GRACE's PERSONAL NEWSLETTER PAGE
Archives - INDEX to Personal newsletters
PREPARING TO ENTER THE PROMISED LAND!!
Dear
friends...for those of you who may not have time to read the whole newsletter,
I have put it into smaller sections for easy access to the sections you are
interested in reading as able.
I hope
this helps :)
|
Preparing to Enter the Promised Land & Learning to 'Take the Plunder' / What are some areas of plunder the enemy has stolen from you/your family? your church? your neighbourhood, workplace, school, city, nation? / A Few Ways to Help Us to Learn to 'Take Back the Plunder' / Examples of Plunder Being Taken Back / Our Knowledge of Him & Knowing His Name / Here are some things that have been/are
happening: growing faith challenges friends moving/repositioning/continued changes + ETHNICLAY FINALLY BIRTHED!!!! - EthniClay note cards + GCoMM (Global Consultation on Music & Missions) - + SOCIAL & JUSTICE ISSUES - human trafficking A few social and justice issues that have been increasingly becoming some of the top priorities that I have sensed in this regard for my own personal involvement as the Lord leads, and which seem to be being confirmed a lot the past couple months and the timing of beginning to get involved being confirmed in the past several weeks as well, are those of AIDS orphans, refugees/persecuted believers and street ministries! I recently presented my ideas to the coordinators of the international office (Langley) of the Refugee Highway Network (through Evangelical Fellowship of Canada) and I'm now a part of the network to aid in networking and especially to assist re the arts aspects. It turns out the coordinator is also very keen on utilizing the arts in this regard so I'm hoping, in the coming months, to begin to enlist local and perhaps international artists to begin to develop various art works as part of a couple of collaborative efforts to assist through some of these specific projects. Similar things are in the beginning stages of developing with some of my local and international contacts that work with or are interested in working with AIDS orphans, as well as with a particular local street ministry nearby. I continue to be amazed at how God continues to connect me with folks and how eager people are to work together shoulder to shoulder to see God's Kingdom expanding! |
Internships
& Proposals Health update
- ie. organ function improving, eye
update, upcoming hand surgery, diabetes
has reversed, etc. diets/tests/arava/hand physio housing? arava update
health miracles last year/all the leg infections and learning to deal with them in various ways family restoration - family illnesses scattering re hc writing more songs...music re spiritualwarfare include some articles I've written learning to use photo editors, Scooter View Photography internet marketing course asked to contribute once or twice a year to Wolfgang's international newsletter / working on a bunch of articles dreams/visions/better recognizing God's voice new agers, etc. truth book re ghosts basics - col, gat. - getting rid of religious |
How does one begin??!! That is always the question when I try to update you all...!
There is always so much to share, and even though my updates tend to get long as they do, I feel like I've not even begun to scratch the surface... :)
Other than my Christmas update, I see it's already been almost a year since I've sent you a more detailed update...so I'll try to be brief but to touch on at least a few of some of the main things that have been going on...
It has been quite the year, that's for sure! You just never know what's going to happen, hey?! For you, too? It seems that so many people I know all over are also feeling that way and that it seems we are no longer able to plan or live our lives in the ways we used to.
It seems that with all of the transitions in our lives on so many fronts, we're having to trust God STEP BY STEP and having to learn to LISTEN FOR, RECOGNIZE and RESPOND to God's voice more deeply than ever before if we're wanting to not only survive but thrive in all that's going on all around us at breakneck speed! Time feels like it's speeding up...I don't know if this vs. relates (or not?!) to this sense of time speeding up that so many seem to be feeling, but in Dan. 7 there is an interesting vs. - vs. 25 (NIV) "...He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time..." I imagine that his reason for trying to change the set times would be to somehow try to mess up the timing of the remaining prophecies to be fulfilled when they are to be fulfilled, so if he can try to change them, he would likely be using that to try to deceive people... (Anyway, just a thought to throw in about possibly???? one reason why we seem to feel that time is speeding up - though how that is possible...???)
Even Jesus only did what
He saw His Father doing and said what His Father was saying (John 16:13
"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will
tell you what is yet to come." John 5:19
Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing
by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the
Father does the Son also does.")...how much more
so do we need to learn how to LIVE like this if our lives are to be 'filled
to the measure of the fullness of God' (Eph. 3) as His was / is...and if we
want to see Him use us to the extent that He desires to use us for His purposes
/ glory
Although everyone's JOURNEY is different, it is encouraging to keep hearing that we're not on this journey alone, and that we can confidently follow THE WAY, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE step by step since He has already gone before us and is the only one that knows the way... Not only does He point us TO the Way, but HE IS The WAY, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE. I think this is one of the ways He has been revealing Himself to my heart most often over the past year. He's had me meditate on this often and it has become such a comfort to me soo many times as I've not known what to do or when I've been afraid to go in new directions or what have you...
Along with this, He has also continued to encourage me so much, the past few years but especially this past year, that His Spirit will guide me into ALL TRUTH as I trust Him to do this. (John 16:13 "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." ). Jesus is my Teacher, my Wonderful Counsellor (Is. 9:6), my Guide, my Instructor, etc. (Psalm 16:7 "I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me." Psalm 25:12 "Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD ? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him." Psalm 32:8 "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you." " Isaiah 28:26 "His God instructs him and teaches him the right way." 1 John 2:27 "As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him." Isaiah 50:10 " Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God." Prov. 3:5,6 "5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.") So no matter what situation we're in, we can be confident that He will lead us if we are trusting in Him to lead us.
PREPARING TO ENTER THE PROMISED LAND / LEARNING TO 'TAKE THE PLUNDER'
As I briefly mentioned in my Christmas update, for the past 1 1/2 years, especially, it seems a major theme that God has been putting on my heart and teaching me about in every area of my life is to learn to 'take back the plunder' that the enemy has stolen, AND to learn how to go into enemy territory and take the plunder as God leads us forward to enter the Promised Land.
I believe, as do many, that the Church is in a major transition where God is preparing us for this new season...as in Joshua 1:10 "...So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11 "Go through the camp and tell the people, 'Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.' "
Personally, I've felt like I've just been through one of His intense 'boot camps' to help me prepare and train for this further. More about that in a bit...
If we recall, the Israeilites didn't have to do much fighting while they were in the wilderness - at least not compared to all the fighting that had to be done once they entered into the Promised Land! That was where the fighting really got going, and I believe that we are in a time when the Holy Spirit is arousing His people out of our sleep and in the process of training us to become obedient and loyal soliders as He prepares us to enter into and take the Promised Land!
What are some areas of plunder the enemy has stolen from you/your family? your church? your neighbourhood, workplace, school, city, nation?
In 1 Sam. 30 we can see what happened to David and his men at Ziklag. They basically lost EVERYTHING..
"1 David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2 and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way. 3 When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David's two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God."
In our lives, some areas are likely health, relationships, finances, opportunities, relationship with God, social & justice issues in our cities, etc.
In
1 Sam. 30 it continues to say the following: "18 David recovered everything
the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing
was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they
had taken. David brought everything back. 20 He
took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock,
saying, "This is David's plunder."
Jesus
paid dearly to redeem everything, and I believe the Bible is full of examples
where God's heart for restoration is revealed. I believe it brings God glory
to 'destroy the devil's work' (1 John 3:8) and to be ministers of reconciliation
and restoration as we 'walk as Jesus did' (1 John 2:6
Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.)
Jesus restored hearing, eyesight, hearts, raised dead people to life, etc...
So what areas of your life are there that He puts on your heart when you ask Him which areas He wants you to cooperate with Him in in restoring them to you, etc.? I would encourage you to write them down and begin to ask Him how He wants to lead YOU, step by step, to do this...
As we learn how to do this in our own lives, I believe He will also give us opportunity to come alongside others to encourage them in these ways, too! - ie. Isaiah 61: 1
"The
Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, [a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those
who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
4 They
will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations."
This is just one of many related passages throughout the Bible...
restore your whole spirit, soul and body through and through
A few ways to help us to learn to 'take back the plunder'
A couple years ago, a good friend sent me an email of a sermon he had preached about 'taking the plunder'. In his sermon, although I appreciated all of it, one thing really stood out to me, and that was the following:
It's logical but I had never thought about it like this before!!
He said that when an army defeats another army, when they are on enemy land and about to collect the plunder, THE PLUNDER DOESN'T JUMP UP OFF THE GROUND AND INTO THEIR LAPS - THEY HAVE TO GO AND GET IT!! Same with us when we go into the land to take the plunder, as they did with Jehoshaphat's army - (note all the plunder they got!!!!!!! - and how they got it!! - apparently there were about 1,000,000 Israelites at the time?? so they got a LOT of plunder!! - see 2 Chron. 20)
Maybe this isn't a big revelation to you, but it got me thinking and I started asking God to show me more about that and to teach me more about how to actually learn to take back/take the plunder! I had always had some sort of vague idea of what it meant, and I would have said 'prayer, reading the Word, memorizing and claiming promises, etc., but obviously even though I had a vague idea, it wasn't helping my life a whole lot because I still had sooooo many areas that still needed to be taken back! So I asked God to teach me and He seems to be quite intent on doing that and has been ever since, it seems... I feel like a total beginner and have sooo much to learn (and I'm sure I missed quite a few things below, as well, which I hope to include in my upcoming article, but have also been experiencing more restoration of various areas of my life, already, during this time, than I have in all previous years put together! I believe this is something God is wanting to teach us because His heart is to see restoration...May His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven!!...
Anyway, there are some things about this which I have had to learn as He's led me, which I would like to share with you, but I've not had a chance to finish the article on that yet. However, some of the things that have been becoming clearer to me, just briefly, are the need to: (these are not in any particular order)
* develop child-like faith and child-like dependence on Him
* realizing that in our WEAKNESS HE is strong when we look to Him to be our strength
* learn to WAIT on the Lord for His directions and timing...even if another situation comes along which seems just like one He got you out of one way before, it doesn't mean He wants to do it the same way twice!! In fact, He probably DOESN'T want to do it the same way twice, because He wants you to trust in HIM and follow HIM and LEAN NOT TO YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING. Remember how the Israelites were defeated in trying to take various cities in the Promised Land if they did it their own way without asking God how HE wanted them to do it in that situation?
I personally experienced this a lot last year in going through 5 major leg infections in a row....and each time He had me respond to them differently!! It was a huge faith challenge every time but He used that to teach me many lessons!!
* exercising spiritual warfare through singing the Scriptures pertinent to your situation - this is another article I'm in the process of finishing - this has been a huge one for me this past year! I had known, before, that music, and singing, especially, could be used to defeat the enemy, but it hit home to me in major ways and in fact was one of His ways to survive some intense spiritual battles that I've been going through.
For example, a few Scriptures which talk about the use of singing or music in spiritual warfare:
* David playing his harp to calm King Saul down
* Paul & Silas singing in prison caused God to create and earthquake which set them free
* the singers and musicians in Jehoshaphat's army went in the front of the battle and God used them to set ambushes of confusion against the enemy
* trumpet blasts and shouting were used to destroy the wall of Jericho
* a garment of praise is the remedy for a spirit of heaviness
* since God inhabits the praises of His people, the enemy cannot be inhabiting the same place
* the Bible also talks about 'songs of deliverance'
* there are others as well but they aren't coming to mind at this time...
Following are the lyrics for a song which I felt the Lord put on my heart recently to help me through an intense and long spiritual battle...I rather doubt I would have survived if He hadn't given this to me, as I felt to keep singing it and singing it till it became part of me.
You're Preparing a Table - song
* declaring His Word over our circumstances - there is an extreme form of this which is known as the 'prosperity gospel' or the 'health and wealth gospel', etc. HOWEVER, by tending to respond to one extreme, we usually go to the other extreme, and end up losing our shirt because we have 'thrown out the baby with the bathwater'...
* meditation on His Word till it becomes a part of you....this is a lot deeper than just memorizing it!!! That is how the Word transforms us...it won't transform us very much if we only memorize it....in fact I was shocked to find that in the concordance for the NIV,
* hearing & responding to God's voice - through waiting on Him, through dreams / visions, through His Word, through meditation, etc.
* recognize God's timing - biblically we can see how important it is to know His timing for things...what can be right one day may be the wrong thing the next day
* be willing to look foolish
*
learning to encourage ourselves in the Lord as David did in 1 Sam. 30
- 1 David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had
raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2 and had
taken captive the women and all who were in it, both young and old. They killed
none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.
3 When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and
their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept
aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David's two wives had been
captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him;
each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But
David found strength in the LORD his God.
Do
we know how to do this? I believe this is a very serious issue and that it will
become increasingly important in the months and years to come!! If we don't
know, we will need to learn, because we may not always have people around us
who can encourage us. What do believers do in situations where there not be
other believers around? or where other believers are not known? What do persecuted
believers do in solitary confinement? Do we know how to encourage ourselves
in the Lord if we end up stranded somewhere?
* forgiveness
* standing on God's promises - check out the so that's, ifs, etc./conditions
* intercession
* praying in tongues (if you do)
* knowing Him / knowing His Name - see below
* humility
2 Chronicles 7:14 "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
Have you ever meditated on what it means that He will heal our land?? Have you asked Him to show you what that means?
* repentance - Gilgal, circumcision
* keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus - do not worry, do not be anxious - fix the eyes of our hearts on Him - whatever is pure....
* resting in Him
* let Him do heart surgery - Gilgal
* holding ourselves lovingly / mutually accountable to other believers
* obedience / submission to Him - the following is an incredible passage about this!! Take note, especially, of the amazing promises at the end of the passage as we are submitted to God (loving obedience - not legalism)
ie. Job 22:21 "Submit
to God and be at peace with him;
in this way prosperity will
come to you.
22 Accept
instruction from his mouth
and lay up his words in your heart. (notice it says
HEART, not MIND - so it is focusing on MEDITATION, not intellectual rote memorization
- my note)
23 If
you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:
If you remove wickedness far from
your tent
24 and
assign your nuggets to the dust,
your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines, (or
things which are precious to us - the 'idols' in our lives, perhaps??)
25 then
the Almighty will be your gold,
the choicest silver for you.
26 Surely
then you will find
delight in the Almighty
and will lift up your face to God. (perhaps instead of shame, or fear
of condmenation, or feelings of guilt, etc...)
27 You
will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will fulfill your vows.
28 What
you decide on will be done,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 When
men are brought low and you say, 'Lift them up!'
then he will save the downcast.
30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent,
who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."
So these are some of the things that I've felt that the Holy Spirit has been teaching me about taking the plunder / taking back the plunder and reclaiming the land that has been stolen...
I hope they will be of some use to you...and perhaps you have other things to add?
Examples of plunder being taken back - from my life
getting out more
singing
family and relatives
shorter naps
relationships being restored
heart healing re past issues
getting rid of fears
moving forward with some things on my heart
Here are also the lyrics to a song I wrote about 'taking back the plunder': Taking Back the Plunder - song
OUR KNOWLEDGE OF HIM / KNOWING HIS NAME
One of the key ways that I have sensed, this year, that God has been impressing on my heart regarding preparing to enter into and possess the Promised Land, and to take back the plunder become all of what God has created us to be in the season He's moving us into, is for us to KNOW HIM, and to know His love for us, so that we will be filled to the measure of the fullness of God (Eph 3) for His purposes in the days to come and be the Overcomers described in Rev.3!
We MUST know His love for us more and more, otherwise, according to Eph. 3, it sounds like we cannot be filled to the measure of the fullness of God. Doing good works is not going to get us there...it is all about us KNOWING HIM intimately...
...vs. 16 "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—(why?????) that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
How important is it for us to KNOW GOD intimately as we continue to move forward?
2 Peter 1:3 "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness (how?????) through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Wow!! That is mind-blowing!! I have read that verse and meditated on it many times over the years, but it never hit me like it has this year.... I believe that in the future that the Scripture lays out, with increasing darkness while the Light also grows brighter through God's people, we will have to depend on Him for EVERYTHING much more than we tend to do now...and so if we wish to THRIVE in what's to come, I believe the answer is in this verse....to KNOW HIM intimately, because then we will have EVERYTHING WE NEED for whatever situation we are in....
I believe that is also why we are told the following: 2 Peter 3:18 "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
His grace towards us and His grace through us... it is in His grace and a growing recognition and understanding of His grace that we also grow in our knowledge of Him...and also as we extend His grace to others, that we also experience His grace more deeply.
Getting to Know & Trust Him as my Protector - overcoming fear
Learning to Hide Under the Shadow of His Wings
Using our sanctified imagination
THE NAME OF THE LORD
Isaiah 50:10 " Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God."
Proverbs 18:10
The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
Boot Camp
started with meditating
freedom
Luke 1:16Many of the
people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. 17And he will go
on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of
the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to
make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
tree of knowlege of good and evil , spirit of religion, back to basics
ow
are YOU and how have YOU been doing?? I have heard from some of you but would
love to hear from the rest of you as well as you're able!
So I'm trying to keep up with the Lord and trying not to run ahead; trying to listen and cooperate when I hear; trying to deal with my on-going health issues and changes, family changes - some positive and some negative (almost everyone has been having health issues); etc., and I have had a lot of company from out of town and out of country - which has been WONDERFUL! With all of this going on in addition to my regular work, it has been more difficult to try to keep connected during this time...hopefully my connecting will improve again before long!!
Mostly the changes are very encouraging and many things that I have been praying about for years seem to be becoming more clear and some more of my dreams seem to actually be 'being birthed' (even this past week!!!!!) that I've been waiting/praying for for years - others seem to be slowly being 'raised from a state of appearing dead' for many years!! Aaaah, the process of waiting for our visions to come into being... Meanwhile, other things that have been moving forward are having to change or be laid down until God raises them up again...
GOD'S TRAINING/EQUIPPING SCHOOLS
It has also been a year where I've felt like He's had me enrolled in some more
of His 'schools' - it seems He has been teaching me soo much this year...but
as usually seems to happen along with that, the more I realize I still have
sooo much to learn and the more He is calling me to re-align my thinking/life
with His Word!!
All of this is in the context of Him increasingly revealing to my heart His long, high, deep and wide love - SO THAT I - and we as His Church - may be FILLED TO THE MEASURE of the FULLNESS OF GOD. He has been letting me see that so much of my life and the lives of those around us are often built on foundations that are based on many traditions of men rather than purely on the Foundation of Jesus and His Truth. This is where we run into problems.
But I believe He is in the process of changing that in a major way in the comnig months/years as He prepares us to be 'without spot or wrinkle'. The Bible often speaks about Him and His prophets 'tearing down' in order to rebuild, or uprooting in order to plant, etc... I believe we are in a major time of this and in this process we can sometimes feel rather shaky and uncertain as He continues to renew our minds...replacing the lies we've believed and unwittingly had as a part of our foundations, with the Truth!
If are foundations are not deeply rooted in Him, how will we stand firm in what's to come as predicted in Scripture? It is His grace that is constantly wooing us forward into all that He has for us in these days, in the midst of an increasingly intimate and joyful relationship with Himself!
We are to be like the 'Bereans' in checking everything out with Scripture, and not just believe it because it's tradition to believe it... The more He leads me to do this the more I have been seeing that some of my foundations are needing to be restored and He has been in the process of doing that a LOT more this year than in the past, it seems! I hear He is doing that with many these days! And I sense there is much more to come... It is a painful process, but also sooo encouraging and freeing as He replaces the faulty thinking we have believed, with His Truth! That is why we are to renew our minds... The more this happens, the more I see SUCH a need for it in this day and age, especially!
There's soo much more to share but I'll leave some for next time...
Here are a few things that have been/are happening:
counterfeits
rethinking evangelism
+ MY FIRST ART SHOW (Lord willing) -
+ GATEWAY RESTORATION NETWORK - The first Gateway Restoration Network meeting is hopefully going to take place in fall....
There are many other dreams that are brewing in my heart in this regard, and I'm praying for God's leading, timing and connections for them. I know that most of them take years for Him to bring into being, but I've also seen Him bring enough of them to pass over the years that it is getting a lot easier to wait for them to 'come to birth'! :) Next time I'll include something about a couple of the larger visions that I feel I'm to write proposals about sometime this winter in order to begin to submit them to people that I've felt He wants me to submit them to, and then see where He takes it from there. I feel the proposals are an initial step of faith and I'll see what He does once these are given to the people He has put on my heart.
+ HOPING TO FINISH BOOK IN SPRING -
+ INTERNSHIPS & PROPOSALS - several potential interns for 2007
+ UPCOMING EVENT COORDINATION - Next year there are several folks (long-time music/arts and missions instructors/practioners that I've been connected with for many years) who have expressed interest in coming out here to do some concerts and/or training in our region and I am sooo excited!!!!!!! We'll see what God has in mind!!! One long time 'musicianiary' couple is hoping to come perhaps the last two weeks of March. I have been deeply blessed by them when I've been with them in Nashville a couple times many years ago, and also by their deeply ministering CDs!! So I'm hoping to see some local and regional events happening during that time in order to hopefully be able to bless and encourage the Body throughout this whole region and not just here in Surrey....
+ DIRECTORY - I finally got the first Lower Mainland Christian Musicians & Artists and Arts Supporters Networking e-Directory online
Discussing CDN and international possibilities
FLOODING:
Preparing for a Flood Even if You’re NOT in a Flood Zone
Prepare to be a Blessing Before, During, After a Potential Local Flood
Some Resources to Help you to Prepare for a Potential Flood
ORGAN
FUNCTION IMPROVING
Healthwise there have been many changes over the past year....some positive,
some negative, and more difficult this year than last. My walking, especially,
has been a lot worse and I have been out of the house a lot less, too.
HOWEVER I am also on some products from my naturpath that I've been on for almost a year, that are also showing, from the tests, that my ORGANS are functioning MUCH BETTER than they were and that they are CONTINUING to improve even though I'm FEELING worse, still!! My naturpath is very encouraged, and anticipates that I should soon be experiencing some major breakthroughs in my health!!! PTL!!!
UPCOMING HAND SURGERY- I'm planning on trying a new drug (ARAVA - see more about this in my August 2005 newsletter) my rheumatologist wants me on and has begged me to try for several years already. I recently purchased a super massager which helps my circulation and helps to remove toxins and so hopefully my surgery will be postponed while I go through the settling in process with this new drug - Arava....it's supposed to help me be able to cut down the cortisone (prednisone) so hopefully if that happens, my surgery will be more successful and I'll be less susceptible to post-op infections....plus it would give me more time to finish preparing for my recovery time since not everything is sorted out yet...
After months of trying to track down someone to do hand physio for me here at home after my upcoming hand surgery, I recently suddenly heard from one who is open to the idea. We hope to discuss this further sometime this month (Dec) so I'm praying that unless God has a better plan, that this woman will do it for me!!
DIABETES HAS REVERSED - PTL!!!!
In the fall of 2004 I was diagnosed with also having diabetes. THANK GOD that with prayer, my naturpath's help and a number of related diets, the diabetes was reversed and I no longer have it!!!!, though I need to be careful of those tendencies. It seems to run in my family...my father and sister have it as well. My sister recently was diagnosed as well and is in the process of adjusting to life in appropriate ways. She is doing much better now, PTL!!
I would really appreciate your prayers for my family's health if the Lord brings them to mind.
My younger brother had been getting weaker and weaker for the past couple years and has really been struggling with his walking, too, even though he was seeming healthy and normal only about two years ago! For about 2 years we prayed and he had myriads of tests to find out what was wrong, all to no avail! Thankfully he has been able to get on disability and it was recently discovered that he has Addison's disease, which is a rare disease. They had him on some treatment which made him much worse very quickly, so he had more tests and they now have him on some treatment which seems to be bringing slow but gradual improvement. He will likely still need to be on disability for another year or so. Sure would appreciate your prayers for him! He has been such a blessing in helping me with getting my EthniClay note cards ready to be printed, as well, by enhancing all of my jpg files of the figurines so that they look good on the web site and note cards!! That's been a lot of work for him and I'm sure it has gotten old fast, but he has been a trooper and his efforts make SUCH a difference in my photographs of the figurines!!
As mentioned above, my sister is struggling with diabetes but seems to be getting it under control as well, PTL!!!
My teenage nephew has had numerous bouts of bronchitis in succession this year, so that has been very hard on him, but he continues to be his cheery self!
My father continues to also struggle with diabetes and cancer and age-related difficulties.
So thank you so much for your prayers for my family!!
Well, my friends, there is always so much to share even though I feel like i've just started cause there's so much I haven't shared yet!!
THANK YOU!!! soo much for all your love, prayers, friendship and for investing in my life and the ministries that God has me/us involved in together in various ways!!!!! I appreciate you very much and thank God for you!!
I look forward to hearing what's been happening with you, too, as you're able!!!
I hope you all have a very encouraging Christmas and a deep sense of God's Presence, with an increase in understanding of His direction for you for the coming year! I believe that, as in so many examples in Scripture, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!
May God cause ALL of HIS DREAM in you to come true!!!!!!!!!!
Have a great week!
With much love and prayers,
Grace