Monday, May 05, 2008

The deaf will hear

On April 2, 2008, Todd Bentley from Fresh Fire Ministries came to a church in Lakeland, Florida. Todd is an evangelist whom God has used to bring healing to the sick. This conference, which was only to last a week, is still continuing. They have had to change venues as the church it started in cannot house the thousands who are coming from all over the world. They are not coming to see Todd but they are coming to have an encounter with the King of kings.

We have had some people from our church go and I believe they have brought an impartation of the power and glory that is being released there to our church.

Yesterday, I was serving on our prophetic team. It's a time after the service that we set aside to pray for people and share with them what we believe God has for them.

As we were ministering to the last couple, one of my team members felt that the Lord wanted to heal the man's hearing. In fact, she thought he had been in our Friday night meeting. There was a man in our Friday night meeting who had been healed in his ears and was able to hear. This was not the same man, however. We prayed that the Lord would touch him and bring healing to his ears. He had been partially deaf since serving at Vietnam.

When we were done, we asked if he felt any change. He said while we were praying, he heard 3 pops in his left ear. That encouraged us and we went after the healing again. When we were done, he said that the siren noise he had heard in his ear for 40 years was gone!

How awesome is our God! He reached down, in response to our prayers and touched this man's ears. Because He loves this man.

I want to meditate on what the Lord is doing and who He is all the time. I never want to go back to who I was. I want to see the Lord's power, glory and love released here where I live. I want to be used by Him.

How great is our God!

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Hope

In the midst of bad news, scary news, sad news, the Bible verse that came up for today is Isaiah 45:8 - "You heavens above, rain down righteousness;
let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
let salvation spring up,
let righteousness grow with it;
I, the LORD, have created it.

Amen and amen

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Listen to your heart, not your head

I had a dream last night where, after I let my anger at a silly situation come out in front of my pastor, he told me to listen to my heart, not my head. In my dream I didn't quite understand. I had thought that listening to your heart meant being ruled by your emotions.

When I woke up those words kept ringing out in my head. I believe that the Lord speaks through dreams and sometimes you need to write them down immediately or you'll forget them. But I think that sometimes the Lord is really gracious (He's gracious ALL the time, I know) and highlights things to you so you don't forget and that it's a word for right now or it's something important that you'll need to remember for the future.

As I ponder this, I remember my pastor teaching on where our spirit is located, in our gut area. The Bible writers often refer to this as where we feel and think. I'm also reminded of head knowledge versus experience.

I think that this saying is encouraging me to think on the experiences I've had versus what knowledge may be telling me. Darkness is coming, but the LIGHT will prevail. We cannot give in to fear, we cannot let the "reality" of what is going on around us take us out of our peace in God. We need to listen to our heart, remember our experiences with the Lord and trust in Him, not our circumstances.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

California Woman Shot to Death calling 911

News story

Southern California Woman Shot Dead While on Phone With 911 Dispatcher

Thursday, March 20, 2008

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WEST COVINA, Calif. — A woman was asking a 911 dispatcher for help when her pleas were interrupted by gunshots, then silence. She was shot to death.

The woman told the dispatcher someone was trying to break into her home in upscale West Covina, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Dan Rosenberg said. "Deputies heard gunshots followed by silence and an open phone line," he said.

Deputies arrived at the house, 20 miles east of Los Angeles, a few minutes after Wednesday's late morning call.

The woman, whose name was not released by police, had been shot several times. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.

"At this point we believe it was a burglary gone awry," Rosenberg said.

Investigators are trying to determine if anything was taken, Deputy Luis Castro said.

While police were investigating the shooting, a man arrived at the home asking about his wife.

When he heard that the woman had been shot and killed, he collapsed and started to cry, saying "No! She just called me. You lie."

The man was placed in a patrol car and taken to a sheriff's station, police said.

Witnesses said they saw one or more men running from the house, Rosenberg said.

Investigators used bloodhounds to conduct yard-to-yard searches.

No arrests had been made by Thursday morning, deputies said.

As a precaution during the search, a high school and an elementary school were locked down for about two hours, police Lt. Dan Brooks said.


There are some folks who will use this story, among others, to try to get guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens.

However, I will use this story to show why I think law abiding citizens should be able to have guns to protect themselves.

Are guns dangerous? Well, they cannot do ANYTHING by themselves. When loaded and in the hands of someone who doesn't know gun safety or in the hands of someone with murderous intent, I suppose you could say that guns are dangerous. But guns are tools. Unfortunately, in this world, there are people who do not live according to the rules set forth by society. When a law is put into effect that states that people cannot own guns (I believe it is very difficult to own a gun in California), there are people out there (criminals) who do not care what the laws state. This woman was apparently killed by someone who was robbing her house. I don't care what the rules in California are, I believe that thieves and criminals have NO chance of owning guns. But here we have a criminal with a gun.

This will not stop. Our world is getting darker, not better. It is my belief that all citizens of the United States should be allowed to own a gun and carry a gun for protection. Do I think that people should be licensed? I guess it depends on the reasoning for the licenses is. If it's to make sure that the owners are going to gun safety classes, then yes. By all means. We cannot have ignorant people handling guns. For goodness' sake, on one of the firearms forums I read, I have read about accidental (I'll call them negligent) discharges of the firearms. When handling a firearm, one needs to always be aware of the damage that can be done by the tool one is handling. But if the licensing is to keep track of the firearms the people own, then no, I am not in favor of licensing.

Had this woman had a firearm and been educated on the use of that firearm, we may have seen a different heading on that news article.

When criminals are aware that people are armed and not afraid to use those tools to protect themselves and their families, I believe they probably think twice about targeting them as a victim.

My prayers go out to the woman's husband and the rest of her family. I pray also that the criminals are caught. I also pray that the state of California takes a hard look at it's laws and make some changes to give power back to the people, the law abiding citizens.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Hope Deferred

I was listening to Bethel Church's podcast of the week - "Why Pray?" Bill Johnson, 2/11/08. I wish I could just have the transcript here for you to read, however, you should go and listen to it. It's so awesome.

Anyway, one part just struck a cord with me.

"God looks for the glance of the eye of interest, not because material goods satisfy, but because those things that He does just help to put into language the absolute passion and love that He has for people. He desires the blessing of His people more than His people desire to be blessed. But He does not want to put something on us that cripples us. He only wants to put things on us that add to our affection for Him."

Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.


"You are vulnerable to spiritual disease when you do not have the desires of your heart quenched. Because God made us to be people who live with fulfilled lives."

"When the answer comes, it is the tree of life. Tree of life = Eternal destiny"

"It is your eternal destiny to live with fulfilled dreams and desires."

"Predestined to be fulfilled in life with answers to your desires."


Monday, February 11, 2008

Why I'm voting for Huckabee

I believe that the Lord wants to use Mike Huckabee to get us through these next few years.

I will forward you to my pastor's blog as he has a much better way of words than I do.

I also want to link my husband's site as he has a nice video from Huck's Army that shows that the media is mistaken in saying that it's impossible for Mike Huckabee to win.


Randal Cutter's blog

What the media isn't telling you about McCain's chances by freepatriot.com

Thursday, January 31, 2008

On Intercession

The Lord has blessed me with a gift and calling in intercession. Along with this gift, though, comes along many testings and trials that I need to overcome.

I believe (and have seen in my life) that the Lord speaks to His people in dreams, visions, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, etc. Mostly when I pray, I pray because a request has come up, but there are times when the Lord places on my heart these incredible feelings for the person or situation.

Sometimes I'm awakened in the night with a dream or a thought to pray about something.

Other times, the Lord uses my own feelings and such to show me an area to pray for - regarding myself, but also for others.

Last night was one of those circumstances. And it showed me that I need to infuse myself even more with Him so I don't let those feelings rule my emotions.

I was having a very irritating night. There was a fly in the house that kept biting me, I had to "frog" most of yesterday's accomplishments on the blanket I'm working on (all because I didn't wait on the Lord to show me what to do), I was irritated by the speakers at the debate and when I wanted to just go into a room to drown out the noise, THE FLY WAS THERE!!!!

I didn't handle it all very well and almost drove my poor husband out of the house. Thankfully the Lord has also blessed me with a kind, compassionate, patient husband and he didn't throw ME out of the house. One day I hope to repay him and be the kind, compassionate patient woman God wants me to be.

Anyway, I sat on the floor and just cried out to the Lord to help me. The feelings that overcame me were so scary! Depression, craziness, and others. Wow. Through all this a name came into my head. I knew I needed to pray for this person. And I did, but because I've not been into the Word like I should, because I've not been in communication with the Lord like I should, my mind didn't stay in prayer for this person for long. I kept going back to ME and what my behavior was doing to my family.

Well, the Lord, in His goodness, finally let me stop crying enough to go back to bed and I woke up refreshed and in a normal mood - so much so my husband commented on it.

But it was a stark reminder that I let this intercessory opportunity get the best of me. I let the feelings rule my emotions. I believe that I was feeling what this person that I was praying for was feeling. But had I been more in touch with God during my waking hours, it wouldn't have affected my emotions like it did.

Now, God doesn't love me any more or less when I do or don't take time to read or pray. But my response to circumstances sure is different when I've been in the Word, praying and surrounding myself with knowledge of His goodness than if I'm not.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Supernatural Living

I'm reading a book by Bill Johnson called "The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind". It is forcing me to believe that I need to live a supernatural life. To call Heaven down on earth. The Lord's prayer - Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. That is what we are called to do. See and operate in God's will on earth as it is in Heaven.

My husband and I believe that the Lord has dropped an opportunity to purchase a home from a friend in our lap. The home is worth $50-$100K more than what we are being asked to pay. The home we are currently living in is 1,656 square feet. The home we are being presented is 2,738 square feet. We were given a tour of the home this past weekend and it is beautiful and there is more to it than what we originally thought.

I have learned to be content in the small home I live in. Prices for homes in the city where I live have gone up considerably. But so have the property taxes. I am aware that If we moved into a home worth 3x the amount our current mortgage is for, our taxes will go up.

We were reminded last night that we may not be able to afford the mortgage payments on this home. I cried. But it was something I knew deep down. I couldn't understand why the Lord would present this opportunity to us if we couldn't afford it.

I woke up this morning with a new outlook. No, we may not be able to buy this home on our own efforts. But we are called to live in the Supernatural. Even Jesus said He could do nothing in Himself (John 5:30), while living on this earth. In our own power, we may not be able to afford to make mortgage payments on our friends' home. But I have a Father in Heaven who is the God of the universe, the creator of all things. If I still believe he has given us this opportunity, then I also need to believe He will provide a way for us to own this home. My prayer is no longer, Lord I want be able to get a mortgage for this home. My prayer now is to own this home debt free. With God all things are possible.

John 15:5-8 (New King James Version)

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Under the shadow of the Almighty

Psalm 91

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty
I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust."

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.

Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation."

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Drunk, Divorced & Covered in Cat Hair

No I'm not drunk or divorced. Today, is, in fact, my husband's and mine 15th wedding anniversary. I AM, however, covered in cat hair.

I also picked up a copy of a book with this title last night. I read the author's blog. She's got quite a way with words. I love, love, love this book. "The true-life misadventures of a 30-something who learned to knit after he split."

If you are looking for a book where you can laugh and cry, I'd suggest checking it out. The book is written by Laurie Perry and my Barnes & Noble had it stuck in the arts & crafts section. It DOES have some kitting patterns in it, so I guess they figured, why not?

Excerpt from Chapter 10 - All I had heard since Charlie moved out was, "Laurie, maybe you should take up a hobby or something. Stay busy, it will keep your mind off things." Har har. Well, the joke's on you now, all you future recipients of thousands of scarves! I have a hobby, dammit!

I loved knitting so much that I didn't even care how well it cemented my role as the crazy cat lady spinster. At work, I proudly showed off my knitting to every single person who stopped by my desk. You want a banner ad? First, admire my knitting! You need a logo resized? No problem, let me tell you all about knitting class!

That's all. You'll have to buy your own copies!

No, I cannot relate completely, but the way she writes just pulls me in and forces me to have complete compassion for her situation. And I CAN relate to the yarn/knitting references, even though I tried knitting once and don't like it.

Laurie's website is Crazy Aunt Purl.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Crocheting a dream

I posted this in my crochet journal, but thought it should be here, too.

First, I'll start off saying that it's my belief that God speaks through dreams. Not every dream is from God, but those dreams from Him are there.

I'm quite a dreamer. I try to remember to write them down and see what God (if it's from Him) is saying to me.

Let me also interject here that I have been praying and asking God to help me design my own crochet projects. There are a TON of wonderful crochet patterns out there, but along the way, in this funky world of design, some of these designers got the message to tell others who use their patterns that they are NOT to sell items made with their patterns. Frankly, I think that's a bit snobbish of them. Do they seriously think they'd be able to fill all those orders? No, I think they don't want someone else making a profit using their pattern. As this whole electronic/internet age widens out and I read more about what others are doing, it just saddens me. Before I purchase patterns, I read what the designers do not want you to do with their patterns. If they do not want finished products sold, I refuse to purchase their patterns. I will gladly lay out money for patterns, just not for those. Trust me, I can be snobbish right back.

Where was I? Ok, so in light of all that, I thought it would just be easier if I could make up my stuff from my own pattern and had been asking God for help. See, I don't want to take the time to do the designing. I want to go straight to the crocheting. I admire and appreciate the work that goes into designing crochet patterns. That's why I don't mind paying for them. But I thought, hey, maybe God will give me something in my dreams. I won't know unless I ask. And I believe that when I ask, He will answer in some way.

I had dreamed about crochet 2 other times that I can remember. But I didn't follow through with crocheting them out because I was too intimidated. I'm a perfectionist and was afraid of messing it up or not getting it right. I think if I had just simply worked them up the next day, He would have blessed my work and I would be getting better at this. I did write those dreams down, but since I cannot draw, those images are lost. :(

2 nights ago, however, I was crocheting in my dream. The focus was on the work I was doing at one point, but for the most part, even though I was walking around crocheting, the focus was on other parts of the dream.

I wrote the dream down, and wrote down as much detail of the crochet as I could remember. The piece made no sense to me and I didn't know what it was. I had some other things I wanted to finish yesterday, so I put the dream crochet on the back burner, periodically thinking about that dream, wondering if I'd try it out. It was a bit simpler than the others I had dreamed, but there was still that fear there. How do I start it out? What if I don't get the pattern exact? And just what the heck is it? Yes, I was saying "what the heck is it?" to God. Like He doesn't know my thoughts anyway... :)

On Friday nights we go to church. Our church started having a Friday night service years ago. It was strange, at first, going to church on a Friday night, but now I cannot imagine doing anything else. The kids and I get there about an hour and a half before church starts. I brought along the yarn I used in my dream and began. I was going to start with a swatch because that's what you do, right? Well, how many designers get patterns from God in their dreams? I'm sure some of them do, but I think I'm skipping that swatch stage (yay!). So, the swatch didn't work out as I didn't know how to work a swatch for this particular piece. I just dove right in. It was funny. As people came in, they asked what I was making. I said, "I don't know. I'm crocheting a dream." I still don't know what it's going to be and I don't know if it will BE anything. I think God was saying, "You asked for a pattern. I gave you one. Now, are YOU going to do anything with it? If you do, I will give you more." So, against every fiber of my being, I will complete this. Why is it so hard? Because I don't know it's purpose. It's hard enough to walk by faith, but crochet by faith? And the fact that this is so difficult for me shows me it's from God. My flesh screaming out in rebellion is a good indicator.

We shall see what transpires.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Evaluation

Thanks Jessie!

I forget I get readers. :) The evaluations went well. Our evaluator is such a sweetie. He takes the time to just talk to them. Anyone who will just sit and talk to my kids gets an A+ in my book. :) He signed off that they progressed on to the next year. Yay. We took the rest of the week off, went to the library - as I had been lax in having them read stuff beyond their school work - and had a very good rest of our week.

I'm feeling better and God loves me. :)

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Stressin' out

The kids' homeschool evaluation is today. Am I prepared? I should hope so. Yes, I have their books ready for him to look through. Am I emotionally prepared? I thought so. But, I found myself to be short tempered this week. My back is in extreme pain and I'm dealing with a hurt foot. I was racking my brain to find out why my back and foot were hurting and I thought that the reason I was short tempered was because of the pain. My irritability, I think, is the result of PMS and stress. The back pain must be from that as well. Although, I don't remember my back hurting this much in the past . I can't even go work out due to the pain. Argh.

So, I will be so happy when 1:30 comes and goes. I like their evaluator. He evaluated them last year. He has a bunch of kids like us. He and his wife homeschool. He's very pro-homeschool. It's just nerve racking. Maybe by next year I won't be so bad.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Parable of the Ungrateful "Child"

My children get 45 minutes of computer time at one time.

One of the programs they like to play is an online game by Disney called Toontown. There is a new "neighborhood" where you can play miniature golf and sometimes play goes a little longer than the 45 minutes they are allotted. I always let them finish up their games, even after the timer goes off.

The other day, my oldest daughter, 13 almost 14, knew that she was low on time, but decided to go for 9 rounds anyway. I allowed her to go over her time and it was 15-20 minutes after the timer went off.

Tonight, her sister, 12, was on the computer. Emily, my oldest had been asking to go on all night, but I needed her to babysat while I ran to the store. Caytie was on the computer when I returned home. Emily had asked, when the timer went off if she could go on the computer. I said yes. Not long after, Caytie came in to inform me that Emily had come over to the computer and quit the program Caytie was working on.

I was furious and told Emily she couldn't go on the computer. I then told Caytie to get back on and finish up what she was working on and told her if Emily retaliated in any way, she was to tell me.

I was in my room getting angrier at Emily's behavior, especially in light of me allowing all that extra time the other day, when the Lord reminded me of the parable of the ungrateful servant. I immediately calmed down and knew what her punishment would be. I'd have her write out the parable, in her best handwriting, and then allow her back on the computer, making sure she understood the parallels between her actions and that of the ungrateful servant.

She's working on it now. She is unaware that I will be letting her back on the computer and is a little ticked off at me right now. But that's ok. I believe the point will be received.

Matthew 18:23-25

"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.

"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

Granted, Emily didn't need to forgive Caytie, however, I still think the parable fits the crime. And, of course, I don't want Emily to have a "fire and brimstone" view of our Heavenly Father, and I will be sure to let her know that He loves her unconditionally, as do I.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Love your enemies

Conversation between Kenny (age 5) and Jordan (age 9). They are in the kitchen. Jordan is washing dishes and Kenny is "helping".

Kenny: You have to love your enemies
Jordan: I love all my enemies except the devil
Kenny: Then you don't love your enemies

I had to explain to Kenny that there IS a difference between human enemies and the devil. It's ok not to love the devil.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Nice Matters!




Wow. My first award. Christina, my sister-in-law, over at Kwisteena's Kwaziness, has awarded me with the Nice Matters Award saying that I was a positive influence on the blogging world.

Well, thanks Cristina. You, too are a positive influence on the blogging community. Can I nominate you? :)

Here is my list of bloggers and their blogs whom I nominate for the Nice Matters award:
There are LOTS of blogs I read. But these ladies shine in the Nice Matters department. Thanks guys. If you want, you can take this award and put it on your blog and nominate others. But, if you're not into this sort of thing, don't worry about it, no pressure. ;)

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

My Yarn Store

I have decided to publicly share the vision I have for my yarn store. For those of you who may not know, I LOVE to crochet and I LOVE yarns. See my Crochet Blog if you are interested. I had been wanting a yarn store for a while now, and have been praying for it, but not pressing in like I believe now I should have been.

When my family was at a conference at Morningstar Ministries in Ft. Mill, South Carolina, there was a speaker there named Bill Johnson. He has a church called Bethel Church in Redding, California.


I wrote down some things I heard him say one night and even downloaded the conference a couple of days ago so I can listen to it over and over. It was a powerful teaching.

Sorry about the flow, or lack thereof. I was just taking the snippets that the Lord was speaking to me for this.

"It is theologically irresponsible to take the great promises of scripture and put them off into a period of time for which we have no responsibility. Every generation is responsible to extract the life out of every promise." Proverbs 25:2 - It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings. God hides stuff for us not from us.


"Jesus being asked by Mary to deal with the wine. Jesus says, what does this have to do with me? This isn't my hour - the hour for me to be unveiled as the miracle worker. He only said what he heard His Father say, so He got this information from the Father. Mary tells the servants to do whatever Jesus says. Jesus looks at the Father and says, 'Apparently we have a change in plans.' "


"The desperation of an individual can change the timing of an event. God is not as interested in certain events happening at certain times as He is interested in our involvement in the unfolding of those events. We are not puppets on a string. We affect one another. God has made himself vulnerable to the desires of His people. The church is waiting for the next directive of God and God is waiting on the dream of the church. Waiting for the thing that rocks us, that moves us. "

"When desires are formed in me, God is trying to resurrect them because he wants to become manifested in a practical way that affects the course of history. 'Whatsoever desires you have, when you pray, you shall receive them.' 'My works abide in you'.

"If it matters to you, whom the Lord loves, it matters to Him. It does not have to be eternally significant." Bill then referenced his book, "Dreaming with God", which I picked up last night. :)

"Jesus changing plans and performing a miracle of turning water into wine because of a mother who, in so many words said, 'I've been pregnant with these promises for 30 years and I'm going to blow up if I don't see something happen! (Like Mary saying to Jesus) This may not be your time, but it'd be a really good time for me.' You can only carry that word for so long."

"'John 12:40 - He blinded their eyes, hardened their hearts lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their hearts and I should heal them.' It's like God is saying, 'I don't want them to see because then they'll repent and I'll have to go forgive them and give them what they want.' - Puzzling verse. It's talking about Israel. 'If I show Israel what I'm going to do for them before the Gentiles are added they will ask for it and I'll have to give it to them before the designated time.' Implication - If you see it, if He does not blind your eyes, than what you can see that is a future event, then you have legal access to bring it into your day. "


"All things are yours - things present and things to come."

"King David caught a vision. Hope to set up a vision of worship. Legal access to the authentic presence of the kingdom. But it was illegal to approach the tabernacle without a blood sacrifice. What David did was illegal. But because the Lord did not veil David's eyes to the future - after Jesus' death and resurrection - that all can come before the Lord without the blood offering (because Jesus was the blood offering), David took hold of that and brought it into his own time and lived."


This is what I wrote down that night, after going back to my room and being "high" on the promises which the Lord just unveiled.


Yarn/Coffee Shop

Separate but connected.

Coffee Shop - Tables where people can sit and drink coffee/tea and/or eat pastries.

I would like to, through a doorway or a larger opening, have a yarn shop. I want to sell yarns not available locally, but also less expensive yarns available locally. I want to make available tools for crochet/knit and other needle-craft crafts.

I want to have comfortable couches and chairs for people to lounge in and work on projects. I want tables that people can sit around and work on projects.

I want to play instrumental music in the store. Christian instrumental music. Don Potter, Alberto Rivera & Friends, Bruce Dailey, Theresa Griffith, etc. Worship jams, too. Or, maybe have videos playing of worship. Maybe have Christian music playing. I like what Morningstar's bookstore has - a tv with videos of worship playing.

I want an area dedicated to classes. That people can come in and teach crochet, knitting and other needlecrafts.

I need the Lord to give me a ministry to support with money and/or projects that people make, maybe ZAO Water financially, but I want to be able to supply shawls, blankets, any handcrafted item that customers would want to donate to a ministry as well. These items would be prayed over by me and my children and any other trusted intercessor who would want to be involved.

As I was praying about this, I heard, Eagle's Nest. Might be a good name.

I want to provide a place where crafters can gather to purchase hard to find yarn, to gather with other crafters, and to be touched by the Spirit of God. A place that people would come to to have prayers be answered, to see healings take place. To come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. That the Spirit of God would be so evident. That people would gather and talk about what God is doing in their lives and in their neighborhoods and not talk about each other.

Aquila is Greek for Eagle. It is also a constellation. Inside that constellation is a nebula, NGC 6751, also known as the Glowing Eye. Wow! It looks like a glowing eye! The interesting thing about the glowing eye, is this: that night Rick Joyner (Pastor of Morningstar) was speaking about the portals of Heaven and the eye of God looking down on us.



Add: I also am wanting to have a "Yarn of the week" and a "Tool of the week". There have been so many times where I thought I'd like a hook or yarn, bought it, took it home and didn't like it. My vision is that someone can come in, with the yarn of the week and tool of the week make up a granny square or something. They will know how the yarn works up and if they like the hook (or needles or whatever). Then I'll have them drop the square into a basket to be sewn together with other squares into a blanket to donate to the local hospital for babies or other sick patients.

Introspect

Introspect - To look into or within; to view the inside of.

From The Supernatural Ways of Royalty by Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton, chapter 4, A Royal Flush by Bill Johnson, page 54.

~ I Don't Do Instrospection ~

It took a while, but I finally realized that my best moments (mentalily, emotionally, and spiritually) were when I just did my best, and stayed away from introspection. This was a scary thing for me, because in my mind introspection was almost a rite of passage to my biggest dream - to be a revivalist. After years of struggling with the conflict of personal holiness, I prayed something like this:

Father,

You know that I don't do so well when I look inward, so I'm going to stop. I am relying on You to point out to me the things that I need to see. I promise to stay in Your Word. You said that Your Word was a sword - so please use it to cut me deeply. Expose those things in me that are not pleasing to You. But in doing so, please give me the grace to forsake them. I also promise to come before You daily. Your presence is like a fire. Please burn from me those things that are unpleasing to You. Melt my heart until it become like the heart of Jesus. Be merciful to me in these things. I also promise to stay in fellowship with Your people. You said that iron sharpens iron. I expect You to anoint the "wounds of a friend" to bring me to my senses when I'm being resistant toward You. Please use these tools to shape my life until Jesus alone is seen in me. I believe that You have given me Your heart and mind. By Your grace I am a new creation. I want that reality to be seen that the name of Jesus would be held in highest honor.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Penske

One would think, seeing this *cough* beautiful truck in front of someone's house, that they are moving or something.


Last night, after waking to something (it's a nightly occurrence), I walked out of our room, turned off the lights the children left on and peeked out the front window(again, something I do nightly when I wake up after being asleep for only a couple of hours). Mind you, I wear contacts. I can see things, but they are blurry and I cannot make out details. I rely on the contacts. I have to wear them or my glasses. I look out the window and it seems as if something is obstructing my view. Something other than my inability to see clearly. I walk back to my bedroom, put my glasses on and go to the window. Yup. Something was obstructing my view. A big Penske truck. Grrrr.



It's a public street. But I think it's quite rude and selfish to park such an eyesore in front of someone else's house just centimeters from their lawn.








I figured while I was outside I would take some photos of the sky.







We are not in a drought anymore, however, I'm not sure what the levels of Lake Okeechobee are. That's the real clue. Hmmm. Looks like, as of today, it's about 4 feet BELOW it's historical average. So, we need more rain. I should probably trim my bamboo.



This is what it looks like at the table today. Well, it looks like this almost daily except that during the week, there are kids and school books on the table, too. Ok, the kids normally are not ON the table... We took today off. Just because.





I use the anointing balm like lotion on my hands. I put a little extra on my left hand, where the thread runs through my fingers. It smells so nice, it's frankincense and myrrh. Some friends of mine gave it to me. When I get more, I'll be ordering it from Rodco, LTD. I don't think there's any magic in anointing oils and balms. But, I cannot dispute the references in the Bible to it. When I crochet my things, I pray over them and ask the Lord to give me a word for the person or pray healing over them or something.