Sunday, February 05, 2006

Inkling of Hope

I hardly ever take the time to blog anymore due to constant computer issues with the blogger server but I thought I would give it a shot as I am bursting with thoughts that need to be written so I will start with an update I sent to our church families, more will follow as my mind and heart is filled with truths things I ignore and or refuse to accept.

Dear Friends,

I want to give you an update to let you know how God is answering our prayers, this is a little long a bit like a “testimony” I suppose, but I hope you will be patient with me and take the time to read it, I pray it will excite you and encourage you in your faith! :)

Several weeks ago at my More Excellent Way accountability group, we prayed for our situation we prayed for some tough stuff, like releasing the property to the Lord we prayed over the file of legal papers etc. We prayed God would give me (us) wisdom and help me to know what to do etc.

That night I woke up many times and prayed I felt the Lord said I should embrace the responsibility before me of representing myself and to trust Him. I came to terms with this spiritually and asked him to give me the physical and emotional strength necessary. I also asked Him to raise up help for me and a lawyer if it be His will down the road.

The very next day a friend of mine (Shana) called to say she couldn’t stop thinking of us and our situation and asked me to hang out with her and bring with me the legal file box on Sunday so she could help me with a strategy. After three or four hours we had a plan I still didn’t feel I had a real grip on things but faithfully plodded along trying to sort things out and continue to do so.
 
Two weeks ago a friend invited me to a prayer group that has been meeting in Hamilton for 40 years. It was so wonderful these ladies take prayer very seriously ~ they are tough cookies I'm pretty sure the enemy hides on Wednesday in downtown Hamilton from 10 am till 4 pm! :) This group graciously anointed me with oil and spent much of their time praying over me for our situation, God imparted to them wisdom and discernment as they fervently walked me through prayer and deliverance.

At that meeting I met a man named Tim he rarely gets a chance to come to the prayer group but just "happened" to be there after many months. This is fun because when I was asked to go to this meeting I said I wasn’t sure until Holy Spirit urged me to go and I felt strongly I needed to be there.

Tim is a director of construction for a firm in Cincinnati; he asked me if he could visit with mom and me so he could look over our situation more closely in the next couple of days. He thought he might be able to help sort out our insurance policy and or use his connections to get us answers so we would know what to do next.
 
This man believes part of the call on his life is to get things done through prayer support and providing practical helps as he fires the body of Christ up and into action according to the scripture in order to help widows, orphans, those who have been wronged, have needs etc. Tim is a busy business man so I did not hear back from him and just figured God had closed another door. 

Over the past month Bill has been organizing my wonderful cinti friends to come and have work days to help document our losses another daunting task, the work days have been a huge answer to prayer. During this time Jeff and Bill felt lead by the Holy Spirit to go and pray over our property and ask God to remove hindrances and or curses that may be standing in our way of our freedom over our current situation.

So along with me and our dear friend Elaine we prayed and walked the property seeking wisdom from the Lord and taking back the land with the biblical authority given to us. We prayed Gods abundant blessings be poured out over our family and property and that the Lord would use the land and our situation for His will and purposes.

A few days later my brother went to pick up something on the property and discovered we had been robbed of fuel oil and vandalized so I had to fill out a police report etc. I found myself falling back into frustration, feeling helpless to protect our property and walk out of the mess we are in.
 
Over the next two weeks I was stonewalled by the insurance company, opposing counsel, and everyone in between we were getting pretty dragged down again. My mother’s battle with insomnia has been increasing with the stress and her faith has been challenged. In addition to her struggles I have just been losing it as I am continually overwhelmed and exhausted all the responsibilities are left to me since we do not have a lawyer, advisors etc. the responsibilities are daunting.
 
On Thursday I prayed God would continue to bring provision and help us pay our bills that day my mother showed me a beautiful and encouraging card with an anonymous check with just enough money to keep our utilities on again this month! God knows exactly what we need and when we need it we are humbled, blessed, and overwhelmed by Gods blessings and mercy through the body of Christ. So, anonymous friend (or friends) thank you for the bottom of our hearts ~ we are blessed beyond measure.
 
On Friday I cried out to the Lord for Him to deliver and save us from our situation over and over throughout the day I cried to the Lord and he placed in my heart that everything would be okay that I needed to rest and be at peace.

Before the end of the day I received a call from Tim who asked if he could visit with mom and me the next morning and take a look at our property in the country. At first Tim thought the Lord had sent him to us to help with the paper work as the morning wore on the Lord spoke to his heart and asked him to help us protect our home and property as it is a viable asset for us and it was not being stewarded well since our focus has been on daily survival.

Tim asked me to get as many strong bodies I could to make a commitment to a days work and promised to have a dumpster delivered this week. Two hours later he called to ask my permission to go onto the property to begin clean up the next day.

I called him late Sunday morning and learned he had been working by himself since 7:30 am when I arrived to help at noon I was flabbergasted at all he had accomplished. Tim believes Saturday we could finish the job with a few volunteers by early afternoon if not sooner!

We are so grateful for Gods provision and leadership it has pained us the last three years to watch the property fall further and further into disrepair and feel helpless to care for it. This is the first step; we will take things as the Lord leads. We do not know what this means for us if we will sell it, rent it, move back etc, so it’s best not to ask ;). God holds our future and the future of the property He has entrusted us with in His hands. We are incredibly thankful for His provision and after three years you can imagine our excitement.

We appreciate your continued prayer for God’s Will to be done, we are trying very hard not to pray our will but instead ask the Lord to lead us and direct us as He desires.

Love & Blessings to you all