In these days I feel like I am floating from present to past to future to present...and around again. Assimilating from Kenyan culture back to American culture always carries with it a wide variety of emotions; one is overcome by the simple blessings of hot water showers, working toilets, and such an abundance and variety of foods - yet one is also aware of the simple but powerful joy that fills the Kenyan heart and is lacking in our TV/tablet/cell phone-staring culture. Even my grandchildren came back feeling a bit depressed because everyone here is texting instead of talking, arguing about God instead of worshiping Him!
In the weeks after our return John and I were feeling a stirring to once again begin leading a fellowship. Every time I sought the Holy Spirit on the subject I heard two words: "holding pattern." I knew the Lord was busy preparing things behind the scenes; but miraculously, the holding pattern did not last long! We went out for a walk a week ago Sunday and I was greatly impressed that the Voice of the Spirit was telling me to go look at an old abandoned church building in our small town. I had passed this building on my walks a hundred times and always wondered why it was empty.
In obedience to the Spirit, we went straight there and found a young man working in the yard. We asked, "Do you know anything about this building?" He replied, "Yes, I own it." We were so surprised, thinking the place was abandoned. We asked if it might contain a room that we could rent for prayer and worship gatherings. He literally jumped to his feet and elatedly cried out, "I've been praying for you to come! I've been praying for SOMEONE to come and use this building for the glory of God!"
There is much more to tell as this amazing story unfolds, but I will leave that for another time. The main thing is that the vision John and I have held close to our hearts for the past few years seems to be coming to fruition now in a rapid way. We have believed God gave us a burden and a mandate to be ready for the great harvest that is yet to come, in the midst of chaos and collapse. We have both had a sense of urgency to have a ministry in place that would minister the Gospel of salvation in Yeshua to broken, hurting people. In other words, we have felt that the time is NOW to use the deposit of the Word that has been placed within us to feed the starving people who never knew Him.
Amos 8:11 says, "The time is surely coming when I will send a famine on the land - not a famine of bread or water, but of hearing the Word of the Lord."
Right now I am in Illinois following my mother's surgery to remove a blood clot, and yesterday we placed her into hospice care. She is 90 and suffers from Alzheimer's and Post-Polio Syndrome. She can no longer walk, can barely talk, and is refusing most food. We know her days here are numbered and together with my sister and my father, we are praying her earnestly home to her well-deserved Rest. Her earthly "tent" is fading away. I've spent the last two days with my sister in precious prayer and singing over our mother. Yesterday she quietly but clearly told me, "I have to go bye bye." I released her to go home and thanked her for being a loving, God-fearing mother. We have reminisced about our childhoods, and that takes me to the past. We have worked with Hospice workers to ensure that she will remain comfortable and well-cared for, and that is my present. But in the midst of all this, the future looks glorious, in all that the Lord is planning!
I am reading an old David Wilkerson booklet of prophecy, entitled Set the Trumpet to Thy Mouth. It is from 1985, and many of you may remember it. He was a powerful prophet, ahead of his time (as all true prophets are). So as I read his words on page 15, I clearly see our future. This is what we are to be doing from this day forward, and this is what we have set our hearts and minds to do:
"Seeing therefore that the time is short, let us be diligent. Knowing the hour is late, let us redeem the time. We will work while it is yet day, before the night comes and no man can work. We will preach and teach and go into all nations witnessing - as though judgment will never come. We will believe for the greatest outpouring of the Spirit ever. We will pray for one last great harvest. The overcomers who are ready for anything are the most effective witnesses. This is the time! No hiding! No mountain cabins of escape! No caves or shelters! No stockpiles of food or weapons or water. God's holy remnant can look death right in the face and say, 'I fear you not! There is no more sting, no more terror. I am ready to be offered.'"
So it is for my mother. So it is for me.
