January 21, 2008

Tom left for Africa on Friday and arrived safely in Ghana. I haven't talked to him but I got an email that said the trip was uneventful...which when traveling to Africa is a GOOD thing. All the luggage arrived with them, flights were on time, etc. We are thankful for his safe arrival!

Last week was busy getting Tom packed and ready to leave, but it was also a week of prayer, praying for people about healing. I felt like the Lord was going to open up opportunities for me to share my story with others, and that is happening almost daily. But along with that is the opportunity to pray for healing for the people that are contacting me. I am thrilled to pass on hope to everyone that calls me or contacts me in someway.

Three things happened last week. One was a dear friend in Tennessee that was asking for prayers regarding her thyroid. She went in on Tuesday and the levels were too high so the doctor wanted to get her started on thyroid medicine. But her daughter encouraged her to go get another blood test. Wednesday night many people were praying for her. Thursday she went in for the blood test and the levels were completely normal. We have been thanking the Lord!!! The other two were people that we went to their home to pray with them, praying for their healing and believing that the Lord will do that. We don't know how or when...that's God's job. We are just praying for them. It is pretty exciting to be stepping into this world of faithwalking.

I was thinking about the whole teaching that we should believe BEFORE we can see the evidence happening. The Scripture that comes to mind is Mark 11:24 "Whatever you ask for in prayer believe that you've already received it and it shall be yours." Jesus said that.

That is SO hard!

The definition of faith is believing without seeing and taking action. I started thinking about how we do that with relationships. If there is a conflict between me and someone I love, I want to go ahead and step out with action showing love even if I'm not completely "feeling" it. For example, if Tom and I had a fuss about something (yes, it's true, sometimes we fuss)...even to the point of being irritated with each other, we would still at some point try to hug and make up and say "I love you". My heart may still be irritated, but my words were true. My words and action were going ahead of my feelings.

So...believing the unseen is kind of like that. You speak and act in ways that say "I believe this is going to happen by God's power" even if your "feelings" haven't quite caught up with your words. This is something I am learning, I sure don't have it down. But I believe the Word of God, the Scriptures, are true. So if they're true, then...WOW! That's what it says..."it shall be yours". My whole life I've added my own qualifying words to that sentence. Well...it shall be mine IF it's what God wants and if I'm good enough or whatever. Those words are not there. It says "if you believe that you've already received it, it shall be yours."

SO...I'm learning to pray differently. I'm still learning. I'll keep you posted.

Thank You, Lord, for today. Thank You for all Your blessings that You continually give to us! I'm so grateful to You for Your love, Your mercy and the joy that You've given to me. You are an awesome, holy God!!!