Prayer Request.

Please pray for the First Missionary Baptist church, 12th street, here in Cairo.

Two days ago we had some strong winds and they blew off part of the roof of their church.

We have gone to this church several times and often bring visiting mission groups there to worship with this sweet congregation. Many of our friends from YouthWorks and First Free will remember this church, for many God used this place to touch them in a powerful way while they were in Cairo. Their pastor prays with the other pastors here in Cairo for God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done.

We are believing that God is going to use this for His glory, please join us in praying for:

Encouragement for the congregation, and strength, wisdom, and direction for Pastor Topp.
Pray for the churches of Cairo – that many would reach out to this congregation in compassion, especially across racial lines (this is still a very big dividing factor in our community)
Pray that God would use this situation to bring more healing, unity, and communication to the churches here in Cairo.

For more of the story, pictures, and video check out: Heartland News Story

Finding family.

Last weekend the Harrisburg, IL House of Prayer and Mt. Carmel peeps came to our Uprising time and helped prepare the room for another group of intercessors who showed up on Saturday to pray and worship from noon til 6.

I love it when God brings people together, these crazy little prayer people. The Harrisburg group was a real treat because they were kind of like us – a group of youngins with a spirtual mom and dad giving them leadership, chasing after the heart of the Lord in prayer and worship. Generally in our area, a lot of the prayer peeps tend to be older – and I love them, don’t get me wrong, but it was fun to see other young adults going after God like us too. It really was like meeting our other half, meeting all them. I really love them, I felt like we had adopted all these brothers and sisters. Such a sweet time. Please note, I use the word “crazy” with every bit of endearment.

Saturday was a treat too, we had a lot of the intercessors from all over the state come and pray and worship with us over Cairo, knowing that God is doing something here that will basically spread out through the rest of the state. This may sound strange or odd what that even means, but God has been speaking to this crazy group of prayer people for quite a while, and He just keeps talking to us, and we just try and keep up and do what He says – and things are happening. One of the amazing things God is doing is connecting people in the region. Check out “Pray Illinois” website in my sidebar to see more of what God is up to in Illinois. We are praying that as a region, we can cover this area in 24-7 prayer. Join us in praying for God to mobelize the intercessors.

The wisdom of children.

mile marker 27.

27 years ago today, I was born.

Another year older. I find myself over the past few years really feeling thankful for each new year God brings me through. Tomorrow is never a guarantee, and though the alternative, being with Jesus, is quite the step up from here, I’m thankful to continue to serve Him in this place.

So I find myself reflecting and praying that if God should grant me one more day, or one more year:

I would bare more fruit for His Kingdom and of His Spirit.
I would walk in victory in areas of my life where I have often walked in defeat.
My heart would be conformed more and more into the likeness of Christ’s.
I would encounter God’s love in a new and overwhelming way this year.
I would love others better.
I would grow in hunger for and understanding of His Word.
I would laugh more.
I would give more.
I would be still and know more.

I was blessed with many Birthday wishes today and prayers, and they were so sweet to me. I had many a round of “Happy Birthday” sung and a wonderful evening with my Cairo family complete with a scrumptous salad bar dinner (plus fabulous breadsticks) and chocolate fondue. It was delectable. I highly recommend the combination for easy, yummy, party fun. The laughing was exceptional.

To my next season, Lord. Thank you for bringing me thus far. Your faithfulness is evident. Your kindness is undeserved.
Thank You.

4 mile marker.

Here’s some fun things that have been going on of late:

Before Christmas I was able, by God’s grace, to have the opportunity to spend about 20 mins giving a presentation to a fifth grade class on the historical perspective of Chrisitanity. And it was so much fun to share the story of the Bible with these kids. They were so attentive, asked amazing questions, and really began to understand what this Jesus story was all about. What a gift to share that. God showed up and released the words, and it was a joy to talk about Him in that setting. The kids had been asking so many questions over the past couple of weeks as they studied about different celebrations over the holiday season (Chanukah, Kwanza, Christmas, etc) that I asked Ms. G if it would be helpful to share more about this Christmas story to help answer some of their questions. She said, “yes!” and God did his thing!

We hosted our first Uprising (prayer and worship) over at Elmwoord, a local housing project, and the place was packed out – with children. How awesome is it to see children flock to worship the Lord. They were such an encouragement to each of us. We praised, shared a gospel message, and were able to pray and encourage the kids in the gifts that God had given them. And we finished off with yummy cookies and milk. Good times.

Things are going well here in Cairo. God is moving. Melissa’s 5th grade class had 9 students on the honor roll!! That’s over half her class, and honestly pretty unheard of in most classes here in Cairo. So awesome. I’m proud of those kids and Melissa.

Stacy and I are up and running, literally, as we train for the Nashville half marathon in April. Very much outside either of our boxes. We weren’t the sporty kids growing up, by any means – me for sure. But God is giving us strength and perserverance in the midst. I’m learning that although I enjoy running the most (out of other things I could do at the gym), it’s good to switch things up and use different muscles, try the elliptical every once and while. It kind of reminded me of how I like prayer and worship the most, out of all the ways to minister, that’s my favorite thing, but I’ve got other “spiritual muscles” that need to be worked out too, like serving the poor, loving the children, and feeding the hungry, and these things will actually improve my worship and prayer, just like the eliptical hoopla will aide in my running. Spiritual correlations all around. I’m not sure how to correlate the blisters I have all over my feet now, but I’m sure it’ll come ). We just made the 4 mile marker, anything must be possibe!

Shifting seasons.

I had a wonderful gift of going home to spend Christmas and New Years with my family in Texas, thanks to the kind contibution of my brother, Tim, paying my way down there. My time was good – restful and full of lots of yummy food…which I think I now have to “regroup” from eating ;o) I had some great conversations with my mom and brother, and several moments which I like to categorize as “tender moments from the Lord” where it was God providing a unique opportunity to share something from my life or receive encouragement from my family. I felt a new release to pray and connect with the Lord while I was home and got to pray with my mom quite a bit, which I love. I also watched mucho Frasier episodes and avoided, sorry to my sportsfans, as many football games as possible. It’s just not my thing, and we can all be okay with that ;o).

And now here we are in 2008 and I can’t help but remember when I was a little kid thinking of what life would be like in the “2000s” and then shrugging it off because it seemed SO FAR AWAY….and here it is…like two days later.

I know things are shifting, spiritually this year…just feel things stirring and shifting. I don’t quite know what to expect. I’m excited, but also have this overwhelming hunch that I have no idea what’s on its way.

I’ve seen God do a lot of amazing things in the last month, which I will share a little later, and I’ve heard some amazing testimonies (check out heather c’s blog on the right for an amazing miracle story).

Right now, more than anything I crave that place cozied up under God’s wing. I just want to soak and spend time with Him. Praying for the grace to abide.

a song the Lord sings over me…