Surrounded By You

When I began this journey with lobular breast cancer, a friend sent me a song she had heard at church on Sunday morning.  It is written by Michael Smith and titled, "Surrounded".  Today as I was listening to this song on my playlist, I immediately remembered when Joel and I had been to Destiny Church in Rochester MN and three women had spoken over us the prophetic words God had shown them.  One woman said, "I see Holy Spirit surrounding you completely.  Everything you need is right there, just reach out."

The words of the song are simple..........."It may look like I'm surrounded, but I'm surrounded by You."  A song of praise to replace a blanket of heaviness.  It does feel like I am surrounded.  The advanced cancer, the kidneys, surgeries, the treatments in my physically challenged body.  Yeah......surrounded by the enemy.   But God.

As I thought about what we had been told at Destiny Church, I saw Jesus standing beside me, reaching out to me.  I took my hand and placed it in His warm, firm, steady hand.  Like the woman said to us, we need only reach out and what we need will be right there.   The love and prayers of family and friends, the medical help needed, our great God!

We may be surrounded by the enemy, but our inner circle is all about Jesus.  Holy is right there encompassing us, holding us. We all have battles we fight at one time or another.  We may feel overwhelmed, but it is God who surrounds us with His love, His goodness, His healing.  For that we give You thanks, Lord. 

Walking Through Mud

Preparing for our 50th has at times been frustrating enough to make a person "lose their religion".  Well, not really of course but the quest to get our front porch and back deck power washed and stained has been a challenge.   First of all, so much rain and so many days of it.  Joel actually put tarps up Monday night to try to keep the porch dry with the plan that he would stain on Wednesday.  Tuesday night I watched him taking the tarps back down and asked him what he was doing since it was going to rain again!  He had checked the weather channel and they said clear skies, but sure enough last night it started to drizzle so out he went again to attempt to cover the railing with tarps.  (It sticks out a bit from the porch roof.)

He had purchased the stain beforehand so at about 11 Wednesday morning he started to stain the railing only to discover that the stain was one of those solid color stains?  Say what?   He had purchased the wrong kind.........so he decided to buy a different stain at the local hardware store, but he came up with nothing.  So, off he went back to Sherman Williams to see about an actual stain.  Twenty minutes and much frustration later he left that store empty handed and headed way across our little micro city to Menard's.  He finally found what he was looking for and arrived home 4 hours after he began the task of staining our porch.  At 9:30 pm he came in the house and announced it was finished!

I was little help at all, basically encouraging him as I watched the weather all night.  I once went out to tell him that our storm free night was turning into another rain event by 8:45 pm.  I asked him if he wanted to "look at the radar" and he replied "No!"  He just kept staining away at endless rails and then the floor of the porch.  He kept thinking, God will hold the rain off until I get things done.  And God graced him with that desire.  He finished staining, put the tarps back up (with a nail gun in hand) and cleaned up, finishing just as the rain began to fall.

With 6 hours of bending, dipping, and knee walking behind him, Joel was pretty achy and stiff.  I took coconut oil and added Frankicsense and Lavender essential oils to it, rubbed it all over his back, shoulders and upper arms and off to bed he went.  He woke up today feeling pretty good and we had a good laugh over the mud walking drama to stain one little porch!  And today?  I am looking out the window at a very nice freshly stained porch, although the view is not very spectacular since the tarps are still up!  Just in case................

Sometimes it seems like we have to walk through mud to get things done.  One step forward and two steps back.  It takes perseverance to keep moving forward, whether it is while staining a porch or much more important things in life.  Our circumstances can be complicated as life or the ol' enemy gets in the way with some form of resistance.  But with persistence, hard work, prayer, and God coming in to save the day, we can get it done, and it will be worth it!

The Shack

A couple of weeks ago we went to the movie, The Shack, based on the novel of the same name by Canadian author William Paul Young.   William Paul Young spent the first 10 years of his life in New Guinea with his missionary parents.  He wrote this book to write down his own perspectives on God and the inner healing that took place in him as an adult, and more importantly as a gift for his family and a few friends.  It was never intended to be public, but God had other plans.  Joel and I purchased the book several years ago and found it a powerful read.

We headed with several from our community group to meet at the local theater where we relaxed in soft red leather recliners to watch this amazing book unfold on the big screen.  Some people find this story offensive or sacrilegious, and get hung up on the fact that Papa God is portrayed through most of the movie by a black woman, Jesus is middle eastern, and Holy Spirit is an Asian woman named Siri.   Joel and I discussed how easy it is to put God in a box, and how frightening it is for some to see Him out of the comfort zone we create around our faith.  Been there myself.

By our standards we found the theology expressed pretty accurate............and does that statement itself not put God in our own box??  What came across in the movie and the book is how much the Trinity truly loves us.  ALL of them loving ALL of us.  In the movie Papa, Jesus, and Holy express how important having a relationship with us is.  Something fully backed by scripture.  Forgiveness is also a theme that runs throughout, along with knowing we are never alone.

I love how God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit are presented, although in our experience Holy is more than a comforter.  Holy is more of a whirlwind and a dynamo in our lives, but since Holy is a gentleman, He meets us where we are.

I can hardly wait to see this movie again.  There are many powerful statements made that resonate, like the one above, as and I am sure we did not catch everything the first time through.  Next time I will bring a pen and paper and more tissue!  Young wrote this particular book from a place of his own deep pain and losses transformed and healed by our Papa God.  I believe that is why it resonates with so many people.  He tries to answer the question, "If God is so good, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world? "   It is a question we all have pondered.

In fact there are many questions to be pondered within The Shack.  When I first read the book, I was not on the journey I am on now in my faith, so while looking back I'm thinking that God planted some seeds in me several years ago with this book .  Seeds that sprouted and grew slowly within. Opening me up to the "something more" I still look for.   He is good about that. He is just plain good.

Surprise!!!

My sister Jan just turned 80.  Looking at the picture below she is the one on your left (just in case it is hard to tell).  It is pretty obvious she looks younger than most 80 year old women.  No offense to anyone in their eighth decade of life.  She looks younger than me and I am 11 years behind her.

 Recently her husband Lanny gave her a surprise birthday gathering in Nashville....it was a surprise because all of her kids and his, along with spouses and a girlfriend came to celebrate with her.  Most of them showed up at their condo door to say...."Surprise!"  She had no clue.  Absolutely none.  She opened the door and there they stood.  She said it took her a while to process........  From all the pictures I have seen it looks like they had a great time celebrating!  As it should be.  It is a wonderful feeling to be surrounded by your people and blanketed with love.

Blanketed with love.....this is what God does for us, too.  And sometimes he knocks on our door and says "surprise".  I can't help but think back about when we first "found" Praise Church here in town.  God knew what was coming and I believe 100% that he sent us there in preparation for the months to come.  We thought we were moving to Arizona, so when we first went to Praise I remember saying to Joel..."Why would God give us this church now when we are leaving?"  Well, of course cancer showed up on a mammogram and the rest is as they say, history.  Was cancer the surprise from God?  Nope.  Nada.  Never.  The enemy attacked me with the cancer, but GOD'S surprise was the provision of His blessings through a church where we could express our love of Christ in the praise music, the charismatic, the prophetic, and especially the healing.   He is always ahead of us preparing the way, fighting our battles, making all things work out for good.  He just loves us that much.

Just the other day Joel was driving back roads to a church and saw for the first time a red fox in a white field along the side of the road.  He loves red foxes.  God often surprises Him with an animal in nature when he least expects it, but definitely needs a love tap from His Father.  It is a way they communicate......through nature.  God telling Joel, I've got this.  Just enjoy the blessings.  Joel was delighted with God's surprise of a red fox greeting his Sunday morning!

Another surprise?  Joel's immediate, one-minute-sick- next minute-well healing.  Recently we celebrated the 5th anniversary of the miracle and I gave him a cute card I had found in Arizona 2 years ago.

Inside it says, "There, all better!  Can I get an Amen!"  It is meant to be funny.....but it was just about the way it happened for Joel.  That fast.  That simple.  A revelation of God's love and Holy's power within us, released.  Healing and Holy gifts.  Wow!   Surprise!  Now go out and surprise others with what you have learned.

Our Papa God delights in surprising us with an abundance of His love blessings all around us.  Some cannot be contained and must be shared.  Some come in the form of a red fox........a place of the prophetic and healing......a gathering of family blanketing you with love.  Look for His surprise blessings on your life today.......they are all around you just waiting to be discovered.  Surprise!

A Touch From God, Something More, and The War We Fight

The first time I felt the physical touch of God was back in 1974.  I was hungry for more in my faith, searching for peace in my life.  At that time we were attending a Lutheran church in Duluth, MN in the mornings and a Spirit flowing place called The Tabernacle on Sunday nights.  One night I went up to the altar to pray.  As I knelt there with my hands folded I felt someone unclasp my hands and lift them up into the air.  As this was happening I could feel warm hands on mine, so I opened my eyes to see who was doing this.  No one was there.  No one was nearby.  The warm hands I felt were not visible to my human eyes.

This event impacted my life, deepening my desire for "more" of God's presence.  Moving to the Philippines brought me to friends who had the gift of a prayer language and seemed to have that "something more" I desired.  I took great comfort and strength as part of a group of interdenominational women who spent time worshiping, praising, and praying together on a weekly basis.  I even experienced healing for a large boil when a group of women prayed over me.  Oh how I missed my friends (love you Helen H.) after heading home.  I still miss that group 39 years later. 

When we returned to the states I read Catherine Marshall's book, "Something More" over and over.  Frances Hunter also became part of my reading menu during the charismatic 70's.  Then life intervened.  We lived in a traditional Lutheran world.  Our family grew, sickness took hold, and it took another 36 years for me to be gifted with my own prayer language and experience once again the presence of God in a physical way through healing and through Holy Spirit manifesting.  I love my relationship with the Trinity now.  I could never go back, and pray daily that God will open up to us more of His presence in our lives in anyway He sees fit.

Thinking about this took me back to a time 3 years ago when someone asked me where God was when at age 6, I was being sexually abused.  Joel and I believe He was right there beside me, weeping with me.  You see, He has given us a free will.  He gave Adam and Eve dominion over the earth and nature, but then sin entered in.  In our fallen world, bad things happen to good people.  Satan has come to kill, steal, and destroy, not God.  I don't blame God for what happened.  I was in a situation that opened the doors to abuse from an older cousin and then a friend of the family.  Evil walked in the door and my circumstances made it possible.  God did not want me suffering abuse, it was NOT part of His plan for my life.  Evil in any form is not part of His plan for anyone's life. 

Over the years of Joel's ministry and our own lives, we have heard so many stories of neglect, abuse, hate, deceit, and even murder.  In our broken world we all experience Satan at work.

I cannot help but think about the 9 people who were murdered last night during a prayer meeting by an evil young man who wanted to "kill black people".  How do we make sense of that?  We know where these people are now...heaven rejoiced and welcomed them home..... but they died because evil entered their church in the form of a lost young man.

Oh, come Holy Spirit come, fill us with your goodness and give us courage to fight evil in all forms.  Give us courage to follow your command to preach the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, and raise the dead.  You commanded us to love one another.  You knew we would need to fight a spiritual war when you gave us these commands.  We.  are. at. war.  Let our light so shine that others will hunger for what we have.  Let Your presence fill our bodies, our homes, our churches, our communities and drive out evil in every form.  Come Holy Spirit come. Bring us a touch from God.