Mobile Prayer Team on the Move

Last night the prayer team went 'mobile' again.  We prayed for Gloria.  Oh we surrounded her like a bunch of warriors over a wounded soldier. 

We were told by the nurse that we could stimulate her as much as possible, so we took full advantage.

 We laid hands on her, we anointed her with oil, we prayed for her. We told her how much we loved her, and how many people were holding her and her family up in prayer, and told her that her hubby and boys were doing good. 

We know she is in God's care.  He loves her so much and she loves Him. We  could feel amazing peace in the room and right from Gloria herself.  There is peace that only comes from the Holy Spirit, and it was very present and very real.

Then we headed about 6 door down and prayed for Willie.

We prayed and anointed Willie with oil.  We visited and all acted like we had been friends for a lifetime.  Willie is moving to Eugene today to a rehab center there.  So we said our good byes.  As we were wrapping up, one of the prayer warriors, Pam, asked Willie if he had a Bible....he said no.  Pam sent her hubby after her Bible that happened to be in the car.  Pam gave Willie her Bible. 

 Her personal marked up, highlighted, studied, treasured Bible.  On the spot, just handed it over with joy and love.  It was such a beautiful act of love I can't even describe the way it made me feel.  Willie accepted it with joy and thanksgiving.  We all signed it and we read Willie a couple of verses that we thought were encouraging. 

 I read to him the verse I had been praying over him out of his new Bible, and it was The Message translation, which was so beautiful and fitting.  

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

The Message (MSG)

 ^16-18So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.

God is good!

Willie

This is Willie! 

 The guy we've been praying for.  His smile can light up a room.  You would never guess this guy has the biggest challenge of his life ahead of him.  He has a positive attitude and is working like crazy to do whatever it takes to improve his situation.

Willie has been so receptive and excited about the prayers that have been offered up on his behalf.  

We are praying that Willie will someday walk again, but most important, that whether he walks again or not that He will walk with the Lord. 

 Because when he walks with the Lord on this earth,we know that he will one day walk and ride and dance again for eternity!  

AMEN!

Prayer!!

Last night the prayer meeting became a mobile unit. 

 We had so much fun and were so encouraged that we laughed about making a magnet sign to slap on the side of the rig, and a siren to place on the top and rush to the 'scene' at any given moment.

Prayer Meeting Team

UNIT 333

We walked into that hospital by faith that God had called us to 'GO' and pray; not knowing how it would work and what to expect.  

There were plenty of obstacles to the day and it took perseverance and endurance to 'GO' where we felt the Lord had called us.

The prayer warriors were made up of every age and walk of life; but all a part of the body of Christ.

  The warriors are all Christians that believe and know and have experienced the power of prayer.  

Several of the warriors are quite beat up by life circumstances, they have wounds and scars, but their spirits are not beat  or wounded or scared AT ALL, their spirits are lifted up  and more beautiful and vibrant and stronger than ever before.  

The spirits in the room were high because everyone there has walked through the fire, or are currently walking through the fire and they know God is with them, and they know WHO has and IS getting them through the fire and the life beatings.

As we filed into the ICU wait room, there was a man named Jerry in there because his son Scott was in the ICU.

Dave respectfully let him know that some 'prayer warriors' had come to pray, and Jerry bolted out of his chair and said, "Bring it on".

WELL O.K. JERRY...THAT IS WHAT WE LIKE TO HEAR.

Jerry would not even sit back down, he said he was too lifted up to even sit!!

We prayed for Jerry and his son Scott and Dave and Gloria, and the  whole Santiago family.

Dave prayed for Jerry and Jerry prayed for Dave.  

We shed tears, we shared the goodness of God and His Faithfulness and we left that little room on high.  

The kind of high you only get from THE MOST HIGH.

And as Beth Moore says: 

 THERE IS NO HIGH LIKE THE MOST HIGH.

Then we went up to room 333 and prayed for our friend Willy.  

None of these people knew Willy when they walked in the room.  They walked in the room as strangers and left as friends. 

Willy was LOVING all the prayers and new friends.

Nancy, who is a prayer warrior and a friend, who had come to pray and one of the ones that has taken a recent beating in life, but is stronger than ever and has more joy than ever.  She is a living, walking testimony of the power of prayer.  She is still in the healing process from her recent 'life beating' and yet she came to pray for people she knew and people she didn't know....How amazing is THAT??? 

 As we were introducing everyone to Willy, she announced that he had her room.

  She was recently in St. Charles and she was in room 333.

Lord!!!!

  You would think that was the only room in the whole building. 

Dear God:

Thank you Father for letting us enjoy You and Your blessings and showing us again what the body of Christ looks like in action.  Than you for allowing us to pray.  We went in faith, not knowing what was going to take place and you filled us with Your joy and peace and love.  

Dear Jerry Dave and Willy:

Thank you for opening your hearts and your lives in a time when you would be justified in closing up and shutting down and we came to encourage you and  we left ENCOURAGED. 

GOD IS JUST SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!

 I know there were many prayer warriors who were praying from their cars, their living rooms, their kitchens, and God hears EVERY single one....He is THAT BIG AND THAT GOOD!!!! 

Show Us Your Glory

Dear God:  Show us Your Glory in Gloria!!!!

Easter Sunday, after Gloria had gone to Sunrise Service to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, she had gone home to prepare for a celebration Sunday dinner with family.

As she greeted her family that was coming to celebrate with her, she greeted them with hands in the air declaring, "He is risen".

On that same day she suffered a major brain aneurysm or stroke (we have heard both, and I don't know the details of either).

Gloria is a wife and a mother of two wonderful boys. 

 She is a Christian that is full of life and love. 

 Everyone who has ever met Gloria has been effected in a positive way. 

She has a contagious personality, that just expels energy.

 She lives with purpose, and  joy and sincerity.

 Gloria is a hard worker and  when she is headed somewhere or doing something, she's on a mission, and it gets done and it gets done well.

I know many people are praying for our precious Gloria, and on Wednesday night, our prayer meeting at our church is becoming a mobile unit. 
 We are storming the gates of heaven and the hospital halls and interceding as a unified body for Gloria.

If you want to join us, we are leaving the church at 6:30pm tomorrow night.  If you can't make it please join us in prayer for Gloria about 7pm from wherever you happen to be at that time. 
 Let's lift her up and her family and watch God do a mighty work.  


I've been thinking for anyone who feels led to, let's fast on Wednesday and get our hearts prepared to go before the King of Kings.  


I know many of us are praying all day everyday, but coming together is  powerful, and fasting is a way to stay focused in drawing near to the Lord as we humbly and boldly ask God to heal our Gloria and show us His Glory through her testimony that He is working in her right now.

Chap-Stick and Room 333

A few weeks ago I was on the phone with one of my sisters and we were talking about some of the "God winks" that happen.
 These are just cool things God does that make you know He is looking after all the details, and He just sends little reminders that are sweet to your soul.

 She told me of a friend that has a way God likes to remind her that He is with her, and it's with the number 333.
  I thought this was cool, and a couple of times since then, I have noticed that particular number at random times, and just kinda smiled, thinking to myself, "Yep God is with me".

 One instance was when Charlie was in Texas he sent a text that really blessed my heart and it was sent at 3:33 pm.
(I hadn't even told him about the 333 thing).

It just put a smile on my face because I received a text from my man and a little reminder from God at the same time.

Yesterday morning as I was driving home from my run and prayer time with some of my girlfriends, I felt like the Lord was telling me that our friend, Willy, in the hospital needed chap-stick.

  This seemed somewhat reasonable to me because our friend is African American and I know that those beautiful big chocolate lips get extremely dry very easily and at this point he is unable to apply chap-stick.

 I did what I typically do when I hear from the Lord....I pass the assignment on to Charlie.

 I came running in the house with a tube of chap-stick  from my car and told him he needed to take Willy the chap-stick.
Charlie told me there was no way he could swing this today.
 I was disappointed and just set the chap-stick on the bathroom counter.

I got ready for the day and put that chap-stick in my pocket.  I didn't think much about it after that because I had a very busy day.
Wednesdays are kinda my craziest day of the week, so I just figured we would get that chap-stick to Willy sometime in the next few days.

 Later in the afternoon, me and Maezie were headed to Bend to go watch Kole and Charsie at a track meet.  The track meet just happen to be about 1 mile away from the hospital that our friend is in. As I was driving I called Charlie and tried to convince him to come to the track meet and stop by the hospital.  He was right in the middle of scrubbing concrete, so there was no way he could break away.

 I told him I probably wasn't going to go to the hospital without him, I had a hundred reasons why....

I had Maezie,
I haven't seen our friend in YEARS and years,
 I don't want it to be awkward,
I don't know what to say,
 on and on.
  Charlie said he REALLY thought I should go, and check in on him, and it would be fine.
  I pretty much had myself talked out of it with all my excuses when Charlie said, "I think you should go, and if you do, he's in room 333.

Well, OF COURSE HE'S IN ROOM 333!!!

I just had to giggle...o.k God o.k.!!!!!  So I put Maezie in a sling, made sure I had my chap-stick, and marched my fanny up to room 333...where God would be with me.  :)

We had the BEST visit.


 And Maezie, the one I thought would be a distraction, was a ray of sunshine.  She smiled so big and patted Willy on the arm and lit up the entire room with her bald head and gummy smile.

She was the best visitor in the world...she loved without reservation and thought Willy was her new best friend. 

I explained to Willy that we had adopted Esther and that she has the same beautiful skin he has, and I have learned that their beautiful skin needs constant moisturizing in this dry climate.
 He agreed and said that someone was going to bring him lotion.
I asked if he would like some chap-stick, because I just  happened to have some in my pocket and he said he would like that.
I applied it to his big handsome lips, and his lips were glowing  and smiling when Maezie and I left the room.

I can tell you I was the MOST blessed person in room 333 yesterday.

God is good...he provided everything we needed for a good visit yesterday and I know He was with us all.

Me and Maezie can't wait to go back!!!!

Suffering - Easter

We spent 7 hours on Good Friday watching a simulcast by David Platt.  He spent the whole time teaching from Genesis through Revelation about SUFFERING - and God's Glory.

It was the fastest most intense teaching time I have EVER heard.
 I left with my head spinning, but I was changed. 

 I had a better understanding of God and His character and His purpose and how suffering fits into that, and what it means when we say "God is good" and yet, bad things happen to good people.

I will never fully understand it all and I will never like it, but I have a little better understanding  and a little different view of suffering.
 I trust God more, I have a better understanding of his GREATNESS and HIS LOVE and HIS GLORY.

I'm thankful to the Lord that He gave me some tools on Friday night to help me better understand suffering a little bit better, because on Sunday and Monday we have watched several of our friends SUFFER in horrible ways, and I just keep referring to how I know God is in control, and He is GOOD and He cares for us and He can use EVERYTHING FOR THE GOOD OF THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.

Romans 8:28

English Standard Version (ESV)

²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,^[a] for those who are called according to his purpose.

On Sunday evening we got word that a dear friend our ours and a friend to so many others had a major brain aneurysm.  Gloria is an amazing woman with a testimony a mile long.  Gloria is a blessing to so many. This friend walks the walk, she loves the Lord passionately and she loves people and everyone who knows her, knows this about her.
 She is a mother, a wife, a Sunday school teacher, a friend, and a JOY to be around.

Then on Monday morning we learned a sweet couple from our church and our community had a very serious accident with their mules on Sunday afternoon.  They are going to be ok, but they are banged up pretty bad.  The Steinbrechers are salt of the earth, loving people.  They are lovers of Jesus, and they know how to enjoy God and His gifts and His creation.

Then, Monday afternoon Charlie learned that an old bull rider buddy of his had an accident and fell and disturbed an old neck injury and is not able to move.  He has feeling in his extremities, and he had surgery, but he has a long road to recovery.

Charlie visited these friends at the hospital, and everyone is in rough shape - SUFFERING.
 Their loved ones are suffering deeply.

Here's what I have to remember; God intends sanctification from our suffering.  Satan intends for destruction.
  God WINS!!
  God's plan ALWAYS trumps Satan's plan.
 God is completely in control, He always has the final say.
 I know that God is good, even in horrid tragedy, I know he hears our prayers and He loves us, He IS LOVE.

I know there are many people storming the gates of heaven on behalf of Gloria.  I know God hears our cry. I know Gloria is in the mighty awesome palm of our almighty God. 

I know people are praying for the healing of the Steinbrechers.

  And I know people are praying for Willy.
  Charlie got the opportunity to pray for Willy; and what a blessing that was.  Not something you always get the privilege of doing with your buddy from years past.
  Willy was accepting of the prayer and grateful.  

Our hearts are hurting for these suffering people, but I know God will bring Glory to His might name through each of these situations. 

The Cross - Jesus dying on the cross - was the ultimate sacrifice - the ultimate suffering FOR US - after the ultimate sacrifice and suffering came resurrection and healing and GOOD NEWS!!

Many of us just celebrated all this on Easter with Gloria and with the Steinbrechers, at Sunrise service.  These folks know Jesus very personally, and He is their Savior, and their strength and their comforter.  

No matter how God glorifies Himself in these lives it is GOOD NEWS, because God is Good and He is THE GOOD NEWS.

Please join us in prayers for all these people.

We had a pretty small group this year.   We really missed the rest of our family.  

It was a beautiful day!