Day 2

Full.
Joy.
Anticipation.
Ready for bed. :)

This morning as I met with Jesus, I had the strangest, and yet very beautiful picture of Him leaning over me, tying up the back of a chain maille chest-covering, as I prayed that I would put on the breast-plate of righteousness and the belt of truth. As I knelt before Him, my hands resting on the ground, they grew heavy-laden, almost as if a bowling ball were laying on top of them. What is this all about, Lord? In my spirit I sensed Him saying I would pray for healing today. Ok. I read through John 5 and 6, rejoicing that I have tasted the Bread of Life and hunger no more. I rejoiced to share this life-giving food with any who I encountered today.

I ate toast for breakfast, in honor of Jesus' words to me. I think I enjoyed that toast more than any other. I prayed for those who hunger in the flesh, to be satisfied. I anticipated another full day on Jesus' agenda.

I met up with Betsy and Chelsea in the parking lot of Monkey Joe's, the local bouncey zone. We shared what God had shared with us this morning. Betsy had been praying about the armor of God. She had read in Joshua 6, how Israel took down the impenetrable walls of Jericho with an unseemingly powerful strategy--obedience to God. She said that no matter how "walled up" a person appeared to be, no matter how impenetrable, we would trust God to tear down the walls as we obeyed His leading. What a word. We prayed. We commited our steps to the Lord. We trusted in Him. He did it.

Betsy and Chelsea took their babies to a baby bounce area and began to minister to a young mom, who, turns out, is a sister in the Lord, but a little lonely and in need of encouragement. I planted myself at the table in eye-shot of the boys, but next to another woman seated at the table beside mine. We strike up conversation. You moms out there know the drill...

How many kids do you have??? How old? Where do they go to school? Oh, King of Glory Preschool??? Are you believers?

"No."

Oh. [getting the first glimpses of her impenetrable wall] I move on to talk about my own daughter's schooling. Why we chose a Christian school. Where she is going this year, where she used to go last year. Then the woman pipes in:

"That's where I went to school growing up."

Really? The same Christian school? But you don't believe?

"I used to. But I always had doubts. And once I realized that you could believe something other than Christianity, I did research and found out the Bible wasn't true."

Really? How did you come to that conclusion?

"I started seeing all of the discrepancies."

Like what???

And so it began! :) What was so great was that my girl, Chelsea, happened to walk up in the middle of this conversation, at a time when my inner dialogue is saying, don't go down this road, Chelsea up and takes the wheel and proceeds to share how she discovered that Jesus is true, and the road of research and logic that led her to Christ! It was so beautiful how the Holy Spirit led each of us in different ways to bring about His message of life and truth. And it also demonstrated to each of us, the power of sharing in teams! The Holy Spirit was so good. I would have been happy with just that. But there was more!

As we were preparing to head out, Chelsea shared that she thought she was supposed to pray with another woman who was in the building. Betsy and I agreed that that would be good, and Betsy decided that she would watch the kids so the two of us could go and try to pray with her.

The woman was such an attentive, playful mom that we couldn't quite figure out a graceful way to interrupt and say, "Hey, can we pray for you???" Not quite the technique I was going for. So we opted to pray and ask the Lord to give us a graceful introduction, if it was His will. After sitting around for a few moments, we decided to start packing up. Maybe we were wrong. I went to go throw away some trash in the bathroom and there she was standing face to face with me, calling out after her son, "Caleb!"

I quickly seized the opportunity and noted that my son shares the same name. I asked her about her other kids and they also had Biblical names.

Your kids all have names from the Bible. Did you do that on purpose??

"Yes!" she said with a smile.

Are you a believer?

"Yes!" she said, "In fact, my husband is a pastor!"

We laughed and shared with her how we believed that the Holy Spirit wanted us to pray with her. She shared a little bit about her family, their journey to planting their own church, and eventually mentioned that her son, Caleb, was being tested for unknown health problems, one possibility being Celiac disease.

Really??? The Lord had told me I would pray for healing. And it just so happens that a highlight of Chelsea's testimony is that she was healed--of Celiac! :) Can you imagine how our hearts surged with faith and delight at God's beautiful orchestration of events? We layed hands on that dear sister and her little Caleb and prayed for Jesus to heal and celebrated His love and kindness toward us who believe.

We left that Monkey Joe's more filled with love and awe than when we went in. And then I remember Jesus' words from John 5:20 this morning"...greater works than these will He show...that you may marvel."

I marvel, indeed, Lord.

Bring it.

p.s. please continue to pray for strength and for God to be glorified! You are helping us through your prayers and sharing in the work of the harvest!!!