Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Honor

This week we have Peter and Heather Jackson, the foundering directors of SOM, with us teaching about the Glory of Sonship which can also be called from Shame to Honor. Interesting that we are learning about Honor after we have already had our guys' and girls' honoring days. For me this is actually a good thing because it will hopefully solidify the revelations and lessons I was learning last week - bringing some logic to the feelings and such. 

As previously written last Monday was guys' honoring which was one of the most enjoyable days of my life. The whole day I was wishing I could just do so much more so that the guys would realize just how special and loved they are, by us and by Daddy. The Tuesday after wasn't all that fun though. First I was physically drained and since I had nothing else to work for my emotions started to come forward and demand the attention that they weren't receiving otherwise. The whole day I struggled with the entire idea of honor which you would've thought I understood considering the day prior. The main issue was the frightening thought that with guys' honoring over all I had to look forward to was Saturday....girls' honoring. It absolutely terrified me at the thought of an entire day dedicated to guys being sweet on me. And the thought that it scared me scared me. But really when was the last time you were honored? Truly honored? I'm guessing not too recently for most of us which isn't right of course, but even that which isn't right often becomes habit. 

Soooo I spent the whole soaking time wrestling with this issue (yes, I was actually awake for the entire session which was a first for me) and God showed me how being able to receive honor from others is in the same vein as receiving love from Him (and others too). If I don't open up my heart - my whole heart - to the love He is pouring in, and I keep part of it closed off because of self-protection or whatever you want to call it, well then that part won't ever be affected by that love. If your heart is closed, nothing's going to get in and touch it. Duh. In terms of self-protection I guess that's a good thing but what people don't really understand is that if you block your heart for fear of the bad, your heart is also blocked off to the good. So keeping the heart closed is a huge block against God's love coming in. And if I can't receive the love of God, then how on earth will I be able to receive the love and honor of others? And how did this faulty system come into my life in the first place? Do I not have any experience in receiving love and honor that it freaks me out this much? 

Of course I have received love and honor in my life....lots of it, but it goes back to what I said, if there is even one part of the heart blocked, the heart is going to be part dead and unaffected by the love coming in. So open up your heart in its entirety to Papa and let Him completely saturate it with His healing love so that you may also receive the love, honor, and affection of others. :) For me, the rest of the week was about repairing and preparing and as you can read below, Saturday was INCREDIBLE and tons of fun. Life is a journey, don't forget to take pit stops and learn something new along the way.
Peace.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Pics of Princess Day

The beautiful chandelier the guys constructed and suspended from the ceiling.

Our make-over victim! I love you, Joe!

The vicious dragon we attempted to shot down.

Some of the guys thought it would be cool for us if they experienced the thrill of waxing.
The guys serenading us in the morning before breakfast.

Sorry these aren't in order, but I wanted to give you a bit of a peak of what the day held. These show most of the fun parts but the honoring ceremonies, though not pictured, were by far the most meaningful.

Living in a Fairy Tale

Yesterday was Girls' Honoring Day! The guys are absolutely amazing, they put so much time and effort into making our day enjoyable and memorable, and I love them so much! The night before we had invitations on our door announcing we would have breakfast delivered to us at 10 the next morning (gracious since it was a Saturday) and to be ready for a day of "mirth and merriment". All the girls were kicked out of the regular hang out areas that night so the guys could decorate and prepare so we had to resort to our staying up late in our rooms giggling like school girls with the anticipation of a kid on Christmas Eve. We didn't go to bed too early...but we did get to sleep in a bit, until we were woken up by the drums practicing downstairs.

The first round of sweetness was the band of sharply dressed men with guitars standing outside our doorways singing "No One" by Alicia Keys and other such songs to us. Gorgeous. We received our previously ordered breakfasts on trays accompanied by a red rose, our first of many throughout the day. At 11 room 214 was escorted by the handsome Dale Small to the auditorium where we were greeted by all the gentlemen on one knee. They gave a very heartfelt, sincere, and moving intro to how this was our day to be princesses, and that they just wanted to honor us for who we are and how special we are to them. I cried. We had a great worship set and then we started our princess training. First was the manual: Princess Diaries movie. Second we were tested: each small group visited six different stations where we put our princess skills to the test. One was a photo shoot, one we acted out a short skit (written by "Prince William" and absolutely hilarious...it was called "Euthanasia" and loosely based on the "Good Samaritan"), one was putting on make up on a mannequin aka one of the guys (bless their hearts!), one we practiced defending ourselves from a vicious dragon by shooting him with paintballs, and two were problem solving exercises. All was so well planned out and was a ton of fun.

Next came more sentiment. They had an entire group photo (complete with dresses) and then took us into the chapel where they gave us our "diplomas" for finishing the school. Along with the diplomas we each received a unique flower with another scroll attached. We learned the meaning of each of our flowers and were given time to read the scrolls. The small one had a Bible verse and characteristics written around it and the "diploma" had comments that several of the guys had written just for us. AMAZING!! Hugs all around and they prayed for us and let us soak it all in. We had until dinner to do whatever with the enticing option of a lovely foot massage available in the "garden terrace." Fabulous. 

We all dressed cutsy for dinner and were met again with studly men and had our pictures taken. Dinner was FANTASTIC. There were roses at each chair, and Jonathan is a chef and he totally outdid himself. We had a legit salad with good dressing followed by penne with well seasoned chicken breast topped with spinach and balsamic alongside delicious vegetables. Sparkling grape juice and lime water were the beverages and for dessert.... CHOCOLATE MOUSSE!!! 

After dinner there was another honoring ceremony...and more tears. The guys spoke the words of the Father and honored us for who we are to them and to Him, they apologized for any time they have dishonored us, they apologized for any time that ANY other man has dishonored and hurt us, and they spoke of our true design (Johannes wrote a beautiful account of the creation and purpose of woman- amazing). Once we had removed the mascara stains from our cheeks the entertainment began and we were rolling on the floor and laughing til our sides hurt. Wow, I love these guys. This had definitely best one of the best days ever. I feel so honored and loved.

Monday, November 29, 2010

****PILATES****

AKA GUYS' HONORING

Sneaky huh, to use a code name like that? Yeah, I know, we are so cool. So here's the deal... it has become a tradition in the school (which began with the boys) that the guys take a day to honor the girls and the girls take a day to honor the guys. One of the weeks of school is honor so it ties in, but our "Honor" week isn't til the end of school so I guess we'll learn after we practice. Anyway we girls have been having "Pilates" meetings to discuss our plans for how to honor the guys and today was the day to see everything fall into place. O WOW what the Holy Spirit all over that one because I don't know how the day could have gone much smoother! I love hosting parties/throwing parties/catering/event planning/whatever... so I'm used to stress and work and running around and all that. This had some running around (what kind of event would it be without that?) but the ridiculous stress was not there at all. It was actually a really odd feeling.

Here's the plan: Previously each girls' room was designated a guys' room to write prophetic words about and pray for. The words were put in green bottles ("message in a bottle") and placed in their rooms during the evening events. Saturday a bunch of girls baked cookies, cupcakes, and muffins for the day- yummy. Sunday evening we decorated the whole auditorium, the hallways, the guys' doors, and blacked out the windows so they couldn't see in. Oh yeah, and a couple girls and I changed the words to a song and made up a dance here too. Awesome. My room still had prophesying to do (so fun! it's getting easier too- my brain was not functioning but I was able to write words down in the flow. makes sense since I'm not speaking from my head anyway, right?), made it to bed ~3. TODAY>>> woke up way to early. Francis (cook) didn't start breakfast until 30 mins til we wanted to serve it, but he's experienced and knows what he's doing. Ladies cut fruit, set up tables, yada, yada, you know the drill. 

Breakfast at 10 went well minus having to bug Francis for more eggs for the bfast burritos. Spread included burritos, muffins, Starbucks coffee (this is a big deal- cafe coffee is not good), and a boat load of bread that we got from Italian bread factory across the street FOR FREE! FAVA! We did a bit of honoring and worship and then we sent them on a video scavengerhunt while we slipped into their rooms with glasses full of candies. The afternoon was chill and we served them tacos in the cafe before free time with popcorn and snowcones and XBox projected on the wall. A mini break came with outreach prep but ours included watching X Men over ice cream while Lizi and James chatted with each of us. After time picked up a bit with getting everything for dinner ready. Mission Impossible/Casino Royale is the theme with dice, poker chips, and cards on the tables, balloons everywhere and streamers of course. We asked them to dress nicely and we wore black, white, and red and served them steak, good veggies, potatoes and more bread (still have a truck load). I did plate up and it went really smoothly... so happy. Then there was a Mission Impossible game and then some performances by the girls over banana splits, cookies, and hot chocolate. To finish it off we watched a compiled video of some of the footage the guys took during the day.

IT WAS SUCH A GOOD DAY!!! I would love to do this all the time! The guys here Really are great and it's not just like one or two, every one of them is a great guy, upstanding, genuine, etc. People you want to hang around, good influences, etc. Honoring them has been a treat. Now I get to look forward to this Saturday when the boys are planning on honoring the girls, though honestly I would feel a lot more comfortable honoring someone else than being the one who's honored. That does not mean in any way that I would pass it up because I know it's going to be another amazing day for sure though...can't wait! 

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Tis the Season to be Tired

Friday night was great! We met early in the House of Prayer for a pre-service soaking/prayer time where we filled each other up and got HS drunk. Because we were the ministry team for the evening we got to sit on the front rows and feel official. Some of the girls and I took the invitation to come to the front and worship where I was planning to dance around or something but when the guitarist first touched the strings Andrea and I pretty much fell on the floor. Hilarious (and this is a big deal b/c I used to never get affected like this so I'm really excited and the HS is fun and amazing and it's a blast to have fun with Him). We gave the words we had received before the meetings and got to pray for those who came up from prayer, and then we prayed for those who wanted more HS after the meeting. They also had about 10 baptisms which is always exciting, adding to the excitement that we had 4 of my classmates get baptized earlier that afternoon. SO GOOD! I love baptisms; they are so powerful and more than just symbolic and I find it joyous seeing others take part. I kinda wish I could do it again, ya know.

I got to put to new JesusCulture CD on my iTunes...wonderful! 

I tried to nap on Friday getting ready for the big night but it didn't really work all that much, but I tried to stay up as much as I could anyway. I stayed up for the 12-2 session taking a break to shower and such, and then the 2-4 session though there was a little cat nap during that one, and then I was going to leave but James came in and put on Passion of the Christ so I decided to stay for it even though my mind was not really functioning, I was tired, and my body fatigued. haha, am I back at Covenant? lol. I was able to keep my eyes open for the majority of it and it was good though there were parts where I was too tired to cry. So I finally made it to bed around 6:15 with Erin promising to wake me up at 8:20 so I could leave for outreach. Ouch.

Saturday: God was totally with me all day helping me to function and be effective. I didn't feel too drained or tired - all miraculous - and I had a great time at the World Life Expo downtown where we joined the Open Sky Cafe sharing Spiritual Readings and Healing Touches to whoever stopped by. The expo is all about new age stuff but since He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world nothing crappy could touch us. I felt really at peace event though there was a lot of shady stuff there and people who came to our booth could feel the bubble of peace as well. I got to head up my team of Peter, Philip, and myself and it was tons of fun; we saw lots of healings and prophesied over a bunch of people too. A few ladies asked about our church though we didn't advertise that sort of thing at all. Some were open. Some had huge blockages inhibiting our words to do much difference, but I take by faith that they are seeds.

That night I went to bed at 8:30. Much needed. This morning I still felt like I had been run over by a bus but BABES ran the whole service for the youth. Aside from one kid getting hurt in the game we tried to play all went well. :) Kristyn spoke on how to hear the voice of God and I followed it up by giving a blurb about the prophetic and then leading the kids through some activations. Fun. After the service SOM prophesied over whoever wanted to stick around. I was going to say that it was harder but the words came just my mind was not picking them up very quickly. Need to nap but now I'm off to focus (or attempt to) on tomorrow. Prayers of refreshing welcome.
Peace

Friday, November 26, 2010

Fun Stuff Ahead

Tonight is Team BABES' first time being a part of the ministry team for the Come Holy Spirit Meeting. This will be interesting because while I've gone to many of these meetings, I've never really paid attention to what's going on; I just go for the atmosphere. (PS I believe you can catch these meetings on Catchthefire.tv if you're interested) Mostly we'll share prophetic words/words of knowledge and pray for those who want/need it.

Even later tonight we will be having a 12-hour prayer/worship session. It's optional but sounds really good to me. It starts at midnight and goes til noon tomorrow. While I won't be able to go to the whole thing I hope to be there for most of it. And the best part is that it's in our building so I don't have to travel far. :)

Tomorrow Team BABES is going downtown in two groups to be a part of a New Age Expo. There is a booth called the Open Sky Cafe where we will give "Spiritual Readings" to anyone who stops by for a word. Our connections are with YWAM which is cool and I'm excited to see what God does in and through us. I'm on the morning shift so please be praying for me that I only speak the truth and that we are a light and that we fully walk in the authority that God has given us.

Sunday Team BABES is leading the whole youth meeting in the morning. We have a fun and prophetic time planned but we'll have to see what happens. The rest of the day will be spent wrapping up loose ends for Monday which I will have to tell you all about after it happens. ;-P And sometime this weekend I will have to start working on my next sermon on the topic of "Identity." yay.
Peace.

Meanwhile Back at the Ranch

~~** Note: This was written Thursday but because I finished typing it after midnight I was unable to post it. Lovely internet curfew.**~~

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans! I must say it really hasn't felt like a holiday considering that not many people here think of this day any different than any other. Not to say I'm not thankful....I have so much and I'm so blessed and I could offer thanks for forever. God is good. 

This week James Levesque (sp?) is here with us talking about Prophetic Evangelism. He is from Connecticut and a very dynamic speaker. He is 100% real and doesn't sugar coat anything, but rather is an in-your-face, yell-if-I-have-to kind of guy. The authority and authenticity that he carries has been refreshing to sit under and even when he's just talking Erin and I can feel the HS presence in the room and others have said the same. 

Tonight at CBN Erin told me that the pre-service prayer team had received words about increased joy, breakthrough, freedom, and restoration for the evening. Awesome. HS was already there and it just got better with the expectancy of what was going to happen. Worship was fantastic aka HS presence all over. There were some angel sightings and so we gathered where they were (I encourage you to check out the archive version on cbn.com under "spiritual gifts"). I didn't particularly feel anything while in the group so I moved around to other manifesting friends. Joy is contagious and so much fun. James got up to speak but I saw Erin and Kristyn off to the side having fun so I joined them and spent the rest of the service on the floor laughing and with spasms. We got kinda loud too. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM! The Spirit of the Lord is inside of me, therefore I have freedom within me, on me, or whatever other preposition you want to use. cool. Refreshing evening. It was just what I've been craving and needing.

After the drunk fest a group of us went out to Jack Astor's for a good-bye "dinner" for Lillian, my third roommate. She's an intern from Brazil and her last day is tomorrow. We'll definitely miss her and her bubbly personality. ...More later. Happy Holidays!
Peace.