Mini Tour of My House

Here are some photos of my house...furnished. I've attached a little video tour as well. I thank Jesus for His provision and all of my family and friends for your prayers and support. You are all welcome to come visit sometime...just give me a call and we'll set something up!

A Beautiful Inheritance

In discipleship training school I'm getting ROCKED by Jesus on a daily basis. The past two days have been especially cool because we had two incredible speakers...Steve Backlund from Bethel in Redding, CA came and spoke on joy last night in my class and then this morning, we heard Rick Joyner speak on God's purposes for us and then he spoke a word over our church planting movement which was so right on...

I minister at a meeting on Friday nights called "The Feast" which is a community dinner for our urban neighbors. Five children came to Jesus tonight!

In case you didn't hear it...FIVE CHILDREN CAME TO JESUS TONIGHT!

I am so blessed! Some folks from my discipleship school went treasure hunting on Monday night and I had a word for a "Carol or Caroline". We didn't find anyone with that name and I was a bit discouraged. On Wednesday I went out treasure hunting again with a friend of mine and I heard that God had a word for "Gayle". Again, no Gayles on Wednesday. I was thoroughly discouraged by the time last night rolled around.

Steve Backlund was talking about how when we are discouraged, that God is more concerned about our attitude of discouragement than the thing that discouraged us. We spent time calling out and rejecting lies that we have been believing from the enemy. One of the lies I believed that I called out was "I don't hear from God". I was disappointed that I didn't find Caroline or Gayle and figured that it was just something I made up. I realized that believing that lie was wrong and I repented and cried out, "I can hear God's voice for his people!"

This morning, before going to hear Rick Joyner, I met with my friend Jennifer at a donut shop across the street from the church. While there, I saw a woman with a medical mask on and God prompted me to pray for her. I followed her outside and asked if I could pray for her. She agreed and I introduced myself, then asked her what her name was...it was Gayle! I started crying and told her that I had been looking for her for two days! I prayed for her and believe that she has been healed!

I was so charged up! Worship was amazing this morning and God continued to speak to me...that he has a new thing for me, he is renewing my mind and changing my dominance...You see, I am left-handed and usually lead out with my left. This morning, unintentionally, my right hand has been on top and has been reaching out first. I asked God why and he said, "Because I want to take you by your right hand and I don't want your left hand to hold it back."

Then, tonight, while leading worship with the kiddos, this little girl is standing before me. It is her first time with us and she is wearing a name tag right across her chest that reads, yes..."Caroline". I almost couldn't stand up to play my guitar or sing. After we ate dinner, she and another girl had to go to the bathroom. As Sabrina (who is 8 and knows Jesus) and I were waiting for Caroline in the bathroom, I told her that when Caroline comes out, we need to sit down and share with her about Jesus. Sabrina was such a great helper in sharing the Gospel with Caroline.

After Caroline asked Jesus to come into her heart, we ran back to the class and announced what God had done. Caroline is a twin...she and her brother Cesar are 6 years old and she told Cesar what she had just done. "I am going to tell my brother the story of Jesus when we go to bed tonight", she said. After we shared with the others what Caroline had done, we asked if there was anyone who hadn't asked Jesus to come into their heart, but wanted to, to raise their hands. Cesar, Antonio (their brother who is 11), Jr. (a neighbor they brought with them) and a little girl named KeKe all gave their lives to Jesus!

Now if that doesn't make you want to scream from the rooftops that "Jesus is LORD!", I don't know what would. It has been an amazing couple of days!

Give You Praise

Doesn't this cake look amazing? It is sitting under this dome of glass...just waiting to be eaten. I love cake plates...I love cake. A cake plate is beautiful and functional. The best part is that it keeps the flies and fingers of passers-by off the cake when you have it sitting out somewhere. I have always thought that a cake on a plate with one of these domes was much fancier than just a regular cake in a pan, or one that you have to put toothpicks in to keep the plastic-wrap from sticking to the frosting. There is just something grand about a cake on a plate.

One of the things that I think about is how you don't dare touch a cake on a plate until the host/hostess says that it is time. You could pass by it a dozen times and still not dare touch it however much you want to.

Tonight, as we were worshiping to this amazing song by James Mark Gulley called, "Give You Praise", I had a picture of me standing on one of these cake plates with the dome on top of me. I had plenty of room to move around and people could come and see me. They may have passed me by a dozen times, but they have not had access to me...not until the dome was lifted off of me.

One of the staff members felt like God was saying that someone had a headache and he wanted to heal it...so if you needed prayer to come up. Well, I didn't have a headache, but I did have a broken toe. I broke it on Saturday and just popped it back into place and have been limping around on it all week. "There's nothing that can be done for it.", I said to several people when they asked if I had gone to the doctor. "He would just tell me keep from bumping it on anything and wait it out...it would heal eventually."

All week, I have been limping around with this broken toe, a dull, constant pain (like a headache) just thumping through it. I finally decided that I was tired of "living with the pain" of it and actually ask for prayer. And...yes, God healed it!

While I was being prayed over, one of my classmates shared something that he had seen as he was praying. "I see this wench pulling something off of you...I just see something being lifted off of you that you have been burdened by for some time." I cried out..."Yes! Lord! Take it away!"

I spoke with him right after that to tell him of the picture that God had given me before hand that confirmed what he was sharing with me. I think it is interesting that I, a girl, see it as a glass dome being lifted off a cake plate, but he, a guy, saw it as a wench lifting something off of me. We each saw it from our own perspective, but the spiritual application was the same...God is lifting something off of me that will make me accessible for His purpose.

Now...what that purpose is, I am still listening and waiting to find out. Ö)

Our retreat begins tomorrow afternoon and will last through Sunday afternoon. Please pray for me as the Lord does a work in my heart...that whatever burdens need to come off, that I would be readily able to recognize them and give them over to Him.

I close with the words to James Mark's song below:

I will give thanks to the Lord for You are good
I will give thanks to the Lord for You are merciful
I will give thanks to the Lord for You are good
You have been good all of my days - and I will give You praise

All my life I've dreamed of You
For Someone who would love me,
and take off all these chains
So God of Glory, speak Your word,
And the sun shall rise,
And the mountains, they will melt
And the King of Glory shall come in,
And I will lift my voice

And I will give You praise
I will give You praise
I will give You praise
I will give You praise

A Gentle and Quiet Spirit

Last night was the first night of Elevate PM discipleship school, a ministry of Antioch Community Church. I moved to Waco just three weeks ago, today, to attend this school. I knew God wanted to do some things - GREAT THINGS - in my life this year...I expected it - expect it. However, I didn't anticipate exactly WHAT he would ask of me.

After introductions and expectations, we stood to worship. My body was still aching from our worship experience at church on Sunday. (It was Antioch's 10-year Anniversary, and it was a blow-out of lawn chairs, sweat, sunshine, sunburns, sweat, worship, sweat, baptisms, sweat, dancing before the LORD, more dancing and water...LOTS of water!) I don't have a gym here or a workout program, but who needs one with the kind of worship I have experienced in the past two weeks? You can check out a video of the service by clicking here or, a slideshow of the experience by clicking here.

Ok, back to the report...after introductions and expectations, we stood to worship. In the midst of this time of singing, the words of David from Psalm 25:3 poured out "No one whose hope is in the LORD will ever be put to shame..." At that moment, I heard the Lord speak, "Take off your rings - all your jewelery."

"Ahhh! Really? My jewelery? Is THAT the way you are going to play this?" - I argued with God

"Don't let your adorning be external - but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in my sight. For this is how the holy women who hoped in me used to adorn themselves...by submitting to their husbands. I AM YOUR HUSBAND! SUBMIT TO ME IN THIS!" (1 Peter 3:3-5)

Well, I couldn't get my jewelery off fast enough (don't forget the toe rings!)

You see, several months ago, as he was showing me that he is PASSIONATELY in love with me, he gave me a bracelet that I am wearing right now...It is gold, with a ruby-red heart. The heart is alive and it is beating even as I write this. You can't see it, but I can...and HE can. He said to me, "I only want you to wear what I give you this year - and it won't look like what you think."

Shortly after that, a girl named Anne, came to me and shared a word from the Lord for me. Matthew 6:28-30 "Yet, I tell you, Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these - will HE not much more clothe you?"

What a blessing! What a gift! I wondered if I had been disobedient if he would have given me that word from Matthew...I was on such a high! I went home full of the joy of the LORD...and then I blew it...BIG TIME!

Do you have those things in your life that steal your joy? Those things that seem to rob you of your victory the instant you try to find comfort in something other than Christ? Well, I have plenty of them...and I look forward to HIM taking those things away from me this year. The discipline that will come from intimacy with Christ is going to be GRAND!

Psalm 130

¹Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
²O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

³If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
⁴But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.

⁵I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
⁶my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.

⁷O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
⁸And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.

Sparmüll Tag

In Germany, they don't really have "Thrift Stores", although today, I did see a clothing donation bin near the train station...there is a store down the street from my apartment called, "Second Hand Mollywood", but the clothes look too old for my life stage.

But...They do have something really cool and that is "Sparmüll Tag"! Which basically boils down to "Thrift store on the corner of your street day". Our team leader's wife, Jennifer, is great at finding usable stuff! We have furnished our office with a lot of furniture that Jennifer found on the street.

Well, today is Sparmüll Tag and I got some great finds! [If you receive any of these as gifts in the near future, pretend like you don't know they came off the street.]

A lovely little vase

Can be used as a pencil cup...

A stainless steel trivet (probably originally for milk and sugar)...

Works well for oversized tea lights...

If only there was some way I could list a bunch of the junk I find, and sell it on the internet...I'd be rich!

Love Heals Everything

I've been listening to Shawn Mullins the last day or so and this song has been on my heart. I know that everyone laughs (even I do) when people take modern love songs and turn them in to "Christian" songs...the classic ones being: "How Sweet It Is" by James Taylor and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye. BUT, as I have been resting in the love of my Savior these past couple of days, the song "You Mean Everything To Me" by Shawn Mullins really has been a worshipful song to me.

I've been doing a study by Beth Moore called "Stepping Up" which deals with the Psalms of ascent. The latest lesson I have done focused on how God is FOR us...that he is on our side, not just that we are on his side, but that HE IS ON OUR SIDE! To know that I mean everything to my Savior is a sweet, sweet feeling. I thought I would include Psalm 124 and the lyrics to the song beneath it. I pray that this would be a time of worship for you as well...

Psalm 124 (New International Version)

¹ If the LORD had not been on our side—
let Israel say-

² if the LORD had not been on our side
when men attacked us,

³ when their anger flared against us,
they would have swallowed us alive;

⁴ the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,

⁵ the raging waters
would have swept us away.

⁶ Praise be to the LORD,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.

⁷ We have escaped like a bird
out of the fowler's snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.

⁸ Our help is in the name of the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

You Mean Everything To Me - Shawn Mullins

I've been on the road too long,
and I've been stuck inside a song,
And you know our love
has been through rougher weather...
But our passion's like a rose,
the seasons tell it how it grows,
And not much compares
to the times we've shared together.

'Cause love heals everything.
We're no exception to the rule.
You mean everything to me.

So if there is anything at all,
all you've got to do is call,
And you know that
I would drive 10,000 miles...
Just to show you that I care,
just to kiss your honey hair,
And pull you close
and hold you like a child.

Love heals everything.
We're no exception to that rule.
You mean everything,
You mean everything,
You mean everything to me.

Sushi Night!

Tonight, I had the opportunity to hang out with Annika and make sushi for the first time before we met for our girl's discipleship group. Annika is a great teacher and I am very proud of my first sushi roll! The girls came over after we were finished putting it all together and we all had a yummy dinner.

Annika with the first of our ingredients: carrot, avacado, cucumber and sweet egg.

Everything is laid out and ready to roll...

We had to cover our hands in mayonaise to keep the rice from sticking.

Me rolling my very first sushi roll!

Annika was a master at cutting up the pieces!

Our sushi platter...Annika made the reverse roll as well!

凝った(こった)、美味しい(おいしい)
(tasty!)

"Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan's egg." Hans Christian Andersen

1 Peter 2:9-12 (New Living Translation)

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

If You Have to Make a Sign...

I was shopping yesterday at Alnatura, which is Germany's version of Whole Foods. As I was passing through the produce department, I saw a really funny sign on their produce scale and thought I would share it with you all.

"We ask, for hygienic reasons, that no children with street shoes be placed on the scale. Thank you for your understanding."

414

Friday morning, my team leader, Pete, and I went out into the city to talk with and pray for people. Interestingly enough, God gave each of us the same passage of scripture before heading out that morning: Isaiah 26:1-8

"In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts. Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith. You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal. He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust. Feet trample it down— the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor. The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth. Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts."

As we walked into the city, we were frustrated that it seemed as if nobody was just enjoying the day, at rest. Everyone was busily walking places and didn't have time for a conversation. Pete suggested we head to Schiller Platz, where there are a lot of benches. Maybe, we would see someone there.

We saw a woman sitting by a fountain and began a conversation with her. We prayed with her and talked with her for about 15 minutes. She is the typical example of the people here in Germany. She is "catholic" but only because she was confirmed in the catholic church.

She asked about our website (as we gave her a card with our church information on it and website address) Our website is: 414people.de

The 414 stands for John 4:14 when Jesus met the woman at the well and he told her that if she drank from the water that he gives, she will never thirst again...(I thought it interesting that we met her while sitting around a fountain or "well" as some call it - in German the words are interchangeable.

She does not have a church that she attends or a relationship with Jesus. I believe that she will come to our church tonight! I pray that she will encounter Jesus there as the woman at the well did. Her name is Heidrun, please pray with us for her.

As we were heading back to our office, we were walking past a store where we have a relationship with the store owners. Hasan and Sadia. They are Muslim, but Sadia has been very open to relationship. I have been reaching out to Sadia in various ways and Pete has been reaching out to Hasan. They have a son named Shayan who is the same age as one of Pete's boys. Pete and his wife have also set up some play dates for Shayan and Jacob, just as an opportunity for Pete and Jennifer to get with them as well.

We decided to stop into the store and buy something so as to chat with them and ask if we could leave some of our cards at their register. Sadia was working and was so excited to see us. When Pete gave here our card, she asked, "What does the 414 mean?"

Pete told her that was the right question to ask and began to quote the verse. Sadia looked at him wide-eyed as he was quoting the verse and blurted out, "Give me some of that water!" [At this point, I wasn't standing there quietly as they spoke...I let out a little squeal as I grabbed my Bible out of my messenger bag.]

I tuned to the passage and showed her what the Bible said:
[John 4:13-15 New Living Translation]

13 Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

15 “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.”

I showed her that her response was exactly that of the woman at the well, and that the water was available to her if she would only ask Jesus for it. We prayed for her and I believe God gave me a picture of her sinking in a bog…struggling. Then I heard a voice cry out, “be still” and I saw a hand reach out to her. Then I heard Psalm 40:1-2

“I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”


She received it well for herself, however, it is very difficult for her because her husband is not interested in following Jesus. Culturally, it is difficult for Muslims to have a move towards Jesus without the head of the house making that decision as well. My prayer for her is that she will share this story with Hasan and his eyes and heart will be opened to Jesus. Please pray for Hasan, that he would have an encounter with Jesus and that he would begin to seek Him! This was so exciting!