A Strom is Coming

Last night we had a "particularly dangerous weather situation". That is what the meteorologist called it. I call it "storms".

The city was prepared for the worse. Wichita State University and other colleges is the area closed. Events around the city canceled. For ourselves, we were suppose to have a barbecue for our community group and had to make the decision to cancel.

We waited to cancel, watching the radar. Finally, we made the calls. But, I could not get a hold of everyone. I have a tendency to misplace items and I had misplaced my phone book,... again. One, person, showed up. She brought strawberry short cake. So, I love her.

She was invited for dinner, so I made dinner, after the storm came through. The tornado sirens go off. The city, already on alert, became tense with the sound. The news station, that we were watching, made their employees go to the basement. My son, his wife, two dogs and two cats show up. They have no basement. The animals went down to my basement, but of course the humans stay upstairs to watch the chaos.

The silent prayers go up. We sit in front of the t.v. and see the pictures of the horizon as the clouds lower over an area that has had two F5 tornadoes already destroy it in the past. Someone in the room says "Poor people". More prayers.

The rain is so intense it looks foggy outside. The wind blows strong, 60 mph. The trees are bending over and snapping back up. The cats in the basement howl with displeasure. More prayers go up.

Then it stops. It just stops. It came and went so quickly. A nonevent. I make dinner, my son, his wife, two cats and two dogs pack up and leave. My husbands prayer over dinner, included protection. But, before we can get to that delicious dessert, the lights go out. Then they come on, then out, then on and finally out.

We and our guest were now in the dark. I had just put the lanterns away from the last storm outage. I get the lantern again, lite them and we begin to converse. We talk about anything and everything. Sirens cut through the air as the police and fire departments went to the aide of the citizens. We were, however, safe. Prayers answered.

Knowing there was strawberry shortcake to be had, I announced the lantern was coming with me to the kitchen to eat dessert. I pick up one of the lantern and the top flies off and shatters on the floor. Of course I was not in my tornado attire and was bare foot and in the dark. Now, I'm froze in time. Husband to the rescue. Of course, he is not in his tornado attire either, but he braves the class and rescues me while the others bring more lanterns and candles. Free from my mess, our guest and I get to work and eat strawberry shortcake.

After eating, we all end up on the front porch. People tend to go outside when the power goes off. Maybe to cool off, but more than likely to see if they are the only one without power. The neighborhood was abuzz with activity.

Our guest and myself talked about God and our peace of mind that He is in control. We sat there in the safety of our Lord as ambulances and police cars drove past. The air was now quiet and still. The temperature had dropped 30 degrees and a since of relief was settling into our spirits.

No tornado had touched the city. Damage was minimal and our lights came back on. Things were coming back to normal.

Our guest left and I thought back on the night. At one point in the night, while sitting on the porch, I realized that I had no idea what was happening in the world. That anything could occur and I was vulnerable to it. As I was thinking on this, God shared with me that I need to get use to this feeling. That it will not be the last time I feel isolated and vulnerable to the world.

But, I am safe in the arms of my Lord. There is a storm coming. With the days now short, our lives will be changing. We need to find strength in our Lord. This nonevent in my life, was just a taste of things to come. But, in it all, I found support from God, friends, children and my husband. We band together and find the peace that comes from relationships with each other and God. There will be peace in this time to come. This time of turmoil that lies ahead. It is the peace that goes beyond all understanding. It is the peace of God.

When We Do Not Know What To Pray

Pray This

Matthew 6: 9-13


" 'Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.


Sometimes I want to pray and I am at a loss for words. This is my prayer.

Snake

I do not like snakes. They, like mice, startle me. I do not like to be startled.

I stay away from snakes. But, if I am in the car and see one crossing the road, I will make a bee line for that snake and run right over it. Then I get the hibby gibbies thinking about the snake on my tires. I avoid snakes at all costs.

Just yesterday my brother, Only In His Service, and I were working in my backyard. My brother suddenly jumped, startled. You guessed it. A snake. But, I did not run, I did not jump on top of anything, instead I ran and got my camera. Who is this woman?

I stood there and took multiple pictures of this snake and it's little snake friend. I do not recognize this woman.

This morning while I was thinking and praying about blogging, God brought this event back to me and talked to me about the world. You see, I have grown to accept the snake as a way of life. I have grown accustom to the snake in my life. He, the snake, is the same, I have changed.

So, I have began to search myself. What else of this world have I grown accustom to and accepted into my life. Have I forgotten that I am not of this world. I did not see the change that brought acceptance of the snake in my life. Could it be that other worldly things have crept into my life and I did not notice. How worldly have I become?

I still do not want to touch the snake. But, I seem to have lost my fear and disgust with the snake. Slowly, I have accepted the snake. Letting him in inch by inch. How numb I have become to the snake.

Have I become numb to the things of this world and begun to just go with the flow. To allow myself to inch by inch fall into the schemes of the evil one. To say to myself "oh well, it's just a snake". No harm in seeing a snake, just do not touch the snake.

How easy it is to fall into the evil trap set aside just for us Christians. How easy to slide into the world and see it, accept it, but tell ourselves, "I will not touch it." Danger, Will Smith, Danger". There in lies our vulnerability. Telling ourselves I can look but not touch.

We, as Christians, are prey to the predator, Satan. Like the snake he spends his day looking for the vulnerable to devour. The prey, does not pay attention to their surroundings and succumbs to the predator. Loosing their life in the twinkling of an eye.

Search thyself.

Abandoned

Sunday, at church, I needed to be at the altar to worship. I went to the front of the church and flew into the arms of my Lord.

I never close my eyes when I pray, you do not want to miss something that God may be doing, but I do close my eye when I worship. While I was worshiping this last Sunday, I heard something next to me. I opened my eyes because it was a bit startling. I did not turn my head to see what was going on, but did shift my eyes in that direction.

What I heard and saw was someone on their knees next to me. She was yelling as loud as she could "Lord, I give you my anger, my bitterness, my hate." I closed my eyes again, but would open them now and then because I could hear her sobbing, gasping and talking. She tore up a piece of paper and threw it on the altar. Then stood there looking exhausted.

When the song was over, I turned to see who it was and it was a friend of mine. We hugged and she said "I can not believe how long I have held on to my anger". After worship was over, she turned to the church and shared her feeling. She said, that she had thought that God would never accept her. She had been molested multiple times, raped and with many men. Just filthy. But, she shared that God loves her. That He had given her an incredible husband. It was a remarkable moment.

This woman let herself become vulnerable in front of the church. She was not ashamed of how God was moving her and did not care what the world thought. God healed her in that moment. Like David, she became naked to the world. She only wanted what God was offering at that moment and was not going to let it go by without grabbing on to God's garment. She is healed.

So many times we allow the Spirit of God to just fly by. We ignore His urging or say to ourselves "I'm not going to do that". If this woman had done that, she would have missed her emotional healing. To few of us will allow ourselves to look peculiar. Yet, we are called to be peculiar. We fear the thoughts of man.

To be totally abandoned into the presence of God, is what we are called to do. To fly freely into His arms and enjoy His very presence. To dance, sing, yell, rejoice or anything that He may move you to do. But, we suppressed the Spirit and do not allow Him to move on us as He did on this woman.

This is a perilous time. Much is happening in the spirit realm. If we are not in tune with the things of God we will be easily swayed to the wrong way of things. I was once told that my radio was tuned to a different broadcast than everyone else. May I suggest, dear reader, that we all tune our radios into the realm of God and listen to what He is saying. Because, if you are tuned into the wrong air waves, you just may miss the Good News.

Repentance

This last weekend I was asked to get a prophetic team together and prophesy over some women going through a class. I could not use my existing team because some of them were in the class. So, I got together three other women and we spent the day in prayer over this class.

It went well. We flowed together well and experienced the Lord all day. The Holy Spirit spoke through us and many had revelation.

There was, however, one women with whom everything was different. She caused me to feel humble around her because of the way she carried God. She was so close to Him that you felt Him in her presence. She is from Africa and her and her husband had pastored a church, like mine. in a small town in Kansas. They are church planters.

We ministered to her, but when we went to pray for her, she looked at me and said "it is you". She shared that lately God would give her a vision of someone and she could feel what was going on with that person. She told me that I was empty inside and very lonely.

When she said this I could suddenly feel this great loneliness inside of me. It was huge. One of those, in the room, suggested it was because my mother had just died. This could be. But, I thought it was because every Christian sensitive that I know is alone. This started quit the conversation. Everyone identified, that even in a grounded room you are alone.

Then she said that she could see God putting blocks of wood into a glass inside of me and as soon as it was full, He pulled a block out of the bottom. I said that this reminded me of every time I get close to someone, God pulls that person away. I know that He does this so that I will go to Him not someone else. All the women in the room agreed with this as well. But, is this what God was saying to me.

It is rare for me to get a word from someone. I was told that I do not get words from others because I already hear from God. So, for me to get a word from someone is unique and I need to pay attention. So, what could it mean.

The word weighs on me. I think about it a lot. Waiting for revelation. Sunday we took communion. My husband and I take it together. At our church you go up and get your bread and juice then take it back to your seat. So, my husband and I share with each other what is on our minds, or what we need to repent from etc. Well, my husband starts talking about all he has no needs that have not been met by God. All of the sudden, I was struck by revelation and began to cry.

The Lord showed me that I am never satisfied. That I have acquired a need to have stuff. My stuff has become more important to me than should be. It is not any thing of any substance, just stuff. I repented with great sadness and went to the altar to worship.

After church, I began to think about what the woman had said to me and try to find if this new revelation had any part in it. I can see were in part it does. It speaks to the loneliness. Trying to fill the void with stuff. The void, more than likely, is the death of my mother and I am trying to fill it with things other than God. But, when I look at the glass with blocks in it, it does not seem to work out.

Does God fill my class and then take out from the bottom. Does my dissatisfied state of being cause me to some how interfere with the gifts that God is giving. I can not see this is the revelation. So, as for now, I do not have understanding of the vision.

I confess, to you dear reader, that I have been looking to values other than God to satisfy my loss of my mother. I praise God for revealing this to me because I was certainly blind to this fact. But, no excuse, I did not take the time to search myself for those things that lie deep within myself that destroy instead of build up. So, in repentance, I turn my back on this sin and walk forward to the love of God over my spirit and find all my needs met in Him.