salvation

Atheist Professor teaches his 7y.o. meaning of life – my story of meeting a good God

Categories God is good, God is good stories, God is good testimonies, God is Good!, God testimony, My story, salvation

Well I’ve never really told my story on this blog.  In fact, in typical Aussie style I have kept myself out of this blog on purpose, essentially because:

  1. Australians hate “big noting Aussies”.  Yes people the tall poppy syndrome does exist here.  I never wanted to be accused of “big noting” or making this blog about myself – because this blog was about God, and His goodness and His willingness to use me (a random Aussie girl who wanted to give “the big stuff a go!  So I made sure my identity was keep out of it);
  2. Online safety – I don’t have a face book page, I instagram, but without identifiers, and I have two children I did not want to expose to the  internet – essentially, if I am real with you I have a fear of unknown consequences 🙂
  3. most importantly – I felt I needed to be anonymous, and hopefully by being anonymous people would be inspired to understand that anyone (yes you) can do the God stuff too – you don’t need to be clever, talented, qualified, you just needed to love God, listen and do as He says in faith (with love!)

I have now come to understand that a lot of what I was doing on the streets as I went about my days is now identified as “prophetic evangelism”, but even giving it a name seemed (and still seems) wrong – I saw, and still see the “as I go” and “stopping for the one” as merely being God’s friend, being His child, being the heart and hands of God in my community – I actually believe it’s being a Christian, and that we are ALL called to do the same (if Bill Sweeney from Unshakeable Hope with ALS from a hospice bed can “do the stuff” and reach the unreached, and love a dying world – and he can’t move or speak people – then none of us have an excuse.  Hit the link to Bill’s blog – it will rock your socks off and then some more.  Hi Bill I hope your’e ok with what I just wrote.  You inspire me!)

I also now understand that my own story has power, my own story of growing up in an atheist home, searching for God desperately for years, and coming to know Christ as my loving Saviour, is important, and people need to hear it.

A couple of years ago, a gentle man called Chris heard my testimony at church.  He was (and still is) responsible for recording radio for the Salvation Army.  He asked to interview me.  I was a bit overwhelmed at this idea, but feeling God on it I said yes.  So here is the link to some of my recorded story.  I hope it blesses, I hope it encourages, and I really really hope you understand that I waited from the age of 6 or 7 until 23 for someone to step out, take a risk  and invite me to meet Jesus.  While I am grateful for the silent witness of the families around me over the years, I wish that someone had actually stopped and explained that I too could have a friend like Jesus,.  Had anyone done so  sooner, so much heart ache in my life may have been avoided.  So I share, hoping that someone, at least one, will know that there are people out there waiting for you to talk to them about Jesus , waiting for  you to invite them into the Kingdom and the family of God, and that by doing so you will invite them to see that …

God is indeed very, very good!:

Atheist Professor teaches his 7y.o. meaning of life | Salvos Radio

Click on above link to listen.

A South African Coincidence? I think not because … God is Good!

Categories God coincidences, God is good, Nicky Gumble, salvation5 Comments on A South African Coincidence? I think not because … God is Good!

At some stage of this journey, after the food etc I had felt to give to the kindy teacher and her husband a couple of small pamphlets on healing and keeping healing.  I also felt to pop in a pamphlet on who Jesus was … it was a little book (one of a pack of 10 that I had bought many years prior on the prompting of God) that was called “Why Jesus?”.  I think it was written by Nicky Gumble, but I could be wrong.  It was a little red book that I had handed out as I felt I was  meant to over the years, and this was my last copy … I gave it to them, hoping it would not cause offence.

My relationship with the kindy teacher remained positive, she returned my bags I had provided the food in with her note, and she gave me updates on how L was doing.  Christmas was coming and life was busy with two small children. The kindy teacher gave me updates and said how much she wanted us to come back and pray for L again.  When school and kindy finished we would make a time to visit and to pray for L again … but in the meantime I got updates and I would pray, thanking God I had not completely botched it!

Eventually, we arranged to visit L and the kindy teacher at their home.  I can’t remember all the details, but my husband A and I went along, and we prayed for L, answering their questions about God.  They then pulled out the little red book, and sheepishly said to me that this little red book had given them a prayer to pray, and that the little red book advised that, if they prayed this prayer then they should tell someone … and they looked at us and giggled and said that they had prayed the prayer and they were now telling me … they had become Christians!

I was shocked and delighted for them … but they said there was a story that I had to hear …

They told me that L had suddenly got better after the prayer, he had then slipped back a bit, but while all this was happening, L’s son and wife in South Africa had been given a little red book … !!!

Yes it was THE SAME little red book I had given them here in Australia …

They said that his son had spoken to them about Jesus … he had told them that he had become a Christian and he wanted the same for them … well as they spoke to him, they told him about their little red book … and their decision to become Christians … and they told A and I with giggles of delight that simultaneously on the other side of the world, completely independent of us, they had all become Christians at the same time … after reading the same little red book …

I was flabbergasted!

It was so God!

It made me laugh and cry simultaneously … of all the things for God to line up … to show the entire family (and me) that He was on the case and had it in hand …

Simply and basically all I could say to them at that moment was, that well …

God is Good!

It was time…God is Good!

Categories As you go, God is good, salvation, Stopping for the one9 Comments on It was time…God is Good!

Last year I wrote a post about a teacher at my daughter’s school who had been waiting for me to pray for her for some time.  When I did pray for her she had cried, saying she had been frightened she had been overlooked by God.   Some are just waiting to be asked!  (Click here for story)  Her time had come, she had not been missed and I had prayed …

Later, I had prayed for her again, in a complete set up by God (see same post) and at that second time I had given her the same scripture reference and the same advice that the school chaplain had given her a day or two earlier … God was so clearly on her case!  She was amazed and could see God on it too!

On one of these occasions I had said that she was on a journey, that she was being pursued by God, and I had explained how easy it would be for her to step into a deeper relationship with Jesus, just by simply asking Him into her heart … I had not felt to suggest she do it at that time, nor to push the point, I knew instead that God was wooing her and her time would come, and I told her so … that perhaps she would do it in private (and I explained how) … but whenever it would be, her time would come and she would know it …

About a month ago, I was waiting for my daughter in the school reception area when this particular teacher walked into the same area.  We greeted one another and I asked her about an outing she had been on recently …

She is one of those people who are always full of joy, she makes you smile, she really is delightful.  As she spoke I felt to pray for her again, which she readily agreed to, and as I held her hand and I started to pray for her I knew it was her time to ask Jesus into her heart … it was her time to be rescued by the knight in shining armour, riding the white horse…

I said so, and stated, more than asked, that she had not yet asked Him into her heart.  She agreed that she had not …

I suggested that it might be time, and she agreed that it was …

And so, in the reception area of a local school, she gave her heart to Jesus, she asked Him to take up residence in her heart.  It was a simple prayer, it was her prayer.  He gave her the words and she prayed them.

I smiled and hugged her and said well done.

We had a brief discussion about faith and I shared some of my background and journey.  I said to her, as with any relationship it takes time to get to know someone, and with time spent together you will come to know Jesus more and more.  We talked about the open door that is Jesus, and she stepped forward and through that door prophetically, on my suggestion, as if to step into the open door before her, the open door that is Jesus, and she shone with joy and happiness. She seemed to intuitively understand that this was not a function of the mind, but of the heart and of relationship, not that she had to shut off her mind to believe, but that her mind would catch up to her heart belief … she understood …

I suggested she tell the school chaplain of her decision (the school chaplain has since given her a Bible), and we went on our respective ways … me with my daughter, and her shining and transformed with the love of Jesus not only by her side, but fully resident in her heart knowing and experiencing that …

God is Good!

Special education was her passion; Heaven her destination because…God is Good!

Categories As you go, Christian, God is good, Luke 2:49, opening destinies, salvation, Stopping for the one, Word of knowledge12 Comments on Special education was her passion; Heaven her destination because…God is Good!

My daughter and I were up at the local shopping centre last Friday … checking school shoe size to ensure her feet were not cramped for the start of the new term.

As we ducked through a department store, I quickly noticed a jumper and felt to buy it and so, after checking size and colour, we proceeded to the cashier desk.

A beautiful young girl “Alicia” came to serve us, and as she processed the sale and bagged up my purchase I knew I was to ask her if I could pray for her.

She finished  processing the sale, and as she did I chatted to her, feeling my way through the “words of knowledge” that were popping  into my mind.   I mentioned that I felt she was not destined to work at the store, that there was something else to her future.  I asked her about that, and she  mentioned that she was studying  to become a teacher.  I explained I was a Christian and that I wanted to know if I could pray for her, for her destiny to open up and she readily agreed.  So, I took her hand in mine and listened for what God wanted me to pray … patiently listening, with my daughter by my side.

The word “travel” came to mind, and I sensed that it was “overseas travel”.  I asked her about this and she agreed she was saving up to travel overseas.  And so with the start of my “assignment” I proceeded to bless her finances, and declared “open doors” to her destiny.  I then “heard” the words “special ed”.  I again queried her, saying: “I know you are studying to become a teacher, but I sense that your heart is in special education, is that right?”   She took a breath, saying that yes, special education was her passion …

I then proceeded to pray open doors for her into the field of special education and I blessed those desires of her heart, declaring and telling her that she was going to be a marvellous special education teacher, that I sensed she would bless many “special ed children” and their families, that she would in fact alter destinies of those she taught for the better, … she would be  great, great blessing … and I knew these words to be so … I just knew …

I then felt I heard the words “UK” … United Kingdom, and I asked her if she was travelling there.  She said she, in fact, wanted to travel to the USA to meet friends that were apparently having a blast over there.  I smiled and said to her to not discount the idea of travelling to the  United Kingdom, that there may be opportunities for her there and open doors for her to teach in special education and I said the UK was a wonderful place to live  … but, I also said, “I could also be wrong in that … just don’t discount the idea though” … and I smiled …

My daughter grinned up at me, and tugged on my arm in excitement, and Alicia said to me that she was shocked that I would know these things about her and so I explained to her that I knew these things not because I was special but because God wanted me to know them so that I could pray for her for them to come to pass, and so that she would know that she was loved by Him …

I then felt to ask her if she wanted Jesus Christ in her heart and I said: “you have not asked Jesus into your heart yet … have you?”

She replied she that she hadn’t asked Him into her heart, and so on an unction I asked her if she wanted to do so.  She thought  for a moment and said “yes, I do” and so in the women’s clothing section  she gave her heart to Jesus Christ, accepting what He had done for her on the cross and asking Him to fill her heart …

Once finished I felt to give her my mobile (cell) phone number and name, and I briefly explained my background so she would be comfortable to know I was not a fruit loop … and I left, with my 9-year-old daughter’s face shining, with me thoroughly washed in the love of Jesus (because that which flows through you, leaves a residual Presence … which, is why it is so much fun to do this) and with Alicia staring at us as we left … and, as she stared she would have seen a very ordinary mum and daughter … off to buy school shoes, hand in hand leaving behind a beautiful and much-loved young woman with a bright destiny open, and a salvation obtained.

I will be surprised if she does call me, I hope she does.  Some do call, but many don’t.  I may be criticised for this … leading someone to Christ but not following them up personally.  I used to, and ran myself ragged, and I now feel a peace about this because, I feel that unless God prompts me to get their number and chase them up, that He has their best interests at heart, and I trust that He will call them into His Church, into His Body …  and I feel that I leave them free to contact me as and when they wish … it is their journey with a loving Father, and hence their call …

Regardless, I do what I feel I am required to do, and I “go about My Father’s business” (Luke 2:49), as best I can, and as I do I am certain and sure that they will know, that Alicia now knows that …

God is Good!

One more for the Kingdom…He wooed her well because God is Good!

Categories 10:10, 111, Christian, God coincidences, God is good, Leif Hetland, Mark 1:11, Numbers, salvation, Stopping for the one4 Comments on One more for the Kingdom…He wooed her well because God is Good!

I was heading interstate a few weeks ago, and while at the airport, I stopped to buy a tea and fruit salad, having rushed the entire day.

As I stood to pay for my purchase I felt the usual prompting to offer to pray for her … to stop for the one … to pray for Mona …

She readily agreed to my suggestion after I quickly told her the story from Coles, and I asked what in particular she may need prayer for.  She motioned for me to come over, to the edge of the serving area, and so I followed her to the end of the counter …

She headed up to the end of the counter where it was a little more private and I took her hands in mine.  I blessed her, calling forth her destiny.  I asked her a few questions, sensing that she was in transition, she had just come to the end of something and she was not yet sure what she wanted to do, that she was artistic and so I encouraged her to step into it … she agreed with the words of knowledge and she asked me how I knew, I must be psychic …

I told her that God speaks to us all, and that since He loved her and wanted to reach out to her, through me, in this instance, He would let me know the areas of her life that He wanted to impact, to have prayed for, so I could make His plans a reality through agreeing with His intentions for her life … I explained that this was what Christians called being “prophetic”.

I sensed that I was to invite her into the Kingdom of Heaven, make an invitation to her to ask Jesus into her heart and life, but feeling awkward, I let her get on with her work …

I sat down and chatted to my friend, mentioning that I had “missed it”, he nodded, agreeing, knowing that I had too.  In any case, I drank my tea, and noticed that as we chatted she kept looking over to us …

Not long after … she came right out to us, leaving the serving area, to where we were sitting and asked ernestly:

“Will God heal me of something?”

“Sure” my friend said and we listened as she explained what had been wrong.  She explained that she had undergone extensive surgery to remove growths on her uterus, she was still in pain from the surgery … she didn’t want to growths to come back, she wanted a full recovery.

My friend recounted a testimony of a friend who had been completely healed of uterine cancer a couple of weeks before and I then stood, placed my hand on her abdomen … and we prayed … Holy Spirit was all around …

She then looked at me and said excitedly “Do you know anything about numbers?” and she asked me again if I was psychic … she kept on …

“I keep getting the same numbers over and over and I do not understand what they all mean.” She explained that, over the last couple of weeks, she kept getting, noticing, seeing 111 and 10:10 …

I laughed saying that those numbers were the exact ones that I often got at very “coincidental” times and I explained how whenever I felt like He had wanted me to stop for someone and I did, that I would often see the sequence of “111” straight after and, after speaking to a Christian friend who could interpret dreams, visions and numbers (thank you DH), I came to understand that it meant, “My Beloved Son” … “My beloved Daughter” or “I love you” … (see Mark 1:11).

The “111 thing” started happening for me just after Leif Hetland had come to our church a year ago.  Leif had released the “Blessing of the Father” … and within a week, these strange coincidences started happening with “111” … it has since become part of my personal vocabulary that God uses to speak to me.  For example, about a week after the Leif Hetland seminar, I had stopped for a girl with a broken arm at the shops with my toddler, when I hadn’t really wanted to stop.  I prayed for her healing and led her to the Lord.  As I left, running late for something and with a toddler who was well and truly over the shops, I flicked on my phone and as I did up flashed 1:11 …

This would happen everywhere, it was ridiculous … 111 on number plates just after pleasing Him, stopping for someone, 111 on an advertisement, or in a headline that I would see just after feeling down, when I felt I had failed Him … it still happens now … last Sunday night, when I had been questioning things and I was feeling sad and challenged, I looked up at the Tour de France on tv, and straight across the backside of the bike rider that panned into the camera shot was … yes … 111 … twice!  Once on his left hip and once on his right hip!  God was saying “I Love You!” … “I see you” … “I appreciate you” … it actually made me laugh … and I always say right back … “I love you too!”

I mentioned the pattern to her and she smiled …

“What about 10:10?” she asked

I replied that I had been seeing this everywhere for a while, and a Christian friend who had studied at Bethel had once suggested it was indicating the completion of a cycle and the start of a cycle (thank you JS) … which also made her smile … saying that she had completed a tough time in her life, that she felt the surgery was the end of that time and that she was about to start something new … as confirmed with my prophetic words over her life before …

As we spoke my friend did a quick search and suggested that “111” could also mean “open doors” which also resonated with her … and I laughed saying well … “Jesus IS the door … He is knocking … will you invite Him in …?”

It was at this point that I knew I was to now invite her into a relationship with Jesus …

I pointed out this “coincidence” and the “coincidence of me stopping and asking her if I could pray, after a cycle of a couple of weeks of her seeing and noticing these numbers in such a way that she had been querying it, and I quietly asked her if she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart, explaining a little about it to her and feeling the Holy Spirit, the anointing, swirling all around …

My friend teared up, as did I and she just quietly responded … “yes” …

She prayed asking Jesus to fill her, to come into her heart.  She invited the Holy Spirit to fill her to over flowing … she used her own words after I had explained the basics and what it meant.  I told her God would give her the words … and He did.  I then blessed her, commanding all darkness to leave and for her to be filled with the Light of Jesus …

She glowed, fired up by this all …

My friend and I glowed and dabbed the tears …

I promised that on my way back through the following day I would drop some materials off for her to go through (which I did) and I gave her my number and hugged her goodbye …

She waved us off as we left for our flight … she was afresh and full of the glow of a loving encounter with a Magnificent God …

She had been wooed with the oddities of numbers.  God had positioned me, who had also been wooed in a similar, and strange way … We had connected and God invited her in through the Open Door that is Jesus, into a relationship with Himself …

Her journey began before I came on the scene … and her journey will continue …

She saw and will continue to see, a kind God at work in her life …

She discovered that God so loved her, that He wooed her, He called her … He arranged the ordinary to become so highlighted that her attention was drawn to them, and then He sent a stranger to stop and pray …  one who could unpack some of her journey, having had a similar strange experiences … and He let her know, through this and a stranger taking time to stop for the one that …

God is Good!

Post Script: we all have a journey that is as unique and as special as we are!  We are all positioned in communities and in places where those that will relate to us congregate … God has a purpose and a plan for our lives, including where we go, where we live and what we do … and if we will just stop and listen to Him, walk in His Presence, be aware of the realities of His Kingdom and purposes … we will hear and stop and see His goodness … I encourage you … there are people all around you just waiting for you to be who you are so they can discover whose they can be …

Praise report…Wrist healed…It’s time to invite…

Categories healing, Kingdom of Heaven, Matthew 19:14, salvation, Stopping for the one, wrists5 Comments on Praise report…Wrist healed…It’s time to invite…

In my last post I told the story of stopping for a cashier at a local supermarket.  I prayed for her wrist, which was in a brace, and she was healed on the spot … pain gone … brace removed … smiles all around … God is Good!

Last Friday morning, I had the pleasure of being guided to walk down the entire length of our shopping strip to buy some chocolate for my son’s birthday party.  I lined up to pay in the shortest queue at my local supermarket and realised that the same girl I had prayed for was serving on this particular cashier and, to my delight, she was minus the wrist support!

I smiled as I stepped forward and said “hello” and I promptly asked her how her wrist was, mentioning that she did not have her support on this morning …

She smiled and said “no”, and then went on to say that it was much, much better.

I asked if it had been completely clear of pain, and she responded that it was nearly completely clear of pain, and that it hurt a just a little, now and then …

I offered to pray again for her and, smiling broadly, she quickly and eagerly agreed, holding her arm towards me for the prayer …

I took her wrist, which now displayed a large faced watch, with a large white wrist band, and I prayed that it was time for the fullness of healing.  I rebuked anything that would come against the fullness of healing, and I released the oil of the Holy Spirit.  As I did this I felt the Holy Spirit say quietly to me “ask her if she wants Me in her heart” …

So, I simply asked her what I heard.  I asked her if she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart.

She said “I’m a Buddhist …”

So I said “ok, but would you like to ask Jesus into your heart?” I had got the impression that she needed to “fill the house” with Jesus, and all the while, the anointing of the Holy Spirit was constantly tangible around us.

She answered simply “yes” …

I said something along the lines of “then, just ask him into your heart … say, Jesus come into my heart” aware that we were at her place of work and people were approaching the desk to be served …

She responded again “yes” …

I thought … “oh gosh … what do I do here?” and noted two blokes nearly at her cash register.

I then felt her focus shift and I asked the Holy Spirit for guidance … and I ever so gently felt the release, to “let it go” so I again quietly released the oil of the Holy Spirit into her wrist … and with the Holy Spirit’s encouragement I stepped aside, took my items, wished her a wonderful weekend and mentioned that I may see her again soon …

She smiled broadly saying “thank you …”

It was time …

It is time …

It was time for her to be healed the week or two before …

It was now time for her to be invited into the family of God … however brief the invitation may have been …

It is time for us, as God’s children, to be aware of the time … and to do the inviting, no matter how awkward, no matter how clumsily, and no matter how simply we do it … if we do … lives will be changed …

Who was I to argue with the Holy Spirit about place and time … it was a pure, timely and simple invitation … His words … His timing … straight from Heaven to her heart …

Who am I to say whether it was “effective” …

My son invited friends to his party recently …

My son (read with excited, Aussie accent): “Do you wanna come to my party?” …

Friend’s response: ”yes!”

Deal done!

Maybe that’s all it took for her … or maybe it will require another invitation … I don’t know …

All I know is to be who I am called to be … to do as the Father shows me … and to invite as the Holy Spirit instructs me to invite … the rest is His responsibility … He’ll get them to the party, the same way my son’s friend’s parents got them to my son’s party on Saturday … they all made it … they all got there … because their parent knew where, how, when to go …

It may take another invitation … it may not …

Regardless I think that it really is that simple … the stepping over into the Kingdom of God isn’t complicated for, as Jesus said:

… the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these … (Matthew 19:14 NIV 2011)

and the “such as these” are the children … It is the “grown ups” that complicate things … the invitation has to be “just right”, sent at the “right time”, given in the right envelope, the right package … with clear instructions, directions, and strict guidelines on dress, behaviour, timing, etc etc etc … but if I take my son’s lead it really is simple …

“Wanna come to my party?” …

I hear the Holy Spirit say …

“Wanna come to My party?

Just say “yes” and I will get you there …

You leave the rest to Me …”

It’s not complicated …

I know she doesn’t need to know scripture and verse … it’s a matter of her spirit saying “yes” and coming alive to Jesus Christ … it’s a spiritual matter … one that the intellect and soul can catch up on later …

Whether she has new life … I do not know …

Whether she is still on the scale of “pre-Christian” … or “Christian” … I do not know …

What I do know is that I heard and I obeyed and I stepped out and a life was changed.

She was healed the first time.

She got a top up the second time … and was invited into the family …

And ultimately all will be well simply because …

God is Good!

How will they know to ask if you do not show them Whose you are?

Categories As you go, Christian, epilepsy, God is good, multiple sclerosis, praise report, prayer, salvation7 Comments on How will they know to ask if you do not show them Whose you are?

I was leaving kindy drop off on 15th August when a sweet girl I have spoken of before (click here for story) stopped me and asked for a moment of my time …

It was freezing cold but the look in her eyes told me of the importance of her request and so I stopped and listened.

She started hesitatingly, telling the story of why she was stopping me …

Her daughter had taken an ambulance ride, she said, and so I heard how her young two-year old had collapsed, had a fit and had been rushed by ambulance to hospital.  A scan was done, and an irregularity discovered in her brain … “epilepsy” was announced as the possible diagnosis … and more tests were advised …

My friend was obviously and understandably shaken, and started to sleep with her daughter, frightened she will fit again …

She told me the story … and shared her fears and as she did I knew she was reaching out to me, not as a friend, but because she knew I prayed … because in the recent past she had been healed by a loving God of a chest infection, she had felt His peace as I had prayed and she knew that God was a possible solution … and so she stepped out and asked … without asking, if I would pray …

I did pray. 

I placed my hand on her daughter’s head and commanded any irregularity to leave, for her daughter to be healed of any issues, and I told her of another friend whose daughter had been scanned and irregularities had been found in the nerves of her back … a possible diagnosis of “multiple sclerosis” had been announced … I told her how the daughter still had symptoms, but how further scans had been done, or rather, re-done, and the scan had come back completely “all clear.”  The doctors continue to search for a diagnosis and explanation for the other symptoms presenting, but the original report showing the nerve damage in the spine, was replaced with a further scan report that had come back all clear …

I told my friend this story … nerve damage identified in one scan … prayer … nerve damage all gone in the next scan … I spoke to her of God’s goodness and she shared some further fears and concerns with me … and as she did I offered her Jesus … I offered her an opportunity to ask Him into her heart … but told her to only do so if it was right for her now …

It was … she was ready … it felt right to her …

So, on the nature strip my friend quietly asked Jesus into her heart and for the Holy Spirit to fill her … she felt it … as did I …

The story is short, sweet and simple … it will be sweeter again with a report that all is well with her daughter, but for now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been released … the Kingdom of Peace, Joy, Health, Love … onto her daughter … and onto and into her mum, my friend …

I ask … unless we ask them if we can pray for them, unless we let them know we believe in a good God and believe He will heal and answer our prayers … how will they know to come to us in crisis and seek help from a loving God?

I dare you to show your Christian colours and reveal a good God … reveal a God that cares … about the big and the little … a God that heals… a God that died for all …

Do you dare … ?

If you do both, we and they will see that …

God is Good!

A “suddenly” of God … salvation at the hairdressers … God is Good!

Categories God is good, Matthew 12:43-45, praise report, Pregnancy, salvation4 Comments on A “suddenly” of God … salvation at the hairdressers … God is Good!

God loves it when we visit the hairdresser … or, that’s what I figure, because He keeps showing up whenever I go …

I was at the hairdressers a couple of days ago, and my now pregnant hairdresser (click here for praise story: Chicken Soup for the Soul) came and sat down to speak with me about all that had been going on for her since we last saw each other. 

She said she had been hospitalised due to pelvic instability.  She knew I would instantly understand because she had seen me deal with the same issue.  Pelvic instability in pregnancy is due to an abundance of the relaxin hormone in the body and can cause the pelvis to relax so much that the pelvis and hips suffer extreme pain which can cause an inability to walk … I had required crutches and a wheelchair … but I had never been hospitalised …

As soon as she said what was happening I could feel the swirling presence of the Holy Spirit come around us … I knew vindication was coming … a 7-fold pay back on all that had been stolen from me was due 🙂

I listened and asked her if I could pray, briefly explaining that I wanted to see God’s vindication for all that had been stolen from my pregnancies, that I wanted to see her healed; that is, for her hormones to come into balance … I laid my hands on either side of her pelvis/hips and called forth balance in the hormones and told her body to behave perfectly throughout the pregnancy and for the pelvis to remain strong.  I then asked if I could place my hands on her tummy, she agreed and so I blessed the baby and spoke fullness of destiny and health, I declared to her baby that s/he was loved and would sleep well, feed well and thrive …

She then sat down and started to tell me that she was doing pilates and was seeing a physiotherapist whom, she added, had performed reiki on her.  I looked and said quite boldly “don’t let her do that again …”

I surprised even myself, because I had always tried to be gentle with her.

I then briefly explained that reiki practitioners, as far as I knew, had hands laid on them and some sort of impartation was performed … I said to her they may function in a gift of healing, but the source of healing may not be God … and to be really careful, especially with the baby … that she was potentially opening herself and the baby up to stuff that was not too good …

I was surprised at how direct I was but I felt she trusted me.  We have 8 years of history together – her seeing me do life, hearing my stories.  Me listening to her challenges, answering her questions and then, when she decided she wanted a baby, praying for her pregnancy … for about a year.  I was pretty certain that she knew I had her best interests at heart.  All these thoughts flew through my mind as I spoke and so I went on …

She said she had not felt comfortable at the time.  The girl treating her had laid hands on her without permission and she had asked the girl to stop.  She felt that I was just confirming her gut feeling that it was not ok … I relaxed, relieved that I had not offended her.

As we talked about this I felt Holy Spirit say “pray for her” and I knew I needed to tell anything that may have been released over her or the baby to leave … and so I took her hand and prayed and as I did the scripture which warns of the emptying a house and not filling it came to mind (see Matthew 12:43-45) and I felt Holy Spirit say “ask her if she wants Me, ask her if she wants to ask Jesus into her heart…”.

I listened to the prompting, told anything to that had been released over/around her and the baby to leave and then gently asked if she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart … it felt like a culmination of 8 years of gentle discussions … I was nervous and excited at the same time …

She looked at me, in her delightful, uncomplicated and honest manner and said “yes … why not … I do” and so she did …

I then said that the power force behind her being kept protected and safe was the Holy Spirit … did she want to ask Him to fill her up …?

Again she said “yes” and so she repeated after me … “Fill me up Holy Spirit” … I prayed for a complete filling to overflow of her and the baby …

The anointing was powerful … not because of anything I did … but because He loved her … her kairos time, her God appointed time of salvation had come … and I was delighted!

I looked and said “do you feel that?”

She did …

I then explained that this was just the first step, that we would need to explore what this would mean for her; however, for that moment, I knew her “house” was full of Him (Praise God) and that she, and her baby, were covered, protected and alive to Christ.  With Him I knew she, and the baby would be safe because …

God is Good!

Brokers of Heaven the Harvest is Plentiful – God is Good Praise report

Categories Christian, Matthew 9:37, praise report, prayer, salvation2 Comments on Brokers of Heaven the Harvest is Plentiful – God is Good Praise report

We are all being set up for God encounters … encounters for ourselves, and, as brokers of God, encounters for others.  The  secret to being a broker of His love is really is no secret … it is just to believe that God is good and that He wants to be the solution to a hurting world … in every situation …

We were at a school function and I was standing nearby to someone whose teenage daughter, upon walking into the room looking drained, even haunted.  I instantly felt called to pray … well to at least offer to pray.

I quietly suggested it to her mother.  She agreed, having herself been the recipient of prayer and prophetic words over the last 8 or so months, and so I turned to her daughter and offered to pray. Her daughter agreed.  I gently took the things she was holding and placed them onto a nearby table and I took her hands in mine as I invited the Holy Spirit to come.

She instantly teared up as God came, and I took a moment to listen for what I should pray and release over her. As I did I felt to release Peace, rest … and for energy to flood her body.  She needed the energy then and there so that she could get through a school play performance for the school afternoon.

I prayed accordingly, and then I felt I received a word of knowledge, that she had not been sleeping well and that she had been dealing with night terrors that had been keeping her awake in the night, making her so tired…

She nodded in agreement saying it had been the week before.  So, I again released Peace and felt the gentle prompting of the Holy Spirit to ask her if she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart … into her life…

I explained what I felt, saying there was no pressure, and I asked her if she would like to ask Jesus into her heart…

She did, and so we stood in the noise around us and she quietly asked Jesus into her heart. She got more teary as she felt Him on and in her and I again gently asked if she would like to be filled with the Holy Spirit…that He was the empowering force that would guide her, comfort her, protect her …

She did and so she asked for the Holy Spirit to come and fill her up …

As she did I agreed with her in prayer, telling all the powers of darkness to leave, advising them they were now trespassing, and I commanded them to go… I then asked the Holy Spirit to fill her to overflow.

As we stood and prayed, the strain left her face and she got some colour back. I said we would need to meet to explore what had happened to her, and that I would teach her to go to where God was for her so that she could learn for herself how to access and stay in that place of Peace and as I hugged her, a few more tears dropped …

I left that morning thinking how very good God is.  Here was a stressed, young woman, needing a touch from a loving Father … and God came through and gave her Himself … and He comes with so much including Peace, Joy, Hope, Faith and the full empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

I had been set up to be there at just the right time … what a privilege!

The harvest is all around us … and it is ready.  Will you be one of the harvesters?

If you agree to be, God will set you up to be the broker of a God encounter for others.  A broker of Heaven in your world, in your sphere of influence, because, as Jesus said:

“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few …” (Matthew 9:37)

I do not believe that living a Christian lifestyle for our own blessing and claiming that a good life is a great witness is enough … it is required of us, but do note, none of us will get it right because we all fall and stuff things up … but if we will all believe who we are or “whose” we are … we can release His Presence on people and then they get to experience for themselves a good God, a God that cares, a God with the answers … a God that won’t stuff it up!

He wants us to step into our destiny of being brokers of Heaven; and, I believe He wants us to, not just for “them”, but for us as well, because as we broker Heaven on earth so we learn to lean into Him, and to therefore listen to Him, and as we incline our ears and our hearts He speaks to us of who we are … and that, I believe, releases our identity and with it our destiny … and who would not want to fulfil their God-given destiny because …

God is Good!

Coffee, Chats and Commitment … coming home to a good God

Categories Christian, God is good, God's love, Love, open destinies, Power of the testimony, Prophecy, Psalm 23:6, salvation, Stopping for the one2 Comments on Coffee, Chats and Commitment … coming home to a good God

I had the pleasure of catching up with a very dear friend this morning. In fact she is more than a friend, she is indeed a mighty woman of God and an inspiration. In any case, I had the pleasure of seeing her this morning.

When we catch up I normally see her at a shopping complex half way between where she works and my home; but today, we decided to catch up closer to her work.

We had a chat, a coffee (well I had tea and some more breaky) and there was a beautiful young girl that was serving us. When she came close to our table, I could feel the Spirit of God moving … I noted what I felt, said nothing, and thought perhaps I needed to offer to pray for her before I left.

Our time of catching up came to an end, I said goodbye to my friend and got myself sorted … as you do when you travel with a four-year old …

I chatted to God to see if I should stop to offer pray for this girl, and did not feel compelled, but as I said “thank you” to her I looked in her eyes, and stepped out in faith, and said to her “you may find this strange but I wanted to know if there was anything that you needed prayer for?”

She looked at me, tears forming in her eyes and said “why do you ask?” I said I was a Christian and had felt the Spirit of God all around when she came over to the table and wanted to see if there was anything that she needed prayer for …

She looked at me wide-eyed, and, after dealing with a few delivery people in the coffee shop she quietly said to me that she needed direction in her life, she wanted a new job and that she was a Christian but had drifted away from God …

I introduced myself and asked her if I could pray that her destiny would open and I told her a few testimonies including the story about the dad that I had prayed for that had got the job (link for story and praise report) he had been waiting on for 9 months within days of praying for him … I then told her about someone I prayed for in that very coffee shop months ago, who had the same thing happen (see link for story and praise report) she said she knew the person and said “yes, that would be great” … and I then suggested that she may want to ask Jesus back into her life, to which she replied “yes I do”.

I prayed for her, and prophesied favour and blessing. The Holy Spirit was tangibly present and although she was obviously shy about the public nature of being prayed for, she could feel Him all around her and she struggled to hold back the tears …

I declared her destiny open, shut the door on the past, called in favour and a great job, and then prophesied that, like her namesake, Esther, she was called to greatness and to a place of great authority. I prophesied that she would enter a time of soaking in God’s presence and from there she would discover her God-given identity in all its fullness … I then invited her to pray and make a re-commitment to Jesus … and she did, in her own words, quietly saying she wanted Him back in her life, apologising for leaving, and asking the Holy Spirit to come and fill her … she looked up at me and I affirmed her, gave her my number, the location of the closest church in the area, which just happened to be my church too, and gave her the service times …

I left the shop thinking how she had been on God’s heart. She had just shifted down to Melbourne from Brisbane a few months earlier …

My friend and I never usually catch up in this shop, but this morning we did … God loved Esther so much, He wanted her back in His world … and so He showed her His love in a tangible way by sending someone to ask if she needed prayer (and I nearly missed it!) … and she instantly felt loved by Her Creator and wanted Him back in her life …

God cares about the little things … He cares about each and every one of us …

My son asked me, as he watched the movie Nemo later that day, about why Nemo’s dad kept searching day and night for his son. I said, “well if you were lost I would search day and night too, because I love you”… and as I said it I realised that God does this as well … yes, I know that God knows where we are at all times, but that does not stop Him from seeking us out …

Just as I love my children, so God loves His, in fact He loves them even more … He loves the ones who know Him as their Daddy, and the ones who don’t … he loves the ones who are with Him and have never left, and he loves the ones who once knew His embrace but for whatever reason have left is side …

God will never cease looking for His children, calling them home to Him, and when they are home He lavishes His love upon them … His goodness and love follows us all the days of our lives (Ps 23:6) because…

God is Good!