I have felt that stepping into this month of July 2022 there is a releasing and or freedom of sorts in life as I know it! I saw the attached picture on the internet and felt an ‘affinity’ (meaning = a strong liking for or attraction to) straight away.
Can you imagine being cooped up inside the above eggshell, counting down the days until you hatch! Ha Ha Ha! But I would say we have all been there at one time or another…. Just waiting until our time comes, whether it be in a shopping line or waiting at a set of traffic lights!
Oh, I totally remember going to Paris on one holiday back in 2013 and my husband had not long finished chemo so as we went to visit the Palace of Versailles, the line was sooooooo long and he could not stand on his feet for that long (due to what chemo had done to nerves in his feet) so I was left to take one for the team—standing in this long snaking line for what seemed half a day just to purchase tickets to get inside! Of course, along the way, I got talking to a lady near me who was visiting for ‘something to do’ as she worked in Paris, but her family (husband and child) lived in another country, so she did tourist activities to fill in her time as she was on her own – how sad. (not what I would endorse as the best or optimum of family dynamics).
What is resonating in me at the moment is I am part of a church that has campuses all around the world and this weekend is a significant milestone in our church calendar as we set aside this for the ‘Miraculous Possibilities’ of what God can do in and through us as a church community and of course, it has global implications!
Our God is amazing, and I have become more and more attuned to that knowledge as the years have passed, experiencing firsthand my Heavenly Father stepping in and gallantly sweeping me into his loving arms for rescue, protection, blessing and so much more.
That is not to say I don’t still experience total hardships like everyone else – I do but as I traverse those seasons, putting Him (my Heavenly Father) first and kneeling at my bed every evening to talk to him about it all that is when I hear from Him to take my next steps.
Today (2/7/22) I read an encouraging word from the following – Nate & Christy
….“The tired and the weary, the battered from battle and the assassinated, and the ones who have been taken out. The ones who have been deactivated—I am restoring them, says the Lord. I am giving them a fresh wind and putting My Spirit upon them, without measure. I'm bringing so many back from the brink of death in this season. You’ll be so surprised who I restore to their former glory but with so much more. New names—names, that's right—names are going to change. Names are going to be changed, new robes, and new running shoes….
….“Yes, you will build safe-houses and places of protection from the storm. They will be greenhouses, where what I pour out will multiply rapidly, because the hour is at hand and the workers are few for the harvest.
“And you will build refuges, homes, and raise up families who will be mighty in the earth, who will restore the places of desolation. And my church will leave the pews of apathy and become warriors and watchmen, of this new era.
“And it will be said: ‘Build up, build up, prepare the road! Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.’ Isaiah 57:14….
….It’s time to pick up your blueprints and build again. It’s time to leave the messy transition and long season of feeling lost and homeless and be established and thriving for the days to come.
What has inspired me from this encouragement above is the following;
1. New running shoes – I have been on a very ‘intermittent’ personal journey of exercise and just in the past week I was advised by a health professional, who is upping my exercise commitments very soon, to say that I will be required to purchase & wear new trainers if I am to be at all intentional about my progress. My husband and I will be embarking on a trip soon to a rather bleak and barren terrain (He is really excited – I just don’t want to die of cold) so I am having to up my exercise regime to prepare for the type of activities that may inhibit me from ‘enjoying the journey’ so to speak. It would seem that not just any footwear will pass for doing different types of activities so I will be needing more supportive cushioning for what is ahead. But since having foot surgery almost 2 years ago has made me more convinced to do this well.
If I am going to be needing running shoes in the natural and the spiritual then I want to be prepared, so the next point will be totally needed!
2. Greenhouses – My church offers an inhouse 12-month training program called Greenhouse for those wanting more in their walk with the Lord and I was prompted in my heart back in March this year to consider this for myself in 2023 so the more I hear these things, the more I am eager to reach for it.
3. Pick up and build again – back in 2009 the Lord opened up the most miraculous door for my husband and I to take hold of, a ‘pilot parenting program’ from the UK which just blew us away in His timing and purpose for it… read more below;
In August 2007, I was reading a book called “Completely His” by Shannon Ethridge. Her dedication to praying over her and her husband’s passports to be available and used for the Father’s business was inspiring. At that time, my husband and I had passports sitting in a top drawer (for seven years) for a family trip to the UK that had never happened. I thought what a waste of money to spend having them and do nothing with them so from that day on I took out both mine and my husband's to start to lay hands on them every day for them both to be used for God’s purposes for whatever life they had le. in them. I did not want them to be a waste but used for His glory.
In December of 2007, I was on the door one Sunday morning, shaking people’s hands when, a lady that was praying for my husband and I came to me very excitedly to say that she had a vision that morning of me standing up in front of women, preaching! Of course, I just said “good morning, thanks for that, enjoy the service” I was a little skeptical and thought that is one I am going to put on the shelf for the time being.
Early in the New Year, some months on, I was experiencing some difficult circumstances and had the desperate sensation of just wanting to run away – any way possible. I happened to be speaking with our mission director. I jokingly said to him, “do you have anywhere I can run away too?” He came back to me and said there is a woman at church who would like to take a team to Sri Lanka to minister to groups of women and would I be interested. Straight away, I said, “no, thank you, I was not asking for that type of running away to.” Over the next few
months, several situations arose (and it would take another whole book to recount – but I shall share just one below) but God was orchestrating for me to make a choice – would I go and do what I had been praying for over my passport or not?
It was a hard choice to make as the enemy tried so viciously to interfere, but as I chose to be obedient and went, God was always a step ahead, and walking in that revelation is a whole new level again. Awesome actually!
A few weeks before traveling to Sri Lanka, in August 2008, our team of three had
the intercessors at our church pray for us before going. In that session, a passage of
scripture (please read chapter “Challenge to be Unique”) was read over us, and one
particular verse stood out to me. In that instant, it was read out; God took me back
to when I was ten years old where that same verse was written out and given to me
by a church leader (Ann Thomas) when I was at a kids camp. The Lord said to me
that He had that written back then for me now. I cannot explain in a few words the
impact that had on me – to know that God saw me standing in front of hundreds of
Women preaching in the present back when I was only ten.
In amongst that, God made way for my husband David and I to also travel to the UK for our 25th Wedding Anniversary 8 months later. We were able to travel just before our passports ran out. In stepping out for Him and His purposes, he also turned around and blessed our obedience, giving us the desire of our hearts along with it!
Around this same time, a prophetic word was shared with me to say that the Lord was going to open up to us five doors, and the first was to open up while away on our trip to the UK. Not only does God give you the desires of your heart, but in traveling to the UK and meeting up with contacts over there, a pilot program for a new Parenting Course was given to us to run back home in Australia that was a God orchestrated and appointed moment. So the Lord opened up doors and used us as well.
God has been so good, and these circumstances were all instrumental in bringing us into relationships with many others. These relationships have played a large part in our walk over the years and have gone on to be a huge blessing to us and God’s influence further afield. I so desire for those I meet to know the kind God that wants to be influential in their life too.
We were blessed over many years to have doors open up to us, at the invitation from
Principals in Government Primary Schools during this season. There were approximately five schools in the district surrounding our church, where we ran the Parenting Program. Along with many dedicated volunteers supporting us from our church community, we touched many families through this mighty program, and we give God all the praise, He was up to something great through it!
quote from 'Door of Hope' by Kim Stanfield - https://www.kimcreations.com.au/publications
So if God is encouraging me to train up, prepare, equip and go out again to build for Him then bring it on Lord – do it again, can’t wait!
Comments