The long Journey Home

So we got the truck back and the next day we returned the rental car. I noticed that something was wrong with the brakes on the way, so before we could take off, we had to, yet again take the truck in to get looked out. The mechanics did a little adjustment and we finally got on the road in the late morning. I didn't want to stop for quite a while but Eythan decided he had to pee. I was going to make him pee in a cup, but all of the sudden we started hearing a clicking sound coming from the engine. We took the next exit and let the kids potty and eat lunch. When we turned the truck back on the clicking sound was still there. Jon checked it out and could see that the serpentine belt was coming undone and hitting the hood, thus making the clicking sound. He said he thought we could probably make it home, but we decided since we were at an exit we would just find a Firestone (the place that has fixed us up more than we care to recall). Just as I typed in the coordinates in the GPS and we pulled out of the gas station...BAP!! The air quite blowing, the radio went out, all of the gages go haywire and the truck starts over heating. The Firestone is just .9 miles away so we drive like crazy. The fire stone was right in front of a mall so we hung out there while they fixed the truck.....again. We made it home a day later with out any further problems, but we need a new truck. Please pray with us.

We will be staying at a KOA in Arlington while Jon is doing training. We hope to bring what we've learned at North Gate to ours and other's church. I can't wait!

Thanks for your prayers on our journey. See ya soon!

Blessings,

Emily

Really....You're Covered.

So we are excited to be coming home, but a little sad because we would like a little more time at North Gate to rest and learn. We pull out of our rv space and hear a squeaking.....we heard it a couple weeks ago when we changed spaces but didn't think much of it. After two speed bumps the squeaking stops, a couple blocks later our drive train falls out of the bottom of our truck.....but at least the squeaking stopped!!!

So, a really nice gentleman at the park came and towed our trailer back to it's spot and we called a tow truck for the truck. We already know some great mechanics down the road......from the LAST time our truck broke down and we towed it there. Thank GOODNESS I didn't put any money in savings or could have been much worse (a little sarcastic humor...if you didn't get it call me later and I'll explain!! :)).

So as I'm sitting in the middle of the road with my foot on the break because the parking break wasn't working and if you let off the whole shebang went backwards down the hill and I keep hearing "You're covered", over and over in my head and heart. I'm thinking "HOW exactly is this being covered, God?" But when I was finally able to get out and see the damage, and I realized what could have happened if we had made it to the freeway and were going 60 mph instead of 2 mph. I realized just how covered we were! Today the enemy had planned to kill my family. Not getting the results he wanted from simple harassment, he decided to just take us out. But Praise the ALL MIGHTY GOD WE'RE COVERED!!!

So I guess God wasn't finished with us in Atlanta yet. We really wanted a week to learn some logistics from the guys at North Gate anyway, and Jon was having second thoughts on Flood Training after talking to a couple guys who didn't have very good experiences. But we should be back for Eberls/State Farm training. The guy who helped us? From Eberals/State Farm.....ironic huh?

So.....we're at peace. Shouldn't be....but we are. We're covered.

As far as I know...we'll be back home next week....but that's what I said.....last week. So I guess I should say....I'll see you when God sends us back to Dallas!!!

Blessings,

Emily

Worship Reloaded

Remember in Matrix reloaded? The people of Zion are all gathered. The last remnants of humanity living their dreary lives caved up with the enemy consistently at the gate. Then in a release of passion and freedom they dance to the rhythm of drums and hope.

I love that scene, I always have. It's hot. It's passionate. It's the essence of the desire of a people to live and truly live in the midst of desperation.

I've always wondered why worshiping God couldn't be like that, but this Sunday it was.

The Spirit of God lit on his people at this little church in Atlanta. We were singing of how God spins over us and is pleased when we spend ourselves for him and dance. Then it happened. Here we were, living our dreary lives, the enemy consistently at the gate and we danced. Men women, children, old, young, white, black, Hispanic. In passion we danced for the Glory of God, and it released freedom. Freedom like I've never witnessed. We danced to the drums that echoed the hope of our Salvation for today, and tomorrow and the next. Hope in our Creator's goodness.

It was hot. Hot, sweaty, passionate, spinning worship. People were healed of pain, men and women were healed of the fear of man and God the Creator of dance and music was glorified.

This was worship reloaded, a piece of the heavenly worship here on earth. Man I can't wait to see how they do it there without the limitations of the flesh; we could only go for about two hours. But I have a pretty clear picture after yesterday.

Discovering Atlanta

Whew! We are finally out and about now that Jon has a little (and I mean little) time free. The first thing we did was go to the Mall of Georgia, which is like the Galleria and Frisco Mall smooshed together....then doubled! They had a bungee jump there that we let the kids do, and Jon had the brilliant idea that Caedon should try. Against my better judgement he convinced me...and well judge for yourself......
(if you can't view the video from the email go to the blog spot and you can see it there)

Eythan and Charis Bungee Jumping:





Caedon Bungee Jumping....a.k.a Baby slingshot torture:



Yesterday we went to the worlds largest aquarium. Yes...the WORLDS LARGEST aquarium is in Atlanta, GA. It was amazing! Pardon the quality of the pictures, we left the camera at home and had to use our cell phones.

Here are the kids "petting" rays and bonnethead sharks.






























This is a two story slide. Notice there is no pictures of Caedon. Apparently the dim bowls of the beast were a little to realistic for him and I had to rescue him when he came out instead of getting a picture.

































Jelly Fish Room.
















Kids being attacked by Jelly Fish.
















Tropical Reef Room. The aquarium extended to over our heads and every couple of minutes a wave would crash in timed to music. It was pretty awesome. Jon thought it would make a very relaxing bedroom. I thought it would cost millions of dollars.

This is the largest aquarium. It can be viewed from all sides and in the tunnel below. There were whale sharks, sand tiger sharks, giant grouper, and a giant Manta ray, which is the only one in captivity! She is 13 ft across right now and is expected to exceed 20 feet across, which makes this the only aquarium to be able to house an animal of that size.

This is an alligator. .. Or so I'm told. I taught the kids months ago the difference between the two when we were studying reptiles. If felt good to know they remembered something, because Charis was correcting everyone and laying out the ways to tell the difference. I hope she remembered it right, because I sure don't remember the difference!!!!

So when we got home from the mall the other day, Jon had 3 more claims in his inbox. He called his admin director and asked what was up. He said that is was fluke, don't expect anymore work. Jon got off the phone and checked his in box and *DING* there was another claim. A few minutes later *DING*, *DING*, *DING*, three more claims. As of today they are still coming. So as this is great and money is still flowing, we have a decision to make..well we've made it already but prayer would still be appreciated. Jon has signed up for Flood training a week from this coming Monday. He will cut himself off from work next week, and any SURE possibility of making money to take this training. BUT once he is Flood certified, he will most likely be busy year round. So just pray for wisdom and blessing, that would be the best thing we could receive right now.

Also Jon just called and he was able to minister to an insured today. She lost her husband last month and had a 4 year old son. It was really a divine appointment and it is great to see God still putting us where HE needs us most.

We will be back next week and we can't wait to see those of you in Dallas!

Blessings,

Emily

Your Covered

So here I am a week after melt down and I'm feelin' pretty fine. I'm having a lot of faith right now, a lot of trust. Thank you God for the gift of Prophecy!!

We went to the "Prophetic Discovery" at North Gate on Friday and it was AWESOME!

After a bit of worship, when it was our turn we were called into a room with three people; a man, a woman, and a teenage boy; who we didn't know from Adam....well we had met the pastor once before and he happened to be one of our guys. After waiting for them to hear from the Lord here are some things they had to say:

*Jon is like an oil well exploding from the top. This is anointing and/or financial blessing. But the man didn't feel like it was in a financial sense. (my response was "Oh shoot!")

*Havens means a safe place and God says He has made it safe for us. God says no matter what you perceive your circumstances "Your Covered". The teenager says he feels like God is saying, you have the tendency to freak out when something happens, but you need to rest in that covering. (seriously! You don't say! Have you been reading my blog?! is what I wanted to ask)

*The boy saw Jon with callouses on his hands and said God says you are a hard worker, with work and with the Kingdom. You will be blessed both spiritually and financially for hard work.

*Also the oil well is a picture of that covering and as long as we rest in the "haven" God has created for us, the anointing to reach God's people will be there and if we move in the anointing to reach the lost then the "covering" the "haven" will be there...does that make sense.

*For Eythan, he is mechanical and has a good imagination. Practically, they told him to write his ideas down and keep writing!

*For Charis, the man saw Charis writing and drawing, that she should continue to do that.

*The family, we should have music playing all the time. There is a creative bent that needs that.

*Me....and this is exactly what I was expecting because it is the one thing I struggle with more than anything. I need to cherish my ministry as a mother. I need to think of it as my primary ministry instead of the thing I'm doing right now while I'm waiting to do the good stuff. The man said I'm a person that needs down time in order to process this job and that if I don't get it, I can't be good at it. This is exactly what Jon and I have been discussing in recent weeks. So very confirming.

*The boy said there is also something else I'm doing that is reaching many people and that it is showing them the reality of Christianity. I can't remember is exact words the transcript is in the truck and I don't want to get it now....but his wording made it obvious to both Jon and I that he meant my blog. That is the hope that I have for it, that somewhere someone is saying "I thought I was the only one!" and then they know their not and that their normal......well as normal as can be and still think comparing themselves to me is a sane idea.

So there you have it, Prophecy in action, God's word for His people. It was very encouraging and very uplifting to know God has us covered and that He was verifying everything we were confronting. Yes some of them were very vague.....so what....they said them to us....right at the time we needed to hear them. They said it in love and blessing. Prophecy ROCKS!!! Thank you "guys I can't remember your names from two nights ago", you spoke God's words into our lives and blessed our family.

Until next time!

Blessings (and I really mean it)

Emily

The Verdict

Fixing the truck?

Only going to cost us everything we have in savings. Not as bad as we thought.

Blessings,

Emily

What the @#$% !

(before you read this understand I'm going to be as honest as possible....if you don't like honesty, real emotion, and all that implies, or if you would rather live in an imaginary world of Happy Christendom, then do not proceed. Also you probably shouldn't let young children read it.....)

Do you really want to know?



Here it is....



I'm going to blow the top off the inner workings of a REAL Christian.

You know me. I've been a Christian forever. I've had my struggles and doubts, triumphs and faith. Some people even look up to me. They either think "Hey...she really LOVES the Lord and has it all together." or they might think "Wow, she has such a genuine relationship with God."

Here's the real me.....

Sunday was AWESOME. We visited our friends church, North Gate, near Atlanta. The people were nice, the service was awesome, the message was "in-your-face-motivational" and the worship was incredible. I even got healed of a sore throat and ear ache during worship. But you know what I'm thinking? Do you really want to know?

"Oh God, if I only could sing like the worship leader. If I could only have her voice and her confidence. Then I could really do some amazing things for you. Oh God, if only I could play the keyboard like that guy, he's amazing. I could really usher in your presence if I was like that. I'm just not good enough."

So I spent most of worship repenting.

After church the kids start telling us what happened in their class. First of all, Charis has made instant friends with a little girl there, who is one month younger than she is. We found out later when we met her parents that they home school and we had lunch with them. We have a lot in common and hope to spend more time with them while we're here.

So in their class they had the kids do ministry and Eythan, while praying, feels a breeze and then falls to the ground and starts speaking in tongues. Charis also feel a manifestation of the Holy Spirit in her arms and falls down "a little" I'm not sure how that works...falling down a little? Anyway! We're super excited, we've always wanted for our kids to be involved in minstry this way. Also we're going to get to be involved in their outreach ministries while we're here, and we were going to go to a prophetic discovery night (that's what they call it) where you can just be prophesied over. We've met some new friends and Jon has the day off on Monday. Awesome stuff.

So on the way to get groceries.......

The truck breaks down again.

WTF God!?!?!?

YOU are supposed to protect us! YOU said your plans were for good! You are supposed to give me rest!

REST?!? I'm tired....tired of trying to find you in the little things. Tired of being hopeful. Tired of having faith. I live in a freakin' TRAVEL TRAILER! Your WILL sucks!

In the words of King David.....Did you bring us here to kill us?

Because it sure feels that way. I feel beaten and abandoned. I feel insignificant and loathed.

Again King David Said it best:


Psalm 13

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1 How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

Yeah that about sums it up!.....oh wait.....there's more.


5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.


God's spirit is water to my soul, his word, the bread of life. When my feelings tell me different, his Word is Truth.

Jeremiah 29:11

11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.


No fear, no worry

Matthew 6

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.


And when I can no longer stand on my own, my church....that is my family (and my family family) are there to see me through.

Jesus help me.

Jon's getting the truck diagnosed right now. Just pray it's easy and that he will be able to go to work tomorrow. Pray for protection over our stuff and our family. We really feel this an attack of the enemy to keep us from participating in Kingdom stuff. Pray for my spiritual schizophrenia and I'll pray for yours! (hey...if it was good enough for David!)

Blessings,

Emily

The Conference

First let me tell you the purpose of the conference. Susan, my new friend, felt God calling her to go to the four corners of Oklahoma and "open the Gates". The first stop was Altus, OK in the southwest corner of OK. The first night, there were several women and several other women came from the correctional facility. After a bit of worship, Susan felt God telling her someone needed to be healed of rape. Now, everyone knows you don't ask for women to come up for something so personal in the first thirty minutes of a conference. But a lot of times God doesn't know our rules. Susan was faithful and two beautiful young women stepped forward and began the road of healing. We all agreed they looked physically different; younger, lighter, happier. It was an amazing work of God. The entire weekend was full of healings like this, God opening hearts to forgiveness of others and self; releasing of past and stepping into the future, the destiny God has placed on our lives. One of the most remarkable moments for me was when Susan said she felt like God was saying to release a sound into the atmosphere, like a shofar (ram's horn used in worship and battle). We had a shofar there, but she felt like it needed to be women's voices. Jeanine and I awkwardly began, but the rest of the women took it up. Though there were only 20 or so women there, the sound was incredible. After a while it sounded like there were hundreds of women in the room, and the overtones became unearthly.....angelic if you will.

We heard some awesome teachings by some awesome women. I could go on and on about what they said but you get board and quite reading because I could never do them justice! The last night was incredible for many reasons. First, we sang "new songs", or spontaneous songs for about 30 minutes just asking God to open the gates. It was a very powerful time. The we started worship. It was a little difficult to break through at first, but then the sweet, sweet presence of the Lord filled the room. I haven't felt anything like that in a long time. It was just a precious time of soaking in the Lord's love for his girls. As we just sat there in the glory, Susan got up and said to everyone, "I think if you lick your lips you will taste honey." Sure enough, I licked my lips and they were sweet. A second later they were wet again, and I licked them again and there was more honey on them. This lasted the rest of the night, and didn't go away until I went to bed!! Pretty cool! That was a first for me.

I think God's purposes there were accomplished and I can't wait for the next "gate opening"! Many lives were changed and something was released into the atmosphere of Altus, OK that will make it more conducive to the work of the Holy Spirit. I myself was touched and something was released in me. Freedom in worship, prophetic worship, locked inside now free. I just need more practice!

Please pray for Altus, OK as with any freedom gained, the enemy will redouble it's efforts for bondage. Pray for Susan as she seeks the Lord for OK, as the enemy has no qualms about singling out officers. Why am I passionate about the battle for Oklahoma? Oklahoma is the heart of the heartland, of the United States of America! It's dead center. If God can bring revival to OK, revival will be injected into the bloodstream of America. Funny, the heart has four chambers. In these times there is little hope, and we feel America is too far gone. But God doesn't always know our rules. Let's see what he's about to do!!!!

Blessings,

Emily

Why the shower head broke

I was scrubbing the shower (my favorite job in the entire world...not) and I must have gotten to zealous because; now covered in comet and sweat; I turn on the shower and....it doesn't work. Water is just spewing out the bottom of the fixture. After and hour of doing, we figure out that it's flat broken and there ain't no fixin it. At least there are bath houses here and I could get cleaned up.

So on Jon's day off we have to travel across Atlanta and go get the part we need to fix it. Of course this is an RV so you can't just go down to Lowe's and pick it up. We had to find an RV specialty store.

An hour and a half in traffic later we get to the RV part store and get our part. While we're there we decide to look at some of their RVs for sale. As we're walking back to the office to pay for our part a car pulls in and is overheating. Jon sees if he can help. After he's talked to them for a while (the woman gets out and it's obvious she's about to pop out a baby any day), and we've paid for our part. Jon offers to tow them with the truck to their mechanic.

It's a horrible drive but the whole way Jon is praying for some word of knowledge or wisdom from God to speak into their lives. He says he thinks something about singing. He asks me if I have anything. I don't. So he asks the kids if they have anything. Charis says "No, but right before you asked me that, I had a picture of a lion in my head." I got the interpretation. If she is a singer, the Lion is the symbol of the tribe of Judah, and God has anointed her singing for his worship.

So the awkward moment approaches (for me anyway....no one else ever seems bothered by this but me) where Jon shares the words. She is entirely blessed by what he has to say and then he turns to the man. Jon's only word for him was "purpose". It really meant something to the guy and what Jon told him was right on. Then Jon says out of the blue "the purpose God has for you will be inherited by your son" and points to the pregnant girl. The girls squeals and says "He just kicked! He just kicked! When you said that he kicked!" It was a really neat moment and then Jon was able to encourage them to get into a church and be in fellowship.

It was amazing for our family to participate together in evangelism and a perfect pictures of "see in part, hear in part". I didn't even care anymore that I broke the shower!

Blessings,

Emily