I Have Nothing To Give...Except A Massage

Teaching how to massage the neck  

Right now I am in the Dominican Republic teaching the nationals how to massage. Being able to help provide jobs for the people of the Dominican Republic has been an honor so far (day one of five). Some of these woman don't have any skills, so the only other option isn't favorable and for some even unrespectable. To provide them with a way out of bad situations is humbling.

Learning how to effleuarge

When I decided to go to massage school 3 years ago I had no idea that my education could be used like this. At best I only saw it as a way to make money so that I could go on the mission field. Ha! Oh how we limit God.

Yesterday I taught that we all have something to give. That we all have something. In the Bible a widow had nothing… but a small cup of oil (2 Kings 4:1-7).  She didn’t see what she had as significant. But the prophet told her to use what she had. And when she used what she had in her hand God touched it and a miracle happened (do yourself a favor and go read the story).

They are doing so well learning the techniques.

I kind of saw my massage education like this. I didn’t think that this could be something God could use. It's silly I know…to think that God can't use something! But we do it all the time. For some reason we have been taught that God only operates when we are going something "spiritual". But that is not the case.

I told the people here that if all they can do is just make the best banana soup then that is something God can use. It's doesn’t matter how small. God can make it great.

We all have something to give. It might seem small. It might even seem non-spiritual. Just give God what you have and he will cause increase. He will make things happen that you would have never dreamed! I used to say that I just did massage to get overseas. That I didn’t really love it like I love to minister. Now I see that they are one. Massage doesn’t have to be a separate thing. It's all apart of what I can give God. And it's a beautiful thing.

I'm so excited to use my gift...clearly! 

I'm so excited to see what else God is going to do with what I have in my hand. As I read this back to myself tears start to flow. The goodness of god is so great. Even when I believed that what I did for a living wasn't that special (a lie) God never doubted (truth). He Is a master at taking the things we thing aren't great and making them grand!

What do you have in your hand to give? It's really a easy question. What are you good at? What do you like to do? Whatever It is give it to God. The outcome might be quite hilarious!

Whatsoever Think.

I had 34 students at the night class! this is only half the room!

The Lowliest of Places

This just happened a week ago! God is moving, I hope this encourages you to be revival wherever you are!

While on a treasure hunt my team went to the County Fair in our town, and we ran into a friend. She asked if we were enjoying the fair, we said yes and that we were on a treasure hunt . After a few minutes we parted ways. Our team continued to look for our treasure. After about 20 minutes this same friend came up to me kind of embarrassed “What is treasure hunting?”

I proceeded to tell her and after I was done I could see that she wanted to be a treasure. Because we are all God's treasure! I started looking at our maps and saw that her son’s name was on the list! Her son didn't need healing but she did in her knees. I then got a word of knowledge about back pain which she had as well.

We stared praying for her back and nothing happened. I then felt like her son was supposed to pray. He was really shy and barley whispered a prayer. Once he was done the mother's face was full of surprise and amazement! She felt something like oil going down her spine! She tested it out and all of the pain was gone!

I had her daughter pray for her knees, she prayed and the pain went down, but not all the way so we had her pray again. She felt the same oil in her knees! She tested it out by kneeling down in the gravel. She felt no pain!

My dad had been having pain in His foot and had so we had our friend pray for his foot. That was totally healed too!  Next one of our team members eyes felt funny. So we asked who had eye problems. The daughter couldn't see clearly far away. They prayed and her eyes were totally healed! Then the daughter prayed for the girl on our team that had eye problems and she was healed!

By this time we have gotten kinda excited and a lady who was sitting on the bleachers in the barn we were in turned around and said that she wanted prayer too! She climbed down and said she had sciatic pain. Our friend knew this lady so I had her pray, and her friend was healed instantly! Then a lady in our team said that she had the same problem. So we had the lady who was just healed pray for our team member and she was healed!  

Then we noticed the lady who had been on the bleachers had glasses on. We asked if we could pray about that too! We prayed two times and then she was healed! So she the glasses on her head like a head band! She was so excited! 

God wants to use you wherever you are! Step out across the "chicken" line and start living a supernatural life! And the greatest part is you don't have to wait until you are at church! This healing bomb went off in a barn full of pigs, goats and cows behind the bleachers next to a dumpster! God can work even in the lowliest places! 

Do you need healing or prayer? There is no distance in prayer! Nothing is impossible with God. Comment below or just receive healing in your body right now! 

Dumpsters and Alleyways

I have been practicing the secret place with Jesus for over three years now (on and off), and I really love those times. I went again Sunday morning with my Sunday school class and got down on the floor and asked Jesus to show me something about Himself. Then I waited to see where our place would be this time. I looked around and saw that we were in a alleyway, and I thought that this can't be right. Our places were normally in the great outdoors. On mountains, near waterfalls or by a camp fire. But now I was standing in a alleyway.

I decided that this couldn't where He wanted us to go and I imagined we were in another place...somewhere nicer and more to my liking. But I couldn't shake the alleyway. So I let Him take me back to that place. Taking a better look around I saw a place much like the picture above. There were dumpsters that lined the alleyway. I looked at Jesus remembering what I had asked Him in the beginning: Show me something about yourself. It was like I had asked Him again and He answered with a smile:

"I like garbage!"

Ha ha! I laughed out loud, forgetting I was in a room with other people. His face was so sincere as He said it. He moved over to the nearest dumpster and looking the contents. I looked inside too. There were broken toys, soiled paper, pictures, all kinds of things. This wasn't your normal dumpster. He took out a broken object and started to mold it in His hands. Within a matter of moments the once forgotten and broken object was like new! It even looked better than it's original design. 

Amazed by what He did, I looked in the dumpsters and pulled out a crumpled paper. I saw that it was like a Broadway play, with music and words on the sheet. I looked back at Jesus. What is all this stuff? Jesus started to explain:

Dreams, ideas, families and really this list could go on forever. Take the Broadway play. That was a great idea, but the writer thought it would never be good enough for the big stage...so he through it away. The dumpster is full of things people thought weren't worth anything or weren't worth saving. Marriages, relationships, music, books anything you can think of. I like to come here and fix what is broken. I make all things new. There is nothing too broken or too forgotten that I can not fix it.   

I thought about what He said. He makes all things new... All. Have you put anything in the dumpster? Do you have broken relationships? Dreams and idea's that you once had but decided against them? Jesus is ready to fix them, to mold them into something more wonderful than you could have imagined! He loves what we think is insignificant, or beyond saving.  He makes them beautiful. Today if you feel like something in your life is broken, let Him have it. Entrust it to Him. You wont be disappointed. 

Looking back now on the time I spent with Him, I laugh to myself. I went dumpster diving with Jesus! Ha ha! How crazy is that? It makes wonder where we will go next? I learned that if your with Jesus, anyplace is great. Try it today! Go with Him somewhere it's so fun! And who knows, you just might end up a dumpster and a alleyway.

Photo credit: grungecity.wordpress.com & corynnchan.blogspot.com

Love...What An Novel Idea

This summer I pulled out one of my favorite books. I hadn't read it in 3 years, and was excited to read the heart gripping story again. As I read the story I was struck by the level of love one of it's characters lived in. Whenever something happened, she responded with love. Even when it came to facing someone who tried to have her killed she saw it as a opportunity to love once again.

I sat there convicted in my own heart as I remembered the John 13:34-35 MSG:

“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. 

In the same way I loved you, you love one another. 

This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”

Jesus said that our love for one another is how everyone will know we follow Him..... Everyone! How spectacular is that? The entire world will know. It's not our good works, the healing's or anything of that nature. It's love. There is so much in that word. There is so much depth. 

It's easy to love when nothing is going wrong. But when things come and hit you in the face, love, a lot of times becomes an after thought. 

I looked back at the book, what if a story was written about me? What would I see? Would I love unconditionally? Even unto death?  

This is something that I want to live everyday. Even when I all I want to do is not love! One thing is certain, we can't love people with that kind of love by ourselves. We can't even come close to producing that kind of love. It takes the love of God to love people with everything that we are. 


Photo credit: http://artsymumof5.tumblr.com

Just Be...

I actually like being busy. My whole life I have been busy with this or that. I love always having something to do. So many times I think when it comes to God we want to be busy with Him too. 

What do you want me to sing for You? What do You want me to do for You today? Give me something to do? 

We want something to fill the space. To feel like we are accomplishing something. 

I was feeling this way today, wanting to do something for Him. I tried writing another blog post, finish the song I was writing, play the guitar. But nothing seemed to work for me.

I didn't have a good idea for the blog, I couldn't remember how the song went, and every time I played the guitar the sound wasn't pleasing to me. Finally I just gave up! I quickly went to my worship play list, needing some kind of help! I played the first song, one of my favorites that I hadn't heard in a while called "A Little Longer". In the song the writer is asking God what did He want to hear today? What song would please His heart? Gods reply was simple. 

Just be with me. You don't have to do a thing. I'm in love with you...

That can really offend the brain of a busy person! But God I have to do something! He's like no. Just let all of that stuff go. The songs are great, but what I really want is you. 

A busy person can have a problem with stopping, and just be. To drop everything, and just sit with Him is a hard thing. 

I think we don't realize how much we need that. That deep love from a God who loves us so much that He just wants to sit with you. It really is a wonderful thought, is it not? We can have it if we just learn to be quite and rest. It's not hard to be with Him. We just have to stop and do it.

So make a point this week to just stop and just be with Him. Go to your secret place with Him, see what happens. I promise that you will like what happens.

Did you know you had a secret place with Him? That it's so real and fun? Do you want one? Leave me a comment and I will help you get to it.

Photo Credit: http://www.kirstysleep.com

Never Ending Fire

Camping in the mountains was something Roxanne had always wanted to do and now her dream was coming true. Life had seemed to be going great, but little by little, it began to fall apart. She started distancing herself from her family, going off on her own. Now Roxanne was aimlessly walking through a thick wood. The sounds of the night began and an uneasy feeling crept over her. Hearing the sounds move closer made her heart race. Walking a little faster, but unsure of where to go, the sounds became more intense. It was close...too close. Running, Roxanne searched for a way out of the woods. Coming to a halt she noticed the sound had stopped, she listened. Nothing. Just the sound of her heavy breathing. Maybe it was gone. She turned, straining her eyes and then she saw it, a mountain lion. Fear gripped her heart. This was it. She was going to die.

Feeling panic rise in her, the lion lowered ready to strike. She heard a cracking sound. The lion heard it too. Their attention was drawn to the right. She stood only a few feet away from a clearing and past that was someone’s camp site! She had to make a move if she was going to live. Roxanne ran with everything she had. The lion jerked its head back, seeing her take off and followed. Screaming for help, Roxanne saw a man by a fire.

~~~

Caden grabbed a long log out of the fire and ran toward the girl. Where did she come from? The lion closed in, ready to take its prey. It clawed at the runner, teasing her, but hitting its mark. The girl cried out in pain, but kept running.  Caden was just a few feet from them. The lion clawed again, this time sending her to the ground. Yelling at the lion, Caden waved the fire in the big cat’s direction. The animal had been so focused it didn’t see the man and stopped sensing danger. Caden stepped in-between the girl and the mountain lion still waving the flame. The lion looked at the girl on the ground then back at the fire. Knowing loss, it retreated back into the dark wood.

~~~

Life can be a weird thing. We can feel on top of the world one day and then underneath it the next. I find this exceptionally frustrating whenever it happens in my spiritual life. Imagine you have just gotten back from camp, missions trip, or conference and you are on top of the world! You tell everyone around you that you are “on fire”. This “on fire” thing can last a few days or a few weeks but in the end it seems like we “lost our fire” or “the fire went out”. Then we wait for the next camp, mission trip, or conference to get back “on fire”. 

I have said this before…many times really. In our culture, it’s almost expected! This happened to me this last week. I had really been “on fire” for a good 3 weeks. It was awesome! But then life knocked and I answered. And then little by little my fire was going out. Or so I thought…

But what does the above story have to do with anything?

I was talking with God the other day “I was so on fire, seeing people get healed and everything! What happened?! It seems my fire has gone out! Did I need to put more “wood” on it?”

And you know what? He gave me the answer! We walk around taking credit for the fire when really, God is the fire. The bible says He is an all consuming fire. His eyes burn like fire. God said that He was the fire. Then he showed me some things through pictures, almost like a movie:

I’m sitting at a camp fire with Jesus, He was wearing jeans, there is a guitar leaning against the log bench and all the fixings for s’mores were on a table behind him. I looked around and saw we were in a beautiful clearing and I see the woods far off, looking dark and mysterious…

God is the fire, He never goes out. When we feel that feeling of “my fire feels like it’s going out” what has happened is that we have taken a step away from the fire. When you are camping, at night you want to be near the fire. It provides warmth, light and protection. But if we step away the warmth, light, and the protection, we feel less of what we did when we were standing right in front of it. But so many times we let things distracted us and we step away just a little bit. And if we wonder far enough, we will end up in the woods, alone where predators have the upper hand.

How silly of us to think that the fire of God could go out? He is unchanging, He isn't fickle like man. He is always burning! It is up to us to stay by the fire, stay close to God. In Him is everything we could ever need, want and desire. But we have to choose to stay in His warmth…His presence. Every day we have to choose. Roxanne (a Christian) was with her family (the body of Christ), but decided to wander in the woods (the world) which lead her to a dangerous place. But in the end when she called out to the man (Jesus) for help he was there to save her and bring her back to safety...near the fire (His presence). To maintain a powerful Christian life we have to stay in His presence. Cause if we don’t we will lose the warmth, not because it has gone out but because we walked away.

Photo credit: crossfitfire.com

                                                          

Unafraid and Unashamed

I like using Facebook, it's a great way to connect with people! You can share what's going on on your life, talk about God if you want to. But in many ways it has created a culture, a platform of performance.
If you were to ask yourself  "Why do I post stuff on Facebook?"
What would your answer be? It can be a hard question to answer!
You would think that since it's your Facebook then you can post anything you want right? In my case this wasn't so.
In my mind I thought there were certain things that I shouldn't post or say. Would my renewed confidence in the Lord scare people away? Don't get me wrong, I post stuff all the time about God. Sometimes they are really hard things. But when it came to posting about the supernatural that I have been living in, I would  get a little unsure. What will my non Christian friends think?
Last night this thought went through my head. We were praying for people and then we all noticed we had gold dust on our hands! I posted about it right away. Then after I sent it a little voice was saying "what are your friends going to think of you?".
And you know what I thought? No, they need to see it! If anything, my generation needs to know that Christians can and do walk in supernatural power. That Christians aren't boring! That there is life in God!

So this is also part of my mission. To be supernatural even on Facebook. I do not look to people for love and assurance. I look to God. And when I do, people's lives will be changed!

Have you ever felt this way? Do you get stuck pleasing people? Do you want to be set free? Comment below