Mykal and Maria (7.9.10)
Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all of your encouraging words. The blood of the Lamb is powerful when we apply it; Christ is Victor! His cross was victorious, we've only a glimpse of what He accomplished!! Let us testify again and again to His goodness and finished work! We overcome the evil one by the blood of the Lamb AND the word of our testimony. That's grace AND faith. Grace (everything He gave and all His promises, independent of our actions or worthiness) accomplishes nothing in our lives without being mixed with faith in action. (Heb 4) Likewise, faith alone is empty if it is not rooted SOLELY in and stemming from HIS rightly divided WORD. There is SOOO much that was accomplished by the blood of the Lamb; forgiveness of sins is the glorious BEGINNING that establishes our reconciliation to Him, our qualification to bear His Name and become indwelt by His Holy Spirit and therefore to BE His body on earth, putting the enemy under our, and therefore His, feet. (Heb 10:13) A body that, when mobilized by the Head, advances His kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy...in our homes, in our jobs, in our circles, communities... "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." Matt 24:14 This leads me to ask: What are we to be testifying to? What message of the kingdom did Jesus preach? How? With what words? With what actions? What testimony did Paul carry? How did Paul proclaim the gospel? Is what I'm doing now actually what He said to do?
But I digress (well, at least in this post...)
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Several days ago, Patrick was having tremendous back pain. When we prayed over the phone, his pain and lack of range of motion changed from a '10' to a '6', and he said that his wife Mykal's hand became hot on his back during prayer. Little happened during the rest of the prayer on that phone call, but I later got this encouraging testimony, and two more!!:
Okay so his back was worse Tues afternoon and HORRIBLE that night! Kept him up all night. I prayed...
Yesterday he said he prayed some and it seemed to improve over the course of the day. He didn't take any more drugs and actually held Harper and changed Harper's diaper!
This morning he woke up and was able to stretch and sit on the bed and reach down to his toes. He had me cancel his chiropractic appt. for today (even though I think he should still go!).
Praise God! I am hoping he will be back to normal very soon!!
ALSO- Harper has been screaming in the car since birth. SCREAMING. We found at about 3 weeks that if we swaddled him very tight, with legs free for the crotch buckle, he would do better- but usually ended up screaming for some of the trip.
This has limited our family outings. We have bounced his seat, held in the pacifier, and even let him suck on our finger WHILE driving one handed!!
He is 12 week now. We prayed over him as a family last Thursday and he has NOT cried in the car at all since(apart from one gassy tummyache)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yesterday, his swaddling blanket got soaked in the rain so I just buckled him in without it and we drove 45 mins home. He just wiggled and squealed in his seat! THEN when we got home, I brought sleeping Alden in, and made about 10 trips for groceries. I left Harper in his seat the whole time and when I finally went to get him out- HE SMILED at me!! THEN I realized he had also been sitting in a poopy diaper this whole time! He was as uncomfortable as he could be...and yet no crying!! WHAT A BLESSING and answer to prayer!!
Lastly- Harper woke up early Wed. morning with a nasty cough and his chest was so congested he was having trouble breathing. I slept with him and kept him somewhat upright because he sounded like he was choking. Off and on all day yesterday he had this nasty cough but didn't have any other symptoms. Seemed fine. I prayed over him several times in the afternoon. When Patrick came home he prayed over him. I have not heard a cough since. He slept most of the night- only waking once to nurse and has been happy all day today!
Mykal
Mykal
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Wonderful!!! What an array of areas in which to turn to Jesus and appropriate His grace!
Also, earlier this week, I was headed to Hobby Lobby (alone!!) and, on the way, asked God if there was anyone in the store who He wanted me to minister to. An image of a particular shirt flashed in my mind, and through that and two requests for confirmations, He led me to (okay, actually literally bumped into her twice...no really, with my cart) a particular lady. As we left the store at the same time, I gathered the courage to ask her if I could pray for her for anything. There was a slight language barrier, as she began to tell me something about her rosary and Michael Jackson. Thankfully, she asked her daughter to translate what I was saying. I gave her the summary of how God had lead me specifically to her and then asked if she needed prayer for anything, including healing. (I knew she did...she was limping.) She was so excited and said 'Yes, yes, it is my daughter Maria...her jaw...let her tell you! So her other daughter, Maria, rolled down her window and told me that she'd had dental work done 3 months ago and somehow her jaw had become dislocated afterward. It was painful to do anything...talk, eat, drink, swallow, touch... She couldn't open her mouth very far and shooting pain through the right side of her face at any movement or touch. She was about to fly to Mexico by herself the next day in order to have it fixed...a trip she was fearful about. We prayed three times. The first time she could open her mouth a bit more and all the shooting pain left; she said my hand was hot. Dull pain and low range of movement remained. The second time, there was no measurable change, but she saw a cross that started small and then grew larger and larger until it became full size and 3-dimensional. (She drew a picture for me.) I told her that the vision is probably Jesus confirming to her that what He has begun, He will carry onto completion, to the degree of the fullness of His finished work. Thank you Jesus! We talked for awhile, and I learned that they all (Mom, Maria, sis, and sis's fiance') attend The Shepherd's House Church. I recognized that name because I think it's one of the ones that Pastor prays for during service. Maria said that her pastor does the same for our church. Well, by this time we were all pouring with sweat and needed to get going. I hate to leave before seeing complete healing, so I prayed again in order to thank Jesus for what He's begun and for the complete restoration of her jaw and tissues, kind of sealing His word and will over her.
By this time I was on a high and approached a lady at HEB on one of those motorized shopping carts. I'd seen her walk up to it, and she had a limp too. However, she assured me that she was fine and didn't need prayer...that she is blessed. Even after I gave her the testimony of what had happened just 5 minutes before! I cheerfully told her that I was glad that she is blessed and then left her alone, but as I walked away, I said, 'Lord, heal her anyway!! Let her know there's more!!!' Sometimes people are longing for prayer and welcome it like water. Others not so much. So what. Ask anyway!
And now, where are you at and where are you going today? Ask God if He has someone in those places that needs a touch, and ask Him to lead you to them. He will! Be bold!! (And send me the testimony!!)
To God alone and His Son Jesus Christ be the glory forever and ever, amen!!!
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