In my last blog I promised a
follow-up blog including
THREE BIG THINGS ABOUT THE FUTURE.
So, here I am, seven months later…
One is now a thing of the past,
One remains a thing of the future,
and One I forgot entirely.
🙂
“ONE IS NOW A THING OF THE PAST…”
When I came back out to Wind River Ranch in January, I
thought I was only staying until May to rest, be with family and give back to
my sending ministry.
However, in March as I was praying about my next step, the
Lord said
“Follow Me.“
So, I said, “Ok,
Lord where are you? Where are you
going? What are you doing?”
Then He proceeded to open my eyes to all the ways His
Spirit had been at work at the Ranch, including insight into some of the
things He was wanting to do there come summertime.
I got the message loud and clear…”This is where I am. Follow Me.”
Ironically, for my life anyway, ‘following’ this time actually meant ‘staying’.
So I did, and He absolutely came through on His Word!!
Pre-season I asked God what He wanted to do within the
staff and felt like He said He was bringing the hungry to be filled and that
He wanted to focus on identity…He wanted His kids to know who they are in
Him.
Again, He was faithful to His word!
That was exactly what happened! The 60+ college-aged staff came in more
hungry for the Lord than I’ve ever seen here.
Not only that, but the general theme for the summer?
Identity.
Of course. 🙂
I believe God lit a fire under His children here this
summer, and I consider myself a lucky woman to have had the privilege to serve
them and be a witness to His mighty work!
“ONE REMAINS A THING OF THE FUTURE…”
Also in the Spring, as I was praying about my next
step, I heard a quote that set my footprints in stone:
“What you do shouldn’t determine who you are;
who you are should determine what you do.”
I considered my passions for empowering and raising up
leaders, discipleship, and seeing people come alive in God and walk in the
callings He has placed on their lives.
That consideration, coupled with my desire to sow back
into a ministry God had used mightily in my own life, led me to the decision to
squad lead once again!
Therefore, I leave JANUARY 10th to lead the
55 person World Race M-Squad family for their first four or five months!!
Again, I am so privileged to have the opportunity to
shepherd God’s precious people for another season and am so excited to see what He is going to do in and through these mighty men and women!
**I must raise $4,550 more in order to do this, so if
you feel led to partner with me once again click here.**
I covet your prayers and am so grateful for you!
“ONE I FORGOT ENTIRELY…”
(so you get to hear about one of my dreams instead)
This year has very much been a wilderness/desert season for
me. I was surely led here by the
Holy Spirit just as Jesus was, so I know there’s loving purpose behind it all, however I have definitely been tempted by the enemy to believe
lies like never before and it has been hard.
I’d love to say I’ve passed the test with flying
colors, battling the lies with the Truth of the Word as Jesus did.
But unfortunately, I can’t.
Sure, I’ve had some incredibly victorious
moments.
But I’ve also had my moments of being tired of the fight, choosing the easy route of surrender (to the enemy) instead.
Thankfully, my sweet Lord is so faithful to give me a fresh word
right when I need it.
And He did that so
beautifully for me this August.
One night, in the heat of the battle, God gave me this
dream:
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I was standing in front of a parked car, when
suddenly I spotted a huge red, black and yellow snake.
I was terrified.
And I was faced with a decision, to stay or to run…
In that moment, I shuffled my feet a little, so as to
run.
The moment my feet moved, the snake bolted toward me
and reared up in such a way that his face was right next to mine as I stood
there, paralyzed by fear.
I could feel his breath on my cheek.
And I could see our reflection in the car window as he
began to speak all kinds of threats and lies into my left ear.
“Just one bite and you’re dead.”
“You’re all alone; who’s gonna come to your rescue
now?”
“I will destroy you.”
I closed my eyes, choosing to stand firm and call on
my Warrior of a God to fight for me.
I didn’t even know what to pray, because I was still
frozen in terror.
So I began to pray in the Spirit.
A few minutes passed, I gathered the courage to peek
at the reflection once again, and the snake was still there.
So I closed my eyes again and continued to
pray in the Spirit.
I did that for quite some time, when all of a sudden I
was bombarded and surrounded by three giant Mountain dogs, two black, one white.
They were fiercely protective, strong and intimidating,
yet full of love and gentleness toward me.
So I opened my eyes once again,
And the snake
was nowhere to be found.
I was safe.
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Also, the day after I had this dream, a friend of mine
when praying for me saw a vision of the Lord whispering my name over and over
again into my right ear.
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The Lord spoke mightily to me through all of
this.
Much of it speaks for itself, but here are some fun
facts, insights and scriptures the Lord gave me.
Fun facts:
There are two types of red, black and yellow snakes. One being a Coral Snake,
extremely dangerous and able to kill you with one bite.
The other being a Scarlet King Snake, almost
identical to the coral snake, yet harmless.
The black dogs were Bernese Mountain dogs, while the
white one was a Pyranese Mountain dog.
Both breeds by nature are known to be extremely loyal, loving and protective of their owners.
Insights:
*****
Desperate prayers of faith usher in the Presence of
the Lord, overwhelming His children in love while destroying the works of the enemy.
*****
Fear gives the enemy a wide open door to freely speak
the lies he strategically uses for our destruction. It gives him direct access to attack our most
vulnerable places.
*****
The snake (Satan) did all he could to intimidate me. A lot of talk. Yet he never struck me. He talked about it, but he never did. He was powerless to.
It is actually our belief in his lies that give them
power in our lives. Without our belief in
them, they are nothing but rubber arrows.
*****
Every moment we are faced with a choice….because in
every moment, we are hearing two voices…the voice of our Caring Shepherd or the
voice of our deceitful enemy.
It has
been this way from the beginning. (see
Genesis 3) We must choose to remember, to believe and to trust the Truth of
what our God is saying, over the lies of our enemy.
Satan is out to destroy us. He hates us.
He wants to steal God’s promises from us, destroy our witnesses and kill
the abundant life God has promised to us.
All to steal glory from the One True God.
Many times, however, God’s voice is merely a whisper, while the enemy’s
seems like it’s behind a megaphone.
But
remember, his voice, though loud, is powerless unless you choose to listen to it.
*****
Our God is faithful and He always comes to our
rescue!!!!
*****
Scripture:
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
(James 4:7)
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil [read the rest of the text for yourself]…and
then the angels came and ministered to Him.”
(Matthew 4:1-11)
“He was a murderer from
the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in
him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks
from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
(John
8:44)
“The thief comes
only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it
abundantly.”
(John 10:10)
“God has not given us a Spirit of fear, but of power,
love and a sound mind.”
(2 Timothy 1:7)
“…Do not be afraid.
Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you
today…the Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
(Exodus
14:13-14)
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as
the world does. The weapons we fight
with are not the weapons of the world.
On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension
that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every
thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
(2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
“…put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil…so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm…taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one…with all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit...”
(Ephesians 6:10-18)
“Finally, brothers,
whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy – think about such things.”
(Philippians 4:8)
“In the same way, the
Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but
the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”
(Romans 8:26)
“He will cover you with
his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will
be your shield and rampart.”
(Psalm 91:4)
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