Tuesday, September 21, 2010

It's beginning to look a lot like...fall!

Can you believe it is FALL?!!!!

The next thing you know, we will barely enjoy anticipating Thankgiving because they will be piping Christmas music the day after Halloween!

The leaves are turning, the wind is blowing, and change is blowing in the wind....at the end of September I will be moving yet again, but this time for a bit longer chunk of time, I believe.  I will be rooming in a house in Grandview with several young women either on staff or interning or students at IHOP.  I will finally have the fellowship I have been desperately needing!  Jay and I are looking at joining a small group at church, Forerunner Christian Fellowship (with IHOP-KC).

Things are continuing to heat up.  There have been over 1000 commitments of faith in the past three weeks through the YWAM and the "Greater Grandview" 20+ church outreaches, and each one is connected to a "Local Link", someone trained to personally disciple or connect new believers to a suitable mentor.  The Awakening evening Thurs-Sat services will discontinue Oct 9th, but God has more and not less planned for the community here as we go deeper in the place of prayer and prepare for the next wave...believing for a Great Awakening, which will not only touch primarily the "greater" (worldwide) house of prayer community, but our neighbors, our co-workers, our schools, our youth, and our generation!

God, send revival that not only the whole church will notice, but the likes of which bring the fear of the Lord into our entire society!!!


This year for me personally has been a season of testing and deep pruning.  Tested by isolation, removal from ministry within the body, working "under the sun" in a position that I do not have vision or passion, seeming fruitlessness.  "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Proverbs 17:22  The confession of my mouth did not always line up with truth as I battled feelings of abandonment from God and disconnectedness from His love.  He has reminded me many times that this is just a season of testing, but I have had to confess bitterness and not trusting His leadership.  I would receive moments of encounter in the Word, but could not seem to encounter Him in a deep and lasting way.  I believe He needed me to run into my pride and barrenness and show me how desperate I am without Him before He can use me to the extent He desires.  I now know that where I thought myself strong, I am weak.  Where I thought myself gifted, I am barren.  Where I though myself humble, I know how great is my pride.  Where I believed myself steadfast, once alone, I falter.  Where I believed I trusted and had great faith, I met my despair apart from Christ.  I know more fully it is completely a gift!  It is He who moves in me to will and to act according to His purposes. It is only when I DIE that He can truly LIVE in me.  When I am WEAK, He provides the strength.  The harvest, the fruit, is not for me to provide.  The truth He taught me in Africa had to be proven through the fires of testing: "If I raise the dead or sweep the floor, or even take a nap, the pay's the same....My bread is to do the will of the One who sent me."

TO HIM BE THE GLORY!  AMEN.

1 comment:

  1. It's good to hear about what's going on in your life!

    It's awesome that you are moving close to IHOP!

    God always puts us to test as a reminder how we need to put self aside & how we cannot live without Him. It definitely makes us stronger in the end =)

    Love you! ~Michelle

    ReplyDelete