hours. Ahhhhh the life of a college student, mom and business owner!
Anyway, of course even though I had this paper to write ( Yes, I didn't start writing it until after 11pm ) I went to church tonight. I seriously debated going. I had the paper to write and the LSAT to study for. I could have stayed home... As I was reasoning it out in my head, I suddenly remembered that in order to get through all I have to do on a daily basis, I need Jesus. Yes, I REALLY NEED JESUS! I am sure I could just sit and hang with Him at home, but would I actually do it? Probably not. While I was in the process of trying to justify staying home, I opened my email inbox and there came the email saying, "Don't miss tonight!" UGHHHHHHH!!!!!! Now I couldn't rationalize anything! :o)
So I went; I went late because I had to work late, but I went just the same. Of course you can probably already guess what happened....
IT WAS AMAZING! The teaching Pastor did was awesome about how big God really is... as big as I will let Him be. At the end of service a lady came up who had her arm wrapped from her hand to her elbow. She took the wrap off and asked us to pray because she fell on it when her feet became unsteady because she was having problems with her hip.
Ok, I am going to be really honest here for a minute... when I saw her sitting in the next section over from me with that thing on her arm, I thought to myself one of the most un-Christlike thoughts... "Oh, great! What did she do now, and she is gonna expect us to pray for that!" I know - what stinking thinking! But the Lord was gracious and swift to let me know what He was doing in that situation. I got a vision right then and there in the midst of my negativity of Him touching that arm and healing it. Yes, I repented.
Of course God healed her, took the swelling out of that wrist and returned to her full and pain free mobility. - It actually looked like it might have been broken when she took that wrap off, but I am not sure on that one. Then He gave her an overhaul and repaired her hip and took the pain out of it and her back! Glory to God! He is so AmAzing! I don't know why He puts up with me!
Anyway, of course even though I had this paper to write ( Yes, I didn't start writing it until after 11pm ) I went to church tonight. I seriously debated going. I had the paper to write and the LSAT to study for. I could have stayed home... As I was reasoning it out in my head, I suddenly remembered that in order to get through all I have to do on a daily basis, I need Jesus. Yes, I REALLY NEED JESUS! I am sure I could just sit and hang with Him at home, but would I actually do it? Probably not. While I was in the process of trying to justify staying home, I opened my email inbox and there came the email saying, "Don't miss tonight!" UGHHHHHHH!!!!!! Now I couldn't rationalize anything! :o)
So I went; I went late because I had to work late, but I went just the same. Of course you can probably already guess what happened....
IT WAS AMAZING! The teaching Pastor did was awesome about how big God really is... as big as I will let Him be. At the end of service a lady came up who had her arm wrapped from her hand to her elbow. She took the wrap off and asked us to pray because she fell on it when her feet became unsteady because she was having problems with her hip.
Ok, I am going to be really honest here for a minute... when I saw her sitting in the next section over from me with that thing on her arm, I thought to myself one of the most un-Christlike thoughts... "Oh, great! What did she do now, and she is gonna expect us to pray for that!" I know - what stinking thinking! But the Lord was gracious and swift to let me know what He was doing in that situation. I got a vision right then and there in the midst of my negativity of Him touching that arm and healing it. Yes, I repented.
Of course God healed her, took the swelling out of that wrist and returned to her full and pain free mobility. - It actually looked like it might have been broken when she took that wrap off, but I am not sure on that one. Then He gave her an overhaul and repaired her hip and took the pain out of it and her back! Glory to God! He is so AmAzing! I don't know why He puts up with me!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Day 262 - Tuesday
One of the best parts of my new Tuesday - Thursday routine is swinging through Starbucks and picking up a drink for myself and my friend at school and then grabbing her for class... because... we get to talk about God and His awesomeness all the way to school! This has been a miracle in and of itself.
I met this girl two years ago the first semester when I started back at school. We talked some and studied together a couple of times. I just assumed she was a Christian the whole time I would be talking to her about this or that - well Jesus did this Jesus did that...
It wasn't until we reconnected this semester that I found out she didn't commit her life to Christ until just a few months ago! Since the semester started I began picking her up for the class we have together and we talk about God all the way to class. This morning was no exception...
We were finishing our conversation while sitting on couches in the hallway outside our classroom this morning and talking about the gifts that God gives us and learning to walk in them ( she didn't really like hearing about the "learning" to walk part ... lol) but as we were sharing there was a girl sitting on the couch behind us. I didn't notice at first but when she got up from the couch I saw her walk into one of the other classrooms using a cane.
My first impulse was to jump up and ask her if I could pray for her... but I didn't, I let her walk into the classroom. Why? I am not sure... but since this is a pattern and the only common denominator is me... I suppose I need to ask the Lord why I have been so shy about praying with people. The Word says I should be bold, so I need to figure out what is holding me back. Obviously I am still "learning" too!
I met this girl two years ago the first semester when I started back at school. We talked some and studied together a couple of times. I just assumed she was a Christian the whole time I would be talking to her about this or that - well Jesus did this Jesus did that...
It wasn't until we reconnected this semester that I found out she didn't commit her life to Christ until just a few months ago! Since the semester started I began picking her up for the class we have together and we talk about God all the way to class. This morning was no exception...
We were finishing our conversation while sitting on couches in the hallway outside our classroom this morning and talking about the gifts that God gives us and learning to walk in them ( she didn't really like hearing about the "learning" to walk part ... lol) but as we were sharing there was a girl sitting on the couch behind us. I didn't notice at first but when she got up from the couch I saw her walk into one of the other classrooms using a cane.
My first impulse was to jump up and ask her if I could pray for her... but I didn't, I let her walk into the classroom. Why? I am not sure... but since this is a pattern and the only common denominator is me... I suppose I need to ask the Lord why I have been so shy about praying with people. The Word says I should be bold, so I need to figure out what is holding me back. Obviously I am still "learning" too!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Day 261 - My Work Here is Done!
So today was kind of a red letter day. I didn't really walk up and pray with anyone at random... but I did get to see a lot of answered prayer. I have two favorites :O)
1. A girl who goes to church with me sent me a facebook message asking me to pray for her sister in law who is pregnant and was having issues. There was a tear in something that had caused the placenta to partially detach and she had a 50/50 shot of losing the baby. By late this evening, I got a follow up message: Mom and baby are doing much better and the placenta appears to be reattaching!!! PRAISE GOD! So awesome! Even cooler that the people in our church know that they can ask the Lord for help and He will hear them and will move and work all things together for the good of those that love Him. I love that we have a praying church!
2. One of my best friends called me today and we were talking about just random girl talk and then she said... Oh, I have something to tell you!
Wait, let me back up here a second and give you a little background information. This particular friend has known me longer than I have been saved. She knew me when I was all in to New Age and she would pray for me and debate with me and talk with me about her Jesus until we were both blue in the face. Then I got saved. Radically saved and sold out for Jesus and all of these crazy things started happening! I began to see miracles. Real ones! Crazy stuff like people getting healed and DVD players coming back to life. I was so passionate and radical for the Lord that was all I ever talked about and I think I made her sick with it! LOL At the very least I know I freaked her out, because she didn't speak to me for about 6 months. As she put it, "Why couldn't you have found a nice little baptist church?" :O)
Well, after a little while she let me back in and I was still exploding Jesus all over the place, but she learned to love and accept me as I am, radical and all!
Today she tells me that yesterday she prayed and asked the Lord to fix her vacuum cleaner because it had broken and she had company coming over and her floors were dirty. Guess WHAT!?!?!? Yep! You got it, He fixed her vacuum. Now don't let religion and theology mess you up... Jesus cares about vacuum cleaners!
The Bible commands us to come to Him with our burdens and give them to Him. Why not dirty floors!?!?!?! LOL I am so proud of her and excited for her and grateful that I have gotten to share what He gave to me with her, just as she shared the message of salvation with me! SO AWESOME!
So as far as the title of today's blog... My mission to get my friend to pray for electronics has been ACCOMPLISHED! LOLOLOL
1. A girl who goes to church with me sent me a facebook message asking me to pray for her sister in law who is pregnant and was having issues. There was a tear in something that had caused the placenta to partially detach and she had a 50/50 shot of losing the baby. By late this evening, I got a follow up message: Mom and baby are doing much better and the placenta appears to be reattaching!!! PRAISE GOD! So awesome! Even cooler that the people in our church know that they can ask the Lord for help and He will hear them and will move and work all things together for the good of those that love Him. I love that we have a praying church!
2. One of my best friends called me today and we were talking about just random girl talk and then she said... Oh, I have something to tell you!
Wait, let me back up here a second and give you a little background information. This particular friend has known me longer than I have been saved. She knew me when I was all in to New Age and she would pray for me and debate with me and talk with me about her Jesus until we were both blue in the face. Then I got saved. Radically saved and sold out for Jesus and all of these crazy things started happening! I began to see miracles. Real ones! Crazy stuff like people getting healed and DVD players coming back to life. I was so passionate and radical for the Lord that was all I ever talked about and I think I made her sick with it! LOL At the very least I know I freaked her out, because she didn't speak to me for about 6 months. As she put it, "Why couldn't you have found a nice little baptist church?" :O)
Well, after a little while she let me back in and I was still exploding Jesus all over the place, but she learned to love and accept me as I am, radical and all!
Today she tells me that yesterday she prayed and asked the Lord to fix her vacuum cleaner because it had broken and she had company coming over and her floors were dirty. Guess WHAT!?!?!? Yep! You got it, He fixed her vacuum. Now don't let religion and theology mess you up... Jesus cares about vacuum cleaners!
The Bible commands us to come to Him with our burdens and give them to Him. Why not dirty floors!?!?!?! LOL I am so proud of her and excited for her and grateful that I have gotten to share what He gave to me with her, just as she shared the message of salvation with me! SO AWESOME!
So as far as the title of today's blog... My mission to get my friend to pray for electronics has been ACCOMPLISHED! LOLOLOL
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Day 260 - Sunday - Can I take this back to my country?
My kids attend the school that is a part of our church. Their school goes all the way through high school and accepts and places several foreign exchange students with families in the church each year. One of the students is from Latvia and when he arrived he was very uncomfortable in our loud and sometimes crazy church.
Yesterday he attended one of our training classes for our ministry teams and he asked his host mom if she thought that this was something he could take back to his country. Now if this isn't something that every single Jesus loving person on this planet dreams about, I don't know what is ...BUT it gets better!
Later that day he was playing football with some of the other boys and hurt his shoulder very badly. He told his host parents that he couldn't wait to get to church the next day so that he could go up for prayer and see God heal his shoulder just like he had seen all of the other people get healed. He said to her, "I will go up there for healing prayer, because you pray every time at church."
Of course God touched and healed his shoulder this morning and it was AMAZINGGGG! God is sooooo Good!
And to think I almost let my crabbiness from yesterday almost keep me from going to church this morning... I would have missed getting to see this boy who is going to touch a nation for Christ get touched by the Living God for the first time!
Note to self: Pride and Offense STINK!
Yesterday he attended one of our training classes for our ministry teams and he asked his host mom if she thought that this was something he could take back to his country. Now if this isn't something that every single Jesus loving person on this planet dreams about, I don't know what is ...BUT it gets better!
Later that day he was playing football with some of the other boys and hurt his shoulder very badly. He told his host parents that he couldn't wait to get to church the next day so that he could go up for prayer and see God heal his shoulder just like he had seen all of the other people get healed. He said to her, "I will go up there for healing prayer, because you pray every time at church."
Of course God touched and healed his shoulder this morning and it was AMAZINGGGG! God is sooooo Good!
And to think I almost let my crabbiness from yesterday almost keep me from going to church this morning... I would have missed getting to see this boy who is going to touch a nation for Christ get touched by the Living God for the first time!
Note to self: Pride and Offense STINK!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Day 259 - Saturday - and then there are the days...
There are some days that come along and you are REALLY GENUINELY praying for Jesus to come back, right at this very minute! Today was one of those days! I think I would give just about anything for the Lord to return for His church RIGHT NOW! Now I understand that it is not going to happen right this minute (which doesn't stop me from wishing it would). For starters there are too many people who still have not heard His Name and secondly, the church, His Bride, is certainly not without spot or wrinkle yet. At the same time... Oh Happy Day... Oh Happy Day... well you get the point!
No, I didn't pray with anyone. In fact for the majority of the day I was pretty much wishing that there were no other people ... or at least certain other people ... on the planet. Now I know this isn't the most Christian thing to say... but it is what it is... And unfortunately for me it happens to be where my heart is residing at the moment. I was discussing this particular situation with the Lord this afternoon - well let's be real - I was whining to Him about it. "Can't I just go away for a while... Even Jesus had to get away from the people for a little while" - said in my best whinny voice. The Father then reminded me that Jesus went in to the desert and that I didn't really care for being in the desert. "True Story," I said.
Then He reminded me that Jesus dealt with other people's hurtful behavior and so can I. Then we prayed together and I felt a little better. I still wish my flight left tomorrow though!
No, I didn't pray with anyone. In fact for the majority of the day I was pretty much wishing that there were no other people ... or at least certain other people ... on the planet. Now I know this isn't the most Christian thing to say... but it is what it is... And unfortunately for me it happens to be where my heart is residing at the moment. I was discussing this particular situation with the Lord this afternoon - well let's be real - I was whining to Him about it. "Can't I just go away for a while... Even Jesus had to get away from the people for a little while" - said in my best whinny voice. The Father then reminded me that Jesus went in to the desert and that I didn't really care for being in the desert. "True Story," I said.
Then He reminded me that Jesus dealt with other people's hurtful behavior and so can I. Then we prayed together and I felt a little better. I still wish my flight left tomorrow though!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Day 258 - Friday
Well... there are a couple of ways this can go tonight... It's true... yes, even I get super cranky sometimes... tonight is one of those. I tried to take my kids to see an event in St Louis... and it seemed everywhere I turned it was more traffic and wrong turns! It was one of the most frustrating things that I have experienced in quite sometime! I had had so much peace and time with God all day and it went out the door in just a couple of hours.
I started out hoping that I would get some opportunities to pray with some people and see God work in their lives... it just didn't quite work out that way. I probably should have just asked God and payed attention to the places I ended up and looked there to see what He was doing.. but I was so busy pouting and being frustrated that I had a difficult time thinking about anything but myself!
On the way home I started thinking about the whole evening and I realized how I could have done better and thinking about what an interesting journey that this is!
I started out hoping that I would get some opportunities to pray with some people and see God work in their lives... it just didn't quite work out that way. I probably should have just asked God and payed attention to the places I ended up and looked there to see what He was doing.. but I was so busy pouting and being frustrated that I had a difficult time thinking about anything but myself!
On the way home I started thinking about the whole evening and I realized how I could have done better and thinking about what an interesting journey that this is!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Day 257 - Thursday
Not sure what to write about tonight. I didn't see any opportunities to pray with anyone directly really. I did get to pray for my friend's little boy though. I picked him up from school and he didn't feel good at all. I talked to him and picked him up and just hugged him. We prayed. I would like to say that he felt better afterward, but I don't think he did.
Hopefully he will be feeling better tomorrow!
Hopefully he will be feeling better tomorrow!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Day 256 ~ Wednesday x2
PART I
At church tonight this woman came up for prayer because she was having pain in her abdomen. God had already started the healing process before she even came up to the altar for prayer. Her pain had dropped from a 10 to a 4 by the time she got to us! Glory to God! I love it when He does things even before we ask Him to! It always reminds me about how much He must love us!
Instead of just praying with this woman, we taught her how to pray for herself... She barely even prayed and the pain was completely GONE!!! I love it when God shows off to His children. Her face just lit up when she realized there was no more pain!
PART II
I am taking my LSAT exam, which is the exam to get into law school, in about two weeks. I have been studying for several weeks already and my practice scores were about average. My two options for law school in this area are both fairly high ranking schools which require high ranking scores... I was starting to get really discouraged. However, I several of my close friends have been praying for me, that I would score a 170/180. Now, while this score is not unattainable it is very high and would place me in the top 92% of all people taking this test. I, in my limited mind, was only hoping for a 165/180 which is still a fairly high score, but I just didn't think a 170 was do able. Until tonight...
I was sitting in the church service listening to Pastor Greg talk about hearing God and having faith and believing what He says. He was also talking about believing God for the things that are beyond what we can do on our own. If we can do it on our own it doesn't bring God glory. At the same time I was thinking to myself, well there is no way that I can get a 170 on my LSAT, so I will believe that I will get a 165 and then I won't be disappointed when I don't get a 170.
CARA!!! OMGOSH!!! Are you kidding me?!?!?! But how many times have I done that... just all my life! I don't dare believe that God can accomplish the seemingly impossible through me because I don't want to be disappointed or disappoint other people! Needless to say I repented.
One of the ladies on ministry team came up and we were talking after church was over and she asked me how the studying was going. I was thinking ... not so hot. I said, "Donna and Peggy are praying that I can get a 170 but I don't know..." She interrupted me and said, "You are going to get a 180!" I told her that that was a perfect score and only a tenth of one percent of people get that score. Again, I felt the Lord saying that with Him all things are possible to those that BELIEVE. So I chose to believe Him the whole way out of the church and all the way home.
I took another practice test tonight and my score went up 15 points!!! I hit 163... that is the highest score I have gotten so far and only two points from the score I was willing to settle for. I also finished the test ahead of time in each area! I know that seems like a silly thing to pray for, but God is really teaching me about how to BELIEVE what He says in His Word and that He is faithful and I need to trust Him.
I wonder how many things I have let go by the wayside because I didn't know God was big enough????
At church tonight this woman came up for prayer because she was having pain in her abdomen. God had already started the healing process before she even came up to the altar for prayer. Her pain had dropped from a 10 to a 4 by the time she got to us! Glory to God! I love it when He does things even before we ask Him to! It always reminds me about how much He must love us!
Instead of just praying with this woman, we taught her how to pray for herself... She barely even prayed and the pain was completely GONE!!! I love it when God shows off to His children. Her face just lit up when she realized there was no more pain!
PART II
I am taking my LSAT exam, which is the exam to get into law school, in about two weeks. I have been studying for several weeks already and my practice scores were about average. My two options for law school in this area are both fairly high ranking schools which require high ranking scores... I was starting to get really discouraged. However, I several of my close friends have been praying for me, that I would score a 170/180. Now, while this score is not unattainable it is very high and would place me in the top 92% of all people taking this test. I, in my limited mind, was only hoping for a 165/180 which is still a fairly high score, but I just didn't think a 170 was do able. Until tonight...
I was sitting in the church service listening to Pastor Greg talk about hearing God and having faith and believing what He says. He was also talking about believing God for the things that are beyond what we can do on our own. If we can do it on our own it doesn't bring God glory. At the same time I was thinking to myself, well there is no way that I can get a 170 on my LSAT, so I will believe that I will get a 165 and then I won't be disappointed when I don't get a 170.
CARA!!! OMGOSH!!! Are you kidding me?!?!?! But how many times have I done that... just all my life! I don't dare believe that God can accomplish the seemingly impossible through me because I don't want to be disappointed or disappoint other people! Needless to say I repented.
One of the ladies on ministry team came up and we were talking after church was over and she asked me how the studying was going. I was thinking ... not so hot. I said, "Donna and Peggy are praying that I can get a 170 but I don't know..." She interrupted me and said, "You are going to get a 180!" I told her that that was a perfect score and only a tenth of one percent of people get that score. Again, I felt the Lord saying that with Him all things are possible to those that BELIEVE. So I chose to believe Him the whole way out of the church and all the way home.
I took another practice test tonight and my score went up 15 points!!! I hit 163... that is the highest score I have gotten so far and only two points from the score I was willing to settle for. I also finished the test ahead of time in each area! I know that seems like a silly thing to pray for, but God is really teaching me about how to BELIEVE what He says in His Word and that He is faithful and I need to trust Him.
I wonder how many things I have let go by the wayside because I didn't know God was big enough????
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Day 255 ~ Tuesday ~ Breakout at Bread Co!
I love Tuesdays... I know I saw that all the time... but it really rates up there as one of the best days of the week!
Like always, after class I headed up to the church for our weekly prayer meeting. After the meeting we headed to our usual watering hole at the St Louis Bread Co (Panera to anyone outside of the St Louis area). Because the two ladies that I have lunch with eat there so often (daily... yes, I am serious! LOL) they have a rapport with the staff there. One of the girls who is an associate trainer came over to offer to take our plates and said that she had dropped something on her ankle that morning and that it hurt really badly. She had also done something to her knee the day before and it was sore as well.
The three of us immediately exchanged knowing glances and I asked if we could pray for her. My friend asked what time she got off work, and it wasn't for a couple of hours yet, and we had to get going. So we decided to say a quick prayer over her right there.
As we prayed the pain in her knee completely left! She said it was about a 8 on a scale of 1-10 when we started and it was completely gone when we finished. Her ankle was about a 7 and after the first few minutes of praying it had dropped to a 4. We prayed again and the pain completely left!!! Glory to God!
And if that wasn't enough for one day... my new tennis shoes finally came in!!! YAY! Now I can start exercising again! After all those Tuesdays at Bread Co with no work out it is starting to show! LOLOLOL
Like always, after class I headed up to the church for our weekly prayer meeting. After the meeting we headed to our usual watering hole at the St Louis Bread Co (Panera to anyone outside of the St Louis area). Because the two ladies that I have lunch with eat there so often (daily... yes, I am serious! LOL) they have a rapport with the staff there. One of the girls who is an associate trainer came over to offer to take our plates and said that she had dropped something on her ankle that morning and that it hurt really badly. She had also done something to her knee the day before and it was sore as well.
The three of us immediately exchanged knowing glances and I asked if we could pray for her. My friend asked what time she got off work, and it wasn't for a couple of hours yet, and we had to get going. So we decided to say a quick prayer over her right there.
As we prayed the pain in her knee completely left! She said it was about a 8 on a scale of 1-10 when we started and it was completely gone when we finished. Her ankle was about a 7 and after the first few minutes of praying it had dropped to a 4. We prayed again and the pain completely left!!! Glory to God!
And if that wasn't enough for one day... my new tennis shoes finally came in!!! YAY! Now I can start exercising again! After all those Tuesdays at Bread Co with no work out it is starting to show! LOLOLOL
Monday, September 12, 2011
Day 254 ~ Monday
I had the strangest thing happen tonight....
I was sitting on a couch in Peck Hall at school waiting for my friend that I had driven with to get out of class. I was attempting to study for my LSAT but instead I was really trolling facebook for anything interesting. Because the night classes all let out at different times people were periodically walking through the lobby where I was sitting.
I noticed a young woman with a beautiful Muslim headdress and dress ( I don't really know what those things are called ) standing near the restroom and appeared to be waiting for someone. She had her phone held to her ear. I simply noticed how beautifully she was dressed and then returned to scrolling through my friends' statuses on my phone.
All of a sudden I glanced up and she was walking toward me, but she was staring at me. I mean really staring at me with this super intense gaze... I had never been looked at like that before... As she approached, she got much closer to me. She was well inside my personal space bubble as she rounded the corner toward the stairs... It was kind of weird. Then I noticed she wasn't staring at my face... she was staring at the huge silver cross I was wearing around my neck. It took me a second to realize what she was looking at. It almost felt like she wanted to ask me a question, but she was afraid or something. She kept her phone pressed to her ear the whole time she walked passed me, but I never heard her say a word into the phone. She went by and I sat there trying to figure it out for a second, and when I looked over my shoulder to see where she had gone she was no longer there.
I would loved to have been with it enough to ask her what she was thinking. Unfortunately... as usual... my mouth catches up to my brain about 10 minutes too late! LOL What if I had gotten the opportunity to pray with her. Wouldn't that have been amazinggggg!
I was sitting on a couch in Peck Hall at school waiting for my friend that I had driven with to get out of class. I was attempting to study for my LSAT but instead I was really trolling facebook for anything interesting. Because the night classes all let out at different times people were periodically walking through the lobby where I was sitting.
I noticed a young woman with a beautiful Muslim headdress and dress ( I don't really know what those things are called ) standing near the restroom and appeared to be waiting for someone. She had her phone held to her ear. I simply noticed how beautifully she was dressed and then returned to scrolling through my friends' statuses on my phone.
All of a sudden I glanced up and she was walking toward me, but she was staring at me. I mean really staring at me with this super intense gaze... I had never been looked at like that before... As she approached, she got much closer to me. She was well inside my personal space bubble as she rounded the corner toward the stairs... It was kind of weird. Then I noticed she wasn't staring at my face... she was staring at the huge silver cross I was wearing around my neck. It took me a second to realize what she was looking at. It almost felt like she wanted to ask me a question, but she was afraid or something. She kept her phone pressed to her ear the whole time she walked passed me, but I never heard her say a word into the phone. She went by and I sat there trying to figure it out for a second, and when I looked over my shoulder to see where she had gone she was no longer there.
I would loved to have been with it enough to ask her what she was thinking. Unfortunately... as usual... my mouth catches up to my brain about 10 minutes too late! LOL What if I had gotten the opportunity to pray with her. Wouldn't that have been amazinggggg!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Day 253 ~ Sunday
I was blessed and highly favored enough to get to sit in two of Reinhard Bonnke's services today... it was amazinggggg! His preaching had me filled to overflowing! He is so amazingggggg!
We got back to church tonight and it was like one of those days when you just know that you can pray anything and it will happen. I was so overflowing with His presence. At the end of service, Pastor asked for ministry team to come up to pray with anyone who needed individual prayer...
A lady came up asking for healing for depression. We prayed... and prayed... and prayed...
That depression just didn't want to lift though. These are things that really bummmmmm me out. I hope someday the Lord will help me to understand why some people don't get healed... I know that He wants them healed. My desire is to be able to help them get to their miracle.
Lord, teach me to be able to hear, see and discern what You are doing in differenct circumstances. Thank You for the opportunity to be Your hands and Your feet and Your mouthpiece! I LOVE YOU!
We got back to church tonight and it was like one of those days when you just know that you can pray anything and it will happen. I was so overflowing with His presence. At the end of service, Pastor asked for ministry team to come up to pray with anyone who needed individual prayer...
A lady came up asking for healing for depression. We prayed... and prayed... and prayed...
That depression just didn't want to lift though. These are things that really bummmmmm me out. I hope someday the Lord will help me to understand why some people don't get healed... I know that He wants them healed. My desire is to be able to help them get to their miracle.
Lord, teach me to be able to hear, see and discern what You are doing in differenct circumstances. Thank You for the opportunity to be Your hands and Your feet and Your mouthpiece! I LOVE YOU!
Day 252 ~ Saturday
Revival broke out at the wedding shower! Thank God!
I heard it said that the only shower that is fun is one that is for you! That is such a true statement. I am personally not a fan of them and this weekend was full of them! Today though was my friend Tiffany's wedding shower. There weren't too many people there so it wasn't horrible...but the room we were in was tiny for the amount of people who were in it!
At the end of the party, we had a little prayer meeting and asked if there was anyone who needed healing. A couple people came forward and we prayed with them. One lady was scheduled to have knee surgery on Monday for a torn ligament. We prayed and her pain in her knee went ( on a scale of 10-being worst to 0 being none ) from a 7 to a 2! The Lord also touched and healed her back while He was at it! It was really awesome! Even more amazing because the majority of the people in the room were skeptics! It is so wonderful to see the Lord work in the midst of other people's doubt. It always reminds me that He is BIG ENOUGH and conquered ALL!
I heard it said that the only shower that is fun is one that is for you! That is such a true statement. I am personally not a fan of them and this weekend was full of them! Today though was my friend Tiffany's wedding shower. There weren't too many people there so it wasn't horrible...but the room we were in was tiny for the amount of people who were in it!
At the end of the party, we had a little prayer meeting and asked if there was anyone who needed healing. A couple people came forward and we prayed with them. One lady was scheduled to have knee surgery on Monday for a torn ligament. We prayed and her pain in her knee went ( on a scale of 10-being worst to 0 being none ) from a 7 to a 2! The Lord also touched and healed her back while He was at it! It was really awesome! Even more amazing because the majority of the people in the room were skeptics! It is so wonderful to see the Lord work in the midst of other people's doubt. It always reminds me that He is BIG ENOUGH and conquered ALL!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Day 251 ~ Friday
So Today would be one of those changing points in my life. Not only did I get some awesome one on one time with both of my spiritual moms today and tremendous loving on Jesus time, I got to see one of the all time greatest evangelists on the planet!
My birthday is in August and I had wanted to go to a conference in Chicago, IL that happened to be the same weekend as my birthday. It was called the Awakening Tour with Jesus Culture leading worship and Reinhard Bonnke as the keynote speaker along with other amazing people like Bill Johnson and Cindy Jacobs. I wanted to go so badly, but I realized I couldn't go because there wasn't anyone to watch my kids and church all day and night for three days isn't the most fun sounding thing to 9 and 10 year olds. So I didn't go.
This afternoon while sitting at my spiritual mom's house after some amazing fellowship and intercession time, I got a text from my friend asking if I wanted to see Reinhard Bonnke at a church just about 30 minutes away! Of course! And he happened to be there TONIGHT! It was amazing!
He told stories like a wonderful old grandfather, you could just hear the love in his voice. He talked about the multiplication of the fish and the loaves to feed 5,000 men plus women and children. He basically described Jesus dividing the loaves and fish among the disciples to distribute, keeping in mind that the multiplication of the food didn't happen while Jesus had it ... it multiplied when the disciples had it and they turned and walked in to the crowd and began to hand it out. He said what the disciples had in their hands must have looked like crumbs as they turned around to face a crowd of probably nearly 20,000 hungry people. When they went and they mixed Jesus with what they had... Miracles Happened!
This revolutionized the way I thought! How many times have I looked at what I had in my hands to offer someone and thought that it was inadequate??? A lot! If I am willing to go though, He will make up the difference! Mr. Bonnke then prayed over the whole congregation and had us look at our hands and as I looked down at my hands I saw little gold sparkles all over my hands. They are beautiful and as I type this they are still there. :O)
My birthday is in August and I had wanted to go to a conference in Chicago, IL that happened to be the same weekend as my birthday. It was called the Awakening Tour with Jesus Culture leading worship and Reinhard Bonnke as the keynote speaker along with other amazing people like Bill Johnson and Cindy Jacobs. I wanted to go so badly, but I realized I couldn't go because there wasn't anyone to watch my kids and church all day and night for three days isn't the most fun sounding thing to 9 and 10 year olds. So I didn't go.
This afternoon while sitting at my spiritual mom's house after some amazing fellowship and intercession time, I got a text from my friend asking if I wanted to see Reinhard Bonnke at a church just about 30 minutes away! Of course! And he happened to be there TONIGHT! It was amazing!
He told stories like a wonderful old grandfather, you could just hear the love in his voice. He talked about the multiplication of the fish and the loaves to feed 5,000 men plus women and children. He basically described Jesus dividing the loaves and fish among the disciples to distribute, keeping in mind that the multiplication of the food didn't happen while Jesus had it ... it multiplied when the disciples had it and they turned and walked in to the crowd and began to hand it out. He said what the disciples had in their hands must have looked like crumbs as they turned around to face a crowd of probably nearly 20,000 hungry people. When they went and they mixed Jesus with what they had... Miracles Happened!
This revolutionized the way I thought! How many times have I looked at what I had in my hands to offer someone and thought that it was inadequate??? A lot! If I am willing to go though, He will make up the difference! Mr. Bonnke then prayed over the whole congregation and had us look at our hands and as I looked down at my hands I saw little gold sparkles all over my hands. They are beautiful and as I type this they are still there. :O)
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Day 250 ~ Thursday - I am not Superwoman
So today I learned the value of the word "NO". Sometimes I find myself just trying to do too many things and not doing any of them well. It all worked out for the best and everything got taken care of ... not really on my time frame but it got taken care of.
On the up side there were two of the things that I went out of my way to do today that ended up amazing! I picked up one of my friends from school and brought her to church tonight to get prayer. She had been hurt in a car accident several months ago and had two bulging discs in her neck. God healed her back and her neck and her ankles. He filled her with His Holy Spirit and she felt the pain completely leave her body!
The other awesome God thing that happened tonight was that I got to sit one on one with a young man in the diversion program that I volunteer with and tell him what he is good at. You could see the difference that it made in his face. Then we sat together and I helped him write out goals for the next few months to help him achieve what he wanted - getting in to a good college. Sometimes it is a miracle can be as little as just taking an interest in someone else and helping them to see the good that God has planned for their life!
On the up side there were two of the things that I went out of my way to do today that ended up amazing! I picked up one of my friends from school and brought her to church tonight to get prayer. She had been hurt in a car accident several months ago and had two bulging discs in her neck. God healed her back and her neck and her ankles. He filled her with His Holy Spirit and she felt the pain completely leave her body!
The other awesome God thing that happened tonight was that I got to sit one on one with a young man in the diversion program that I volunteer with and tell him what he is good at. You could see the difference that it made in his face. Then we sat together and I helped him write out goals for the next few months to help him achieve what he wanted - getting in to a good college. Sometimes it is a miracle can be as little as just taking an interest in someone else and helping them to see the good that God has planned for their life!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Day 249 ~ Wednesday
Tonight was an awesome night at church... So many awesome things happened... where to begin!
A guy I had been praying for came back to church tonight. He thought our church was a little weird. Ya' know laying hands on people and praying and believing that the Lord would heal them, speaking in tongues, prophesying, talking about how Good God is and How much He loves us, going out and sharing the Good News about Jesus with others. So about a month or so ago, he quit coming. He started coming there because of a girl ( yeah, you know it was me LOL) but it was all just a little TOO weird!
So he shows up tonight and hears exactly what he needed to hear! I LOVE WHEN GOD DOES THAT!
A girl I used to work with several years ago came the last two Wednesday nights. She asked the Lord for a better job and she got it! She starts in two weeks! Praise GOD! Cool thing is... when I met her the first time we were literally cleaning up some of the filthiest stuff in a business she and her husband had bought. IT was DISGUSTING! Now God is cleaning her up in His house and I am really excited about it! On top of that it is totally a harvest thing for me because I know I had to have shared some Jesus with her because when we were working together was right around the same time that I was filled with the Holy Spirit and I was jacked on the Jesus Juice all the time and shared it with everyone and everything... whether they wanted to hear it or not! :O)
Then I got to pray with a mom tonight who is struggling because her kids are messed up like I was messed up. I got to share my testimony and how God pulled me out of my mess and give her hope about what He is going to do in the lives of her two boys! To see hope come back in to her face was beautiful and breathtaking!
God I thank You for this Beautiful Life!
A guy I had been praying for came back to church tonight. He thought our church was a little weird. Ya' know laying hands on people and praying and believing that the Lord would heal them, speaking in tongues, prophesying, talking about how Good God is and How much He loves us, going out and sharing the Good News about Jesus with others. So about a month or so ago, he quit coming. He started coming there because of a girl ( yeah, you know it was me LOL) but it was all just a little TOO weird!
So he shows up tonight and hears exactly what he needed to hear! I LOVE WHEN GOD DOES THAT!
A girl I used to work with several years ago came the last two Wednesday nights. She asked the Lord for a better job and she got it! She starts in two weeks! Praise GOD! Cool thing is... when I met her the first time we were literally cleaning up some of the filthiest stuff in a business she and her husband had bought. IT was DISGUSTING! Now God is cleaning her up in His house and I am really excited about it! On top of that it is totally a harvest thing for me because I know I had to have shared some Jesus with her because when we were working together was right around the same time that I was filled with the Holy Spirit and I was jacked on the Jesus Juice all the time and shared it with everyone and everything... whether they wanted to hear it or not! :O)
Then I got to pray with a mom tonight who is struggling because her kids are messed up like I was messed up. I got to share my testimony and how God pulled me out of my mess and give her hope about what He is going to do in the lives of her two boys! To see hope come back in to her face was beautiful and breathtaking!
God I thank You for this Beautiful Life!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Day 248 ~ Tuesday
I know I have said this before... but I LOVE Tuesdays... But today happened to be exceptionally amazing :O)
I asked a friend of mine to pick my kids up from school today for me because I had an extra client who I wanted to squeeze in. When I came to pick up my kids somehow we got into this deep discussion about God and how He works in our lives. Hmmmmmm, imagine that ( said with a rather smirky look on my face )... I got into a discussion with someone about God in my life!
Anyway, we spent a couple hours talking about the times we missed what God was doing ( which for me happens to be a lot ), talking about the amazing things that had happened and we got to participate in. She shared her testimony with me... which in and of itself makes me stand in awe of the God we serve!
To top it all off, we got to see God's healing power in action right there in her dining room! I know, it does not really get much better! Her little boy who is almost 4 years old was walking around saying his low back hurt. For all of the neurotic parents out there, I will not mention that he was jumping on the trampoline just prior to his back hurting. Oooops! I just did! Sorry kids!
I asked him to place his hand where it hurt and we prayed for God to heal him. It didn't work. He said his back still hurt. I am believing someday that it will start working the first time! So we prayed a second time... it still did not work. I picked him up and set him in the chair I was sitting in with his back flush to the back of the chair. As he sat with his legs in front of him, it was obvious that his legs were not the same length. Even his knee caps were visibly at different lengths. His mom just looked at his little legs with a look of shock when we both realized how far off they were.
We held his little legs out in front of us and just asked God to straighten his alignment in his back and to grow his legs out to the proper length and to take all the pain in his back away. I did not even finish praying before his legs were the same length and his knees appeared balanced. When he got up from the chair, I asked him if his back still hurt and he just grinned at me and hid his face in his mom's legs.
Now I know it is really awesome and amazing every single time I see God heal someone no matter what they get healed from. What was really cool about today though was that just before this happened, his mom and I were talking about and sharing the different times that we had missed doing what we should have. I had shared with her about this blog and how the first quarter of the year was so amazing. I would see people to pray with almost every single day, and most of the time I would have the boldness to go up and pray with them. A lot of them were healed pretty quickly, others were not. I began sharing with people about the people I was getting to pray with and it started to draw attention. I freaked out and felt like it was turning into the "Cara-show" and I didn't like it.
I know in essence that sounds like a good thing... and ideally it is. In reality though it was false humility. I thought I was taking glory or credit from God so I said, "God I don't want this." That hindered God's ability to use me for His glory. It took me a long time to recognize what the problem was... and those of you who have read this from the beginning probably noticed the spans of several days at a time where I saw almost no miracles happen. That has been extremely difficult. I am really grateful though that God took the time to open my eyes up today to see where the difficulty in this project started so that I can move forward. I know it is His will for me to see thousands of people healed, set free, delivered and saved and I cannot wait to continue on this journey with Him!
I asked a friend of mine to pick my kids up from school today for me because I had an extra client who I wanted to squeeze in. When I came to pick up my kids somehow we got into this deep discussion about God and how He works in our lives. Hmmmmmm, imagine that ( said with a rather smirky look on my face )... I got into a discussion with someone about God in my life!
Anyway, we spent a couple hours talking about the times we missed what God was doing ( which for me happens to be a lot ), talking about the amazing things that had happened and we got to participate in. She shared her testimony with me... which in and of itself makes me stand in awe of the God we serve!
To top it all off, we got to see God's healing power in action right there in her dining room! I know, it does not really get much better! Her little boy who is almost 4 years old was walking around saying his low back hurt. For all of the neurotic parents out there, I will not mention that he was jumping on the trampoline just prior to his back hurting. Oooops! I just did! Sorry kids!
I asked him to place his hand where it hurt and we prayed for God to heal him. It didn't work. He said his back still hurt. I am believing someday that it will start working the first time! So we prayed a second time... it still did not work. I picked him up and set him in the chair I was sitting in with his back flush to the back of the chair. As he sat with his legs in front of him, it was obvious that his legs were not the same length. Even his knee caps were visibly at different lengths. His mom just looked at his little legs with a look of shock when we both realized how far off they were.
We held his little legs out in front of us and just asked God to straighten his alignment in his back and to grow his legs out to the proper length and to take all the pain in his back away. I did not even finish praying before his legs were the same length and his knees appeared balanced. When he got up from the chair, I asked him if his back still hurt and he just grinned at me and hid his face in his mom's legs.
Now I know it is really awesome and amazing every single time I see God heal someone no matter what they get healed from. What was really cool about today though was that just before this happened, his mom and I were talking about and sharing the different times that we had missed doing what we should have. I had shared with her about this blog and how the first quarter of the year was so amazing. I would see people to pray with almost every single day, and most of the time I would have the boldness to go up and pray with them. A lot of them were healed pretty quickly, others were not. I began sharing with people about the people I was getting to pray with and it started to draw attention. I freaked out and felt like it was turning into the "Cara-show" and I didn't like it.
I know in essence that sounds like a good thing... and ideally it is. In reality though it was false humility. I thought I was taking glory or credit from God so I said, "God I don't want this." That hindered God's ability to use me for His glory. It took me a long time to recognize what the problem was... and those of you who have read this from the beginning probably noticed the spans of several days at a time where I saw almost no miracles happen. That has been extremely difficult. I am really grateful though that God took the time to open my eyes up today to see where the difficulty in this project started so that I can move forward. I know it is His will for me to see thousands of people healed, set free, delivered and saved and I cannot wait to continue on this journey with Him!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Day 247 ~ Monday
Oh Goodness! I am finally all caught up! I have to admit I probably walked by at least 20 opportunities to pray with people today... and it didn't even cross my mind. There were people in wheelchairs, people with casts and people with other stuff going on. To be honest, I didn't even think of it until now. I have really gotten apathetic.
Mission this week: Wake up every morning and ask Him what He is doing today and what I can do for Him.
I'll let you know how it turns out!
Mission this week: Wake up every morning and ask Him what He is doing today and what I can do for Him.
I'll let you know how it turns out!
Day 246 ~ Sunday
We celebrated my son's 11th birthday today and it was pretty wonderful. The kids' grandpa was there... He received the good news this week that his brain tumor has not grown at all since the start of chemo! Praise God! They were able to go to church for the first time in a few months this morning and they were surrounded by family and friends! I love watching what God has done in that family!
My sister got engaged to Alex! Praise God, it is About TIME!
And I got to pray with a couple of people at church. One this morning and we actually saw the strength come back into her body!
Tonight I got to pray with a girl who is about to become a single mom. I am so grateful that the Lord has brought me through the places I have gone and I will get to use my "mess" that He made into a "message" to help someone else. I hope she had more peace after tonight!
My sister got engaged to Alex! Praise God, it is About TIME!
And I got to pray with a couple of people at church. One this morning and we actually saw the strength come back into her body!
Tonight I got to pray with a girl who is about to become a single mom. I am so grateful that the Lord has brought me through the places I have gone and I will get to use my "mess" that He made into a "message" to help someone else. I hope she had more peace after tonight!
Day 245 ~ Saturday
Today I was completely unobservant and absorbed with getting ready for my son's birthday party. I find it interesting how I can roll from one day to the next being so close with God and actively spending so much time with Him, and the next day... well... All I can say about Saturday is that I got cannoli from the Italian Bakery... I should remember to go back and thank Him for those and for helping to navigate us safely around St. Louis!
I did end the day well, by friend came over and we had some worship time and prayed together for the youth in our church. It was answered prayer that she came over, too. It doesn't happen often ... but occasionally I will get this overwhelming sense of loneliness that comes over me and no matter how much I talked to the Lord that night... it didn't really seem to go away completely. Ah well, He knew what I needed and took care of me yet again! So Spoiled!
I did end the day well, by friend came over and we had some worship time and prayed together for the youth in our church. It was answered prayer that she came over, too. It doesn't happen often ... but occasionally I will get this overwhelming sense of loneliness that comes over me and no matter how much I talked to the Lord that night... it didn't really seem to go away completely. Ah well, He knew what I needed and took care of me yet again! So Spoiled!
Day 244 ~ Friday
Today was probably the one of the best days for just being in His presence. I had the opportunity to hear some teaching cd's from an amazing man of God this morning. My extra mom and I both had amazing encounters with the Lord while we were listening to the teaching. Suddenly we were looking to see the way that God was speaking in every little thing. Even my toe nail polish...
My toe nails were painted white with that new black crackle paint so that they looked like zebra stripes. So as she is laying on the floor she asks God what is prophetic about my toe nail polish...
The answer... everything is black and white... it is simple... it either is or it isn't. Which happens to be pretty much how I operate. I do not do gray areas all that well. You are my friend or you are not. You love Jesus or you do not.
I know that may sound harsh; however, He even says if you really love Me, you will do what is commanded. Yes, sometimes I mess up and miss it...(a lot)... that is where I know I am blessed to be able to repent and He will forget it ever happened!
I looked at my keys laying on the table and I had one of those swipe cards for Panera on the top of my keyring. It read: My Panera ... underneath it said Membership Card. Donna and I each got a slightly different meaning. When I saw it I understood "pan" to mean going across everything, seeing and searching everything and "era"- a period of time. When put together I understood that My God who covers and goes across all time... and I belonged to Him ( my Membership Card ). It reminded Donna that He is the Bread of Life and we belong to Him. Pan- is also the Latin base for the word bread. Pretty cool, huh?!?!?!
As if the morning weren't good enough, we had corporate prayer tonight to pray for the nation and the church. I always love it when I get to fellowship with other people who understand the importance of prayer!
My toe nails were painted white with that new black crackle paint so that they looked like zebra stripes. So as she is laying on the floor she asks God what is prophetic about my toe nail polish...
The answer... everything is black and white... it is simple... it either is or it isn't. Which happens to be pretty much how I operate. I do not do gray areas all that well. You are my friend or you are not. You love Jesus or you do not.
I know that may sound harsh; however, He even says if you really love Me, you will do what is commanded. Yes, sometimes I mess up and miss it...(a lot)... that is where I know I am blessed to be able to repent and He will forget it ever happened!
I looked at my keys laying on the table and I had one of those swipe cards for Panera on the top of my keyring. It read: My Panera ... underneath it said Membership Card. Donna and I each got a slightly different meaning. When I saw it I understood "pan" to mean going across everything, seeing and searching everything and "era"- a period of time. When put together I understood that My God who covers and goes across all time... and I belonged to Him ( my Membership Card ). It reminded Donna that He is the Bread of Life and we belong to Him. Pan- is also the Latin base for the word bread. Pretty cool, huh?!?!?!
As if the morning weren't good enough, we had corporate prayer tonight to pray for the nation and the church. I always love it when I get to fellowship with other people who understand the importance of prayer!
Day 243 ~ Thursday
Playing a little catch up tonight... so I hope I don't miss too many details!
Thursday morning I got the opportunity to give a ride to a classmate. I had not seen her since my first semester back in school and this semester we have a class together! I will be the first one to admit that I am not the most outgoing individual, so when this girl treated me like I was her best friend that first semester back in school, I have to say I was taken aback just a bit. Call me overly cautious, introverted, snobby, whatever... I do not tend to be that close with people until I have known them for a bit.
I did have a few opportunities to witness to her and I did invite her to church several times while we had class together, but after the end of the semester we didn't run into each other at all... until this semester. God's perfect timing! She asked Jesus into her heart about three months ago and is plugged into what sounds like a wonderful church.
So I picked her up for class this and we talked about the Lord the entire way to school! It is so awesome when you get to see the harvest for the seeds planted. I have already started planting seeds to see her back healed as well... she has three discs that are messed up from a car accident. I know it is God's will to heal her... so I am just waiting on Him to tell me when the time is right :O)
Thursday morning I got the opportunity to give a ride to a classmate. I had not seen her since my first semester back in school and this semester we have a class together! I will be the first one to admit that I am not the most outgoing individual, so when this girl treated me like I was her best friend that first semester back in school, I have to say I was taken aback just a bit. Call me overly cautious, introverted, snobby, whatever... I do not tend to be that close with people until I have known them for a bit.
I did have a few opportunities to witness to her and I did invite her to church several times while we had class together, but after the end of the semester we didn't run into each other at all... until this semester. God's perfect timing! She asked Jesus into her heart about three months ago and is plugged into what sounds like a wonderful church.
So I picked her up for class this and we talked about the Lord the entire way to school! It is so awesome when you get to see the harvest for the seeds planted. I have already started planting seeds to see her back healed as well... she has three discs that are messed up from a car accident. I know it is God's will to heal her... so I am just waiting on Him to tell me when the time is right :O)
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