“Will you love Me here?”

It wasn’t until I was 22 that I encountered the love of God.  Up until that point I knew of God, believed the Scriptures were my source of truth, but had not truly encountered Him.  Once I did, it changed everything.  In my youthful zeal I wanted nothing more than to give up everything and serve Him every way I knew how.  For the first time in my life, I knew I was called to greatness and actually believed I would do great things.  In my imagination, that looked like trekking to the farthest parts of the earth and living in the most dire conditions– all to reach the lost and give them the good news I had received.  After all, that’s what Jesus’ disciples did, and I wanted to be a disciple.

That was in my heart– that was what love looked like.  Perhaps for some, loving God truly does look like that.  And perhaps someday, the Lord will call me to that lifestyle.  Yet just a decade later, I’ve found myself in the mid-west, living in a city I have never heard of, serving at a house of prayer, married, and about to welcome our first child into the world.  Ten years ago serving the Lord would have never looked quite like this…but here I am.  The desire to give up everything and serve Him in every way still rings true today; the knowledge I am made for great things still resounds in my core.

Sitting in silence one morning, I found a question rising up in my heart that maybe you have found in your own:

“Am I fulfilling God’s highest purpose for my life?  Surely I should be doing more…”

If I were to answer that question by looking at what I thought my life would look like ten years ago, I’d have to say no, I am not fulfilling God’s highest purpose in my life,  because certainly what I envisioned in my youthful zeal contained God’s best.

As this question rattled around in my mind and heart, I noticed the Lord responding to my question with one of His own:

“Will you love Me here?”

His question brought forth more questions… to bring an answer to my question.  (How does He do that!?)

“Will you love Me here?”  provoked me to ask:

“What is the Lord actually wanting from my life?  At the end of it all, what is the Lord’s highest desire, highest calling for me to fulfill?  Is it to sacrifice the most, to move in the greatest displays of power because of great faith, to bring the most number of people into the kingdom through ardent evangelism?  Is it to be a martyr and go into the most dangerous places on earth so that I can say I have no fear?”

Because on some level, in my youthful zeal, if I really loved God, that is what I would do  in order to reveal I truly loved God.   Yet as Jesus asked me “Will you love Me here,” I realized that while doing some of these great exploits are for us as children of God, they can come at the expense of loving God in the way He is calling us to in the situation we currently find ourselves in. The question, “Will you love Me here,” reinforced that the highest calling and desire of God’s heart for my life is to learn how to love Him and love those around me in the current season.

“Loving Him here” looks like fulfilling my obligations when I don’t feel like it or think it makes a difference, it looks like learning to humble myself and repent when in the wrong, it looks like showing kindness to those who offend me or annoy me, it looks like surrendering my ideas of what loving Him looks like and trusting Him with my life…even those burning desires.  Doing this on a day to day basis is fulfilling God’s highest purpose, because it is through these small sacrifices the heart is transformed into the image of Jesus who fully relied upon and trusted the Father in every season of life.  It’s in these small “deaths” of forsaking our own will for the Lord’s, a thousand times a day, that we are walking out His highest  for our life and manifesting our love for Him.  And yes, for some that looks like going into the darkest parts of the earth, putting themselves and even family members at risk.  But we cannot have our idea of what our life in God “should” look like overtake our ability to learn to love Him and others where God has us serving in the current season.  If we do, we will constantly live in a place of turmoil, feeling we have “missed” God’s highest for our life, all the while not taking advantage of the opportunities He has in front of us to love Him where we are at.

At the end of all of our lives, we will come face to face with the Shepherd of our souls, who in His perfect leadership is leading us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake (Psalm 23:3).  Following Jesus doesn’t necessarily look like doing the most intense, giving the most money, or venturing to the farthest parts of the earth.  It does look like complete surrender of our life into His hands, wherever He is leading us.  No matter where we are at and what our life looks like in this current season, the question He asks of us all is, “Will you love Me here?”   Once we resolve in our heart that yes, we will love Him where we are at, we have to let Him show us what that looks like for the time being.  It might be He’s telling you to trust Him with the timing of those dreams and desires that still burn in your heart but have no way of knowing how to make them happen.  It may look like rising up in greater boldness to go and pray for someone.  It may look like learning to be more disciplined so that you spend more time with Him in prayer.  It may even look like not filling your schedule because your body has to prepare for birth…(yes that’s me right now).

To the outsider, your life may look ordinary and plain, but to the Lord who knows you perfectly, He will see the surrender you are making on a day to day basis, learning to trust, learning to love Him, right where you are, and that is God’s highest purpose for  your life.  I didn’t always see it that way, but I do now.  And to be honest, I still believe He has some of those other things for me in the future…but if I’m not loving Him here in the ways He is calling me to, would I really be prepared to love Him elsewhere doing other things? I don’t think so.  That’s why I’m thankful He’s teaching me to be content to love Him where I am, because when He calls me elsewhere or to do other things, I’ll take with me a heart that has first been formed to love rather than to do.

“JuliAnn, will you love Me here?”  

“Yes Lord, my heart is saying yes.  Help me love You here, because that is my highest calling in this life.”

The name of our bundle of love from above…

A moment the Lord moved on me to cry out for children when visiting the ancient sight of the first tabernacle at Shiloh in Israel, just as Hannah cried out in 1 Samuel 1.

 

Eternity Joy.  That is the name of the little one in my womb right now, and I wanted to share how this name came about, as it certainly was not a name I had heard before!

A few years ago, I had a dream.  In the dream I delivered a baby girl, and her name was Eternity.  I turned to Jason in the dream and said, “she will bring an awareness of eternity to many people.”  That was the dream.  When I woke up I felt it meant this child would, because of wisdom, be a sobering agent in people’s lives– that they would have to consider their life in a new light and either choose to follow God or not.  I told Jason, and he jokingly said, “Well, if we have a son next, we can name him, ‘Repent!'” So silly…

I was immediately drawn to the name, as I had not heard of anyone else named that and found it quite beautiful (I’m sure others have used the name, but it was unique to me).  I kept this name in my heart, but shared it with a few close friends.

Ecclesiastes states that God has “put eternity in their [humanity’s] hearts…”  Eccl. 3:11  There is an awareness we have been given about eternity, about the knowledge that we are not just temporal beings that are here for 70 years and that’s it.  Our actions, thoughts, and motivations have implications, eternal implications, yet sometimes we suppress this understanding and choose to live for the moment.  Understanding  our eternal nature propels us  to live with wisdom, or seek to live in wisdom, as we are not just living for today but for another age.  “…be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day; for surely there is a hereafter…”  Proverbs 23:17b-18a  I believe Eternity will be one who is zealous for the fear of the Lord and will help others turn to the wisdom of the just (Luke 1:16-17).

After compelled about this name, I had a problem– what middle name would go with Eternity?  I sought many, though we were not pregnant or trying to get pregnant at the time…it was still glorious thinking about a potential child the Lord had for us.

About a year and a half after receiving the name “Eternity,” the Lord began speaking to me a lot about “joy,” connecting personal events, prophecies and simple things in life to reveal that “Joy” was to be her middle name.  During that season, the Lord was showing me Nehemiah 8:10  “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Over the next several months I kept looking at the clock when it read “8:10,” as if He was constantly reminding me to receive His joy to break free from negative thought patterns I was battling.   Also at that time, I had a journal that said, “Be Filled with Joy,” and someone prophesied over me that it was a season of joy for me.  After this, He showed me that my brith date is August 10th, 8/10, as a direct connection with a declaration over my life that His joy was to be my strength.

Joy was all around me, and one day the Lord opened my eyes to see this was to be the middle name of the child named “Eternity.”  I began praying for her, praying she would receive joy and not have to wade through some of the negativity I was battling through.  What I also loved is that “Joy” is a family name…one of her aunt’s has that middle name also.

Receiving a name is one thing, but the timing of the Lord is another.  We had wanted children for some time, but knew it was not time to actually have them, so I just prayed.  When we went to Israel in November of 2015, Jason and I felt it was “time” to start a family. I had a profound moment with the Lord at a very special historic location during that trip– Shiloh (pictured above).  Shiloh is the place where the tabernacle of Moses was first erected as the children of Israel settled in the promised land, and also the place where Hannah cried out for a child she would give back to the Lord (1 Sam. 1:1-18).  For years I have had a special connection to this story as the Lord has instructed me in prayer through the way Hannah prayed, that she “poured out her soul to the Lord” (1 Sam. 1:15).

We had time to pray at Shiloh and sit with the Lord, and what welled up in my heart was my longing for children, yet a fear that because of past sins I would be unable to have children.  The emotions were overwhelming, and the presence of the Lord came upon me as I allowed the Holy Spirit to release the yearning of my heart for children with sobs and tears.  I also knew I was crying out not just for our biological children, but spiritual children and perhaps adopted children.  It was a powerful moment between my heart and the Father’s, and the similarity of my heart cry and Hannah’s only made it more special and faith-building to believe God for a fulfillment of my heart’s desire.

Fast forward to July 2016, and we found out we were pregnant.  We were not hoping for a girl or a boy, but I felt we would have a girl first because of the dream I had and the unfolding story of the name. Turns out we ARE having a girl first.  Though Jason knew I had received this name, we didn’t discuss names until after we found out what gender the baby was, and after that we allowed our hearts to “settle” into having the name Eternity Joy for our first child.  Over a few days time, thinking about it, praying about it, we felt it was right for her, and we are so thrilled to meet her and see what the Lord has for her life.

Please keep us and Eternity Joy in your prayers– we are so thrilled to be in this season of life.  It has definitely been one of joy with expectation of this little one to come forth, and we are incredibly thankful for a growing family.

 

Blessings,

JuliAnn

The Same Access Yesterday, Today, and Forever

I woke up at 2am, ridiculously hungry, so I decided to get something to eat. Reflecting on it, my hunger was not just for physical food, it was also for the presence of the Lord.  The last few days had been full of heart gymnastics (if I were at the Rio Olympics, I would have won the gold, silver, and bronze medals), and in the pain I felt I began to shut my heart down to the Lord.  Rather than going to Him to receive the wisdom, strength, love and encouragement He always offers, I turned to worldly comforts– talking things through with others (we like to call it venting), watching movies, sleeping through my quiet time.  None of these things are bad or sinful, but we know when we, in a sense, avoid God in an attempt to ease our pain and receive comfort from something other than Him.  That’s what I was doing, and the outcome was a distance I could tangibly feel and a growing hunger for His presence.

The distance I felt was not because He was distant, but because I distanced myself… but it felt like He was distant.  This phenomena is observable in our earthly marriages and in our relationships with other believers because of the bond of covenant we share.  If I intentionally avoid my husband in subtle ways because my heart is in pain, he is going to be affected; our relationship will be affected.  What can happen is rather than owning up to our own deficiency and realizing the walls we put up, we feel others are distant and it further removes us from wanting to be with them because we feel they don’t want to be around us.  And that is exactly what had crept into my life the last few days.  I could feel a distance in my heart I created, began to feel as if God was not available, and thus continued to remove myself from being near Him.

Despite the state of my heart, the Lord, in all His patience, began to speak to me about “access” in the middle of the night while my stomach was growling and my spirit longing. The distance I created in the relationship was not the only issue.  When we draw away from the Lord, it is perpetrated by something: shame, guilt, anger–we hide away from Him for a reason.  And while there may be compounded reasons and layers of why we hide, He continues to call out to us in the same way He did with Adam and Eve, “Where are you?”  Genesis 3:9.  Despite the things we do to affect our relationship with God, He is the constant One, always loving, always persevering, always reaching out to us.

The access to the Father’s presence, though at times we feel is closed off, is always open.  It’s always open because Christ forever lives in God’s presence, opening up the way for us to come in.  He is the One who prayed, “Father, I desire that those whom You have given Me may be with Me where I am.”  John 17:24 (emphasis mine).  The longing of Jesus’ heart is for us to be with Him, always.  The access we have been given to the presence of God and to His love is absolute, never ending, never changing, though we may wander at times.

And there is no person on earth who has been given anything different than we have.  It’s the same access, for every person, from every culture– we have access to God through Jesus Christ.  It’s the same access for you as it is for me, and it’s the same access today as it was yesterday, and it will be the same access in the future.  In the quiet of the night, my hunger quelled, this word He spoke to my heart about having “the same access” to Him as always, began to penetrate down into me to break down the distance I felt.  He was there all along, had never left.  He was watching the gymnastics my heart was going through and was waiting for me to come closer to Him.

This is obviously not a new revelation by any means.  However, in the midst of walking through life and encountering all the things that press upon us and seeing the ways our hearts respond (sometimes not for the good), He continually comes to remind us, “I am here, I’ve always been here, and I’ll always be here.”  What comfort He gives us.  What assurance we have in this covenant.  Imperfect as we are, His perfection and enduring love will never fail us if we keep saying yes to Him.  I went to sleep with warmth in my heart knowing despite my reactions over the last few days, God was not closing Himself off or putting up a wall between us, He was doing the exact opposite– assuring me of the access I had and will always have to Him.

On Saturday mornings I go to the prayer room, and on my way today, more of my walls came down. Tears filled my eyes and I was finally able to declare to Him once again my desire to be near Him.  I had avoided Him, had distance myself, but I didn’t want to anymore. To top it all off, I turned on a devotional set at the prayer room that ended up expressing my heart perfectly.  You can listen to it by going to this link: Marshall Kirkman  (fast forward to 1 hour and 2 minutes).

Here are excerpts from this set:

“I still love You, despite all my failures.  I know I need You, first in my heart.  I still want You, more than I want this world, these bones You have broken will be my song to You… Come awaken my heart, all over again… Awaken my heart like when we first met, Lord draw me away… Let us stop running, stop hiding from You, and quiet our souls, and run to You, because only a holy God can quench the thirst that’s inside.”

Once again, the knowledge of His love has flooded me.  It’s a love I never want to be without…though sometimes choose to go without. He’s reminded me we were never meant to live without His love, He made us for it and has given us constant access to it now and forevermore.  May you run into it again.

 

Pressing on to Know Him

Rather than clinging to the shadows of the past or the vapors of this life, I want to press forward to know this Man, Christ Jesus.

This phrase began to go through me yesterday as I sat in the prayer room in Kansas City.  Jason and I are visiting his family for the holiday– it’s a blessing they live so close to the prayer room!    At the close of 2015 and looking forward to 2016, my spirit is stirred to let go of not only my past, but  also my ways of thinking and being that are not rooted in God’s ways and in His kingdom.  It feels as if I’m “shedding a skin”, so to speak– another layer of my old self coming off– allowing me to know and experience more of the love of Christ.  I don’t think this process will cease until the day I die, and it is a glorious journey to be on.  Each layer removed brings greater joy and peace of heart.

This process of “shedding layers”– learning to walk as a member of God’s kingdom– takes place in the midst of a dying world; a world we are to overcome and not cling to as we follow the Lamb.  That is why Paul commissions us to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2)  We are to be renewed, living according to God’s ways and values rather than the world’s.  This creates a tension in our lives as our spirit pulls us to live for God; our flesh pulling us to live like the world.  But there are great promises for us as we embark on this journey and embrace the difficulty of overcoming all things by faith:

“He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.”  Revelation 21:7  

“And this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith.  Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”  1 John 5:4b-5

A real battle can rage in our flesh as we avail ourselves to be conformed to God’s ways and to value what He esteems.  It’s important to remind ourselves that the things the world regards– money, success, popularity, possessions– will not last forever.  This life is a mere vapor; a time of shifting shadows.  Neither the constructs of our world nor the lingerings of our past will last forever–all will be transformed by the light of His kingdom coming to earth.

Thus as we look across the landscape of the nations that continue to shake with uncertainty of the future, we can rejoice with hope, knowing no matter how bleak things may get, and no matter what has transpired in our past, He will come to restore all things (Acts 3:21).  He will lead the nations to establish the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.  We’ve begun the process of restoration as we follow the Lord to establish the kingdom of God in our own hearts.

As the hope of the dawning light of His return shines even now, I pray this for us all, that “rather than clinging to the shadows of our past or the vapors of this life, we would press on and press forward to know the Man Christ Jesus.”  He is the unchanging, eternal light and Word of God we are to build our lives upon.  Following Him and learning to walk in His ways will lead to eternal life, and in the present builds a foundation which will not be shaken by the trials in this life (Matthew 7:24-27).

I believe there are great trials ahead for the people of God.  Jesus taught the world would hate His followers simply because we are of another kingdom.  His kingdom and His ways are not like the ways of the world.  Immersing ourselves in His light, in the Word of God to learn His ways, is oh so important in these days as darkness is cast upon the nations.  Trials, hardship, and suffering will expose where the affections of our heart truly rest.  Are they upon what is eternal and unchanging or the vapors and shadows we base our lives upon that will vanish? We need His light, and to fashion our lives in the ways of the kingdom of God to be transformed, not clinging to this world.

“Do not love the world or the things in the world…For all that is in the world–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life–is not of the Father but is of the world.  And the world is passing away….but he who does the will of God abides forever.”  1 John 2:15-17

As we near the close of this year and enter into a new one, may we all be more and more mindful of the light available to us, establishing our lives in His ways and carrying in our heart the hope of His return where all shadows shall fade forever.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

JuliAnn

Learning to share the gospel with “Time to Revive” minsitries

I wanted to share about the last week of September which was called “Revive Evansville” because it was a very empowering week, and the tools I received were great.  Some of you may want to use these tools as well– they are from the ministry “Time to Revive.”

When “Time to Revive” came to Evansville they partnered with 65 churches for 7 days of worship, equipping, and sharing the gospel.  Their goal was to empower and mobilize Christians to pray for and speak with others about Jesus on a regular basis, because that is a huge mandate we have as believers! It can become something we do as we are out and about, rather than an “Event” that we do. I’d have to say that my greatest struggle is taking that first step to go and pray for someone.  Once you take that step and  begin to see the Lord move however, it is exciting!  During this week 200 people gave their life to Jesus for the first time, and signed up for a 52 week discipleship program!

The model they taught us is to   Love—>Listen—> Discern—> Respond 

First, our main goal is to love someone, not see them converted.  By approaching someone in love, we are freeing them to be who they are and putting their interests before our own.  Its easiest to approach someone by simply asking them if there is anything you can pray for.  Sometimes people say no, and that’s okay!  Over time you can learn how to break through this barrier, because sometimes they really do want prayer and just need someone to keep going after their heart with love (that’s what Jesus does to us!)

After asking them how we can pray for them, listen.  Listen to what they are saying, and then discern what you need to say/do next and respond.  Pray for what they ask for specifically–that’s key because otherwise it shows you were not really listening.  It’s a very simple model, but it helps profoundly. By talking with them, listening to them, and praying for them, it often softens their heart to hear the gospel.

I was able to take a young 17 year old through the gospel with this model and the tools (listed below) during this week.  He was outside a car waiting for his mom to come out from the store.  As my friend and I listened to him and prayed for him, his mom came out, and she just began to cry as we took him through the gospel.  He did not want to surrender his life to Christ, but I could tell we were an answer to this mom’s prayers!  We never know at what point in someone’s journey we will be interrupting their life to pray for them, but going to them in love impacts everyone’s hearts greatly.  The Lord is so zealous for us to love others–these are simple tools to help us do that more often and more effectively.

TTR also equipped us with the tools pictured above: a New Testament that is color coded with a wristband that helps you walk someone through the gospel. After praying for the person, you can give them a wristband as a gift so that they remember the encounter.  Then you can explain the wristband, showing them that each color corresponds with a verse, and take them verse by verse through the wristband.  As they read each verse, its good to ask them what they think it means, and give them a chance to respond.  By doing this, they are learning the good news of salvation by faith in Christ for themselves.  It is so powerful!  The gospel is the power of God to salvation (Romans 1:16), and as they read it out loud, you can tell it touches their hearts.  Whether or not someone accepts Christ in that moment, a clear explanation of the gospel was given, and you loved them as they heard it.  It plants a really good seed that God can water over time.

These are the colors of the wristband and the verses that take someone through the gospel:

Yellow:  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

Black:  The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)

Red:  God loved us even when we were sinners and deserved death and sent Jesus to die for us (Romans 5:8)

Blue:  We are saved by grace through faith, not by our own works (Eph. 2:8-9)

Green: If we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart Jesus is Lord, we will be saved (Rom. 10:9-10)

If you would like more information, or if you want to get these tools for yourselves, check out this website: timetorevive.com.  You also purchase the bibles and wristbands under the “resources” section to use for yourself!

I’m asking the Lord for lots of grace to continue to step out.  It’s a journey, and I hope you will open your heart to begin this journey with the Lord also!  Jesus said, “pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest field” (Matt. 9:38)…sometimes we become an answer to our prayers:)

 

Reflecting on the goodness of God

For the next 30 weeks I am going through a class on inner healing.  It’s a class designed to allow the Lord to heal some of the broken areas of our heart.  When our hearts are not whole and fully resting in the love of God, our relationships and desires are tainted and can even become destructive over time.  In our brokenness we seek to be filled by temporal pleasures or relationships, but God made us to be filled with His love, that we might love Him and others out of that love.   He created us to live in freedom, and that freedom is only found as we open up our hearts to receive from Him all that we need for life, so that we would not “need” any other thing or person to be “okay.”  He is life Himself, and He desires us to be filled with His life, and its only when we can live in true freedom.  We are all on a journey of healing until the day we die, and the more healing we allow Him to do in our hearts the greater freedom we will experience in this life.  I’m up for that!

I am very expectant, and already the Lord is doing some amazing things in my heart.  I was reflecting on Psalm 107 and wanted to share some thoughts, and even a poem that resulted from that time of reflection.  The main thing that I received is that God’s goodness overshadows us all.  We all are in some form of distress and bondage, whether big or small, whether from our own sin or another’s.  But God is bigger than all of that, and He hears the cries of those in duress.  He acts upon it and brings deliverance when we seek Him with our whole heart. He sets captives free.  As we allow ourselves to be honest with ourselves and see some of the things that we do and say out of habitual patterns that are not from the Lord, He will bring us deliverance if we call out to Him for help.

The Psalm reveals that:

the redeemed who wander around searching for more of God will be satisfied; (vs. 4-2-9)

the rebellious who our bound in their sin will be delivered; (vs. 10-16)

the foolish who don’t know any better will be healed and corrected; (vs. 17-22)

the wise and prudent when overwhelmed and in distress will be calmed and comforted (vs. 23-32).

And this all because God is good to all who call upon Him- He is not partial.  He sets any captive free as an act of His love and mercy.

He sets Captives Free

 

There is not one who has done so well,

Who is able to escape the throngs of hell.

For all were born in sin and dwell in this present evil age,

Our members latent with iniquity,

Our transgressions binding us in a cage.

Yet the lovingkindness of the Lord overshadow’s all,

Raising up the poor,

Upholding those who fall.

It does not matter what or whose sin we are trapped in,

He is good, delivering any who call upon Him.

We must not be indignant or full of distress,

But filled with the praises of God for all His goodness.

For its for the very ills throughout all of humanity,

That Jesus shed His blood and rose from the dead,

And is able to set any captive free.

-JuliAnn York

Art and Bible Club- Week 1 and 2

How it started:  My co-worker Maranatha and I desired to do an outreach to the neighborhood kids behind Herrnhut Apartments (where we live).  We always saw so many kids running around!  We both love art, and thus we prayed and dreamed with the Lord and the Art and Bible Club was birthed.  God is our Artist and He made beautiful things, and we do art to create beautiful things as an expression of being made in His image.

After many weeks of planning and going into the neighborhood to meet the kids and their parents it has come together.  So far we have met twice with neighborhood kids.  Each week we have time of worship, preaching of the word, and an accompanying art project that demonstrates the truth that was discussed.  We also give them a “homework assignment” with questions to get them in to the Word and talking to the Lord.  Our goal is to make lasting relationships with the kids and their families so that there will be an open door for  further discipleship in the fall.

So far we have seen the Lord move on their hearts, and they are excited to come and are wanting discipleship in the fall!

WEEK ONE:  

Goal:  To answer- Who is God?  How did He create?  What does He think/feel about His creation?  

I spoke about God, our Creator.  As our Creator, Jesus is our Artist who made us each individually. He LOVES His creation.  Just like artists who like to make beautiful things, so God made us because He wanted to create something beautiful.  He delights in us as His creation and wants to be near us.  He made us for Himself, and loves us.  (Genesis 1:1-3, 31, John 1:1-3, Proverbs 8:30-31, John 17:24, Psalm 139:13-16)

Project:  We handmade journals.  This is the place where the kids journal their responses to the homework questions we give out each week.  If they complete them all they get prizes at the end!

wonderful!

didn’t she do great?!

making the journals

WEEK TWO:

Goal:  To discuss sin.  What is it? What did Jesus do about it?

Maranatha spoke about the first commandment and how we are made to love God and others.  Sin breaks our relationship with God and others.  The kids offered examples of sin, and had great questions about sin!  The wages of sin is death, but Jesus came to give us new life and make us able to love.  We had a time of ministry after talking about sin and the Holy Spirit ministered to one girl in particular. She gave her life to the Lord for the first time and received truth about the Father who loves her!  Thank you Lord!

Project:  We made tie-dye shirts.  Why?  God made us to be holy (white like a t-shirt).  Sin binds us and makes us prisoners (the rubber bands bind the t-shirt together).  Sin also stains us permanently (the dye).  Sin makes us a bound up mess that we can’t get free from.  Yet because Jesus died upon the cross, we are washed, set free, and made beautiful again.  This is the process of tie-dye.  After dying the shirt, the dye is washed out, the rubber bands cut off, and in the end the shirt is made beautiful.  That’s Jesus’ mercy!

2 kids came the first week, and this week 2 more came!

Maranatha getting her teach on

the process…

the shirts don’t look so great now, being a bound up mess, but after washing they look amazing, just like after Jesus washing us of our sins!

Prayer Requests:  Please pray with us that the Holy Spirit would continue to minister to these amazing kids.  Pray Ephesians 1:17-19, that the Lord would release a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, and Ephesians 3:16-18, that they would know the greatness of His love.

Thanks to all who have contributed prayers, time, and supplies- we couldn’t do it without you!

 

Back to KC

We arrived back in Kansas City on the 1st of December after a 15 hour day of traveling.  Good thing we actually enjoy car trips!  To some it sounds horrible, but Jason and I really like the time to talk, listen to teachings, worship, and see some of the amazing parts of our nation.  We have been on numerous road trips- in fact we started dating on a 40 hour bus trip to California- so I guess it’s in our DNA 🙂  As we travel the Lord always highlights just how many people there are scattered throughout our nation, all the cities, small and big, where so many dwell.  And that is just in one nation, yet the earth has so many nations filled with so many people! The Lord always stirs us to pray for the lost as we travel and cry out for another Great Awakening in our nation.  There are so many souls who are lost,  so many in despair, so many children being abused, so many homeless and oppressed, so many addicted to drugs and alcohol, so many fathers and mothers leaving their children, and yet it is the Lord who can deliver and transform hearts that desire to love.  There have been so many powerful moves of God in our nation alone in the last 300 years, and as we go through so many towns and cities, it brings us to cry out for another.

The Lord blessed us so much this last season in Atlanta, and truly has brought greater love and tenderness in our relationship. One friend we had in Atlanta, a Brazilian woman, gave us a gift.  She felt that this statue was a depiction of what the Lord was doing in our hearts.  It used to be all white, but I painted it of course!  (It was like a blank canvas staring at me!)  I would have to wholeheartedly agree, this is what the Lord has done in us and for us these past few months.

So we are back and are listening to the Lord for what He has next.  We both are wanting to continue to find ways to reach out to the poor and lost here in Kansas City.  Over break it is my desire to go to a nursing home and reach out to the elderly.  That is something the Lord has put on my heart, and over break I’ll actually have time to do it!  I have also been able to meet a few children that live close by who I want to start reaching out to to do art and have bible studies.  My zeal to do this grows, especially as we hear of yet another tragedy of a mass shooting in our nation.  There is great need for us all to reach out to the younger generation and to disciple them in the Lord’s ways.  He has called us to the Great Commission in Matthew 28, to make disciples of all nations, and while there are many who are going into the nations to fulfill this, there are still so many here on our own soil who need that same love and guidance.  We are glad to be back, and pray that we can be more and more salt and light where we are.

Happy Birthday Jason!!!

We had an epic birthday event for Jason.  25 things for 25 years.  It was an all day event!  We had such an amazing time, both being blessed by the Lord.  I really felt like the Lord gave me these ideas throughout the last few weeks and I had so much fun planning this day.  I was able to reflect on the reasons why I love Jason and what I felt the Lord was speaking over us as a couple.  The pictures are below, and here is a list of the 25 things we did:)

1.  Coffee- we both enjoy drinking coffee together

2.  Orange Juice- Jason loves orange juice and I rarely buy it!

3.  Breakfast burritos, yum!

4.  Jeremiah 33:3- the Lord has been giving this verse to us both and we have felt Him inviting us to ask Him to reveal things to us.

5.  A walk around Sims park

6.  Go to Goodwill and buy crazy sweaters and wear them for the rest of the day (when we first started dating he expressed his   interest in dressing up crazy and going out to eat, so this was the first installment of that desire)

7.  Lunch at Chick-fil-a (they give free lunch for your birthday!)

8, 9, 10.  New clothes (not from Goodwill!)

11.  Blessing from Jason’s parents

12.  Blessing from my parents

13.  Matthew 6:25-34  The Lord has been speaking to us both that He is a good Father and He wants us to trust Him for everything.

14.  Carwash- Jason has been wanting to do this for weeks!

15.  Books for Less- They had a huge Christian used book selection, so Jason got to pick out a few for really cheap!

16.  Connect Time- we spent some time connecting with the Lord

17.  Italian Pie- A few weeks ago Jason heard about this pizza place and had wanted to go before we left town

18. A guitar pic- Jason lost all of his guitar pics the other day. I randomly found one so I gave it to him

19. Box of Love- I made a box to fill with things that I love about Jason.  Throughout the previous weeks I spent time reflecting on the things that

20.  Birthday money from my parents!  Thanks mom and dad!

21. Philippians 2:3-8- I feel like the Lord is calling us both to learn the Servant’s heart.

22.  SURPRISE!! We had a gathering of friends at IHOP to eat dessert and celebrate his birthday

23.  Chocolate cake and his favorite- peanut butter ice cream!

24.  What Does Love Look Like?-  This is a book I compiled of all the verses from Romans to Jude that command us how we are to interact with others.  I also put in it the Sermon on the Mount and 1 Corinthians 13.  Jason loves to have complete lists, so I went through and highlighted all of the commands, compiled it all together and got it published online.  It was so much fun making, and I got edified as I read through all of the verses.  You can view the book online here:  http://www.bookemon.com/book-profile/what-does-love-look-like/224975

25.  A crown made of candy.  I made a sign that said “The Lord crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, and I crown you with Butterfingers and Peanut butter Reeses!”

It was a great day, full of fun and lots of memories.  Click on the photos to enlarge:) Hope you enjoy!

New shoes, new season

Overall update:   Jason and I have now been in Lawrenceville for 3 weeks.  So far, this season has been SUCH a blessing for us both.  We both feel that coming down here has been of the Lord’s orchestration and is proving to be a time of personal growth in our ministry gifts, but also character development and growing closer together.  Due to the fact that we are sharing a car, our schedules are more closely linked and we have been able to spend a lot more quality time together- in and out of the prayer room, which has been AWESOME.  This first year of our marriage we got a lot of “battle wounds” you could say, that the Lord is mending in our hearts, and building a stronger friendship between us.  We both got a pair of running shoes and have been getting up and walk/running together!  And for the record, Jason is WAY faster than me…he he…I mean way faster!   We love living with the Laterneau family with their three kids, it has been such a blessing and good community.

Personal updates:  Jason is continuing to work at Apple about 25-35 hours a week, and working toward becoming what is called a “Genius.”  This is something that he was trying to do in Kansas City, but the management was less open-handed in training him for this position.  The Lord has opened some doors and it looks as if he may be able to be trained while here- an answer to prayer!  He has been able to begin forming some new relationships with co-workers and has been getting a lot of positive feedback from management for his hard-work and knowledge base about Apple.  We are thankful to the Lord for the new relationships, open doors and the growth Jason is getting down here!

I have been taking online classes- tracking with the students at IHOPU in Kansas City.  My classes are amazing, as usual, but I am receiving a lot more by just sitting with the Lord in this season.  Because Jason works throughout the week, I often get to spend long hours in the prayer room.  As funny as it sounds, I feel as if I am learning how to pray, of how to receive from God.  This past year of our marriage has brought me to a place of realizing how broken my heart is, because my behavior in marriage has not been godly.  I have struggled with outbursts of anger, anxiety, and lots of fear about the future.  When these types of emotions persist in the heart, one cannot love others well.  I have not been loving Jason well, yet the Lord in His kindness is restoring much of the hardship of this past year.

It has been so extreme in this last year that I went through a relational wholeness class, went through prayer sessions with two experienced people in ministry,  have spoken with various “mentors,”  and have read a number of books on inner-healing and marriage.  Despite all this, (which was good), I have never had the breakthrough that I am experiencing now.  The simplicity of sitting with the Lord, closing my eyes, and speaking back to Him things like Psalm 103 “you heal all my diseases, you forgive all my iniquity, you crown me with tender mercies,” and focusing on God’s light, is releasing healing to my soul.    Though I’m in classes, I feel this season is a lot of “heart healing.”  Coming into agreement with who God is is renewing my mind and transforming me inside.  As I sit and focus on the Lord who is ever merciful, who thinks good thoughts towards me, my anxiety is being demolished.  Along with that, as I am able to enter in to the Lord’s presence using this simple tool of praying in agreement with the Word, He has led me to much repentance, and forgiveness of things I have done that I have been ashamed of.  I would have to say Jason and I are experiencing the greatest freedom and joy in our relationship since we got married- praise the Lord!

Ministry updates:  Being at a smaller house of prayer has opened up a lot more opportunities for us to utilize the gifts God has given us and step into more training with what we have learned in school.  We get to be a part of the leadership meetings at IHOP-Atlanta and get to see the inner-workings of how a house of prayer is run.  We help facilitate the Forerunner School of Ministry’s Chapel held on Tuesdays- Jason is getting an opportunity to teach there as well as I am, and are doing short exhortations for the students.  I’ve jumped onto a prophetic ministry team, which I love!  We also help out on Thursday nights (doing set up and tear down and attending the service) to a new church plant geared towards college and high school students.

Testimony: The other day a lady came over to the house who was not feeling well at all.  She suffered from chronic headaches for years.  We asked if she had received prayer for healing her headaches, and she said not a lot, so we laid hands on her and asked the Lord to come and release healing.  About 5 days later, we were informed that she had not had one headache since we prayed- which was a miracle.  Normally she has a headache everyday, so going 5 days without one was way out of the ordinary.  The Lord has healed her!!!!!  Thank you Jesus!  We hope this encourages you to believe in God for healing today!