Today is the first day I've been able to access the internet since my arrival at the Fredericksburg Prayer Furnace. I am indeed alive and doing very well. Below are a few entries I've written that cover the last few days.
8/19/12
Yesterday was the beginning of something new.
I woke up relaxed but sore. The previous day’s
wedding engagement involved cutting grilled chicken with dull knives. A great
workout for the shoulders and back.. yeah, not the best after my morning
massage, but wonderful bonding time, through serving, with my friend Krystina.
;)
After my morning brew of coffee, I turned on the
Spanish version of “You’ve Got A friend in me” from Toy Story 3. It made my morning even happier.
I left my room to rest for 4 ½ months. All things
in order.
My friend Dyland was so kind and gracious to offer
his families vacuum for me to use to thoroughly clean out my car before the trip.
Detail attachments and everything. A blessing. More order.
A run to the bank was my last stop before
departure to the beautiful wooded land of Fredericksburg. All my finances
deposited. Three one hundred dollar bills tucked nicely in a floral envelope.
Provision from the Lord. Completion.
Barefoot, I loaded every piece of luggage and tote
into my steamy blue car. The air held a slight breeze and the sky spoke of
rain.
Sunny and slightly breezy as I drive down I-64. My
eyes brim with tears as a dear friend texts “I love you” and wants to talk
soon. My morning had been filled with other fair well texts and blessings for
this new season.
The words, divinely spoken God Words, I sensed
going into this new season:
Expectation, Newness , Fullness.
These same words were spoken to the group during
our wonderful worship time together on this beautiful Sunday morning. Yes,
confirmation that this is where I need to be.
I’m staying in the same intern house I visited
when I came up for the Awaken the Dawn Conference. God is so good to place me
in a familiar place. I’m staying in the basement and room with 2 other lovely
ladies and a leader in another room. Our basement is fully furnished with
kitchen and two bathrooms. He also knows
that I didn’t want to be in a room with lots of girls.
I’m doing the Night Watch (prayer between the
hours of 12 midnight and 6am) but our schedule hasn’t switched to Night Watch
quite yet (though as I write this it’s passed over to the midnight hour as I’m
trying to slowly adjust). We are all a
family. The Night Watch ladies and daytime Burn ladies all stay in the same
house and we’ve all been doing a lot of things together thus far. I absolutely
love this.
To develop
our family and build relationships, we played LOTS of games today. Freeze was HILARIOUS. I laughed a lot. It’s an acting game where you use props and
develop a story, someone in the crowd yells freeze and jumps into one of the
actors place. They could continue the story or change it completely.
After our game time we
broke bread together (dinner) and watched the film titled “The Father of
Lights”. This was the second time I had seen this movie and oh how it makes my
heart glad! My faith for signs and miracles increases so much! Oh the Love of
Jesus! And, my name, Elaine, means One of Light so anything having to do with spreading
HIS Light really touches me to the core.
And knowing the Father. His deep, deep love for us. So powerful. Loving
others out of the love you’ve received, the love that you know. I’d highly
recommend it.8/20/12
As my roommate Megan warned me my first
night---All that you receive will be like a fire hose. A washing of water by
the WORD.
Well, she was right.
Our first class with David Bradshaw today was
powerful. Yes and Amen on every point.
These gatherings in a classroom aren’t to attain information. Oh no! Our
desire isn’t to just get more good information our desire is for encounter.
Encounter with the Living One and Only God.
One of the things that make me SO glad about all
of this is the fact that they are giving us the raw truth. They desire a people
to run hard after God, they desire a fascinated Bride, one who is captivated by
her Beloved. And they know fully that
with this knowledge, with understanding and revelation, a generation will be
rocked to the core. Lives will be completely changed. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am
for what’s coming. Guys, this is only
day 2!
I must tell my heart to not overanalyze, but yield
to God.
I remembered the binder cover I had personalized
when I began college back in 2007. It clearly depicted my heart at 18. Psalm 27. “One Thing have I desired of the
Lord, that One thing will I seek, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to
meditate in His temple.”
I was struck by the reason why we engage in sin.
Why we settle for a pleasure far less than what is attainable in Christ
(fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore!).
We choose this lesser thing because we deceive ourselves into thinking
that we are missing out on some form of pleasure.
The desire for fascination and pleasure is to be
fulfilled by CHRIST. We shouldn’t be apologizing or repenting from the desire
for pleasure. And our desire for
pleasure is way too weak as we settle for lesser things.
Obedience, coming into agreement of His nature, is
the highway to pleasure.
The beauty found in this realm on earth is just a
picture of the beauty in His realm.
A religious spirit. It’s basically lack of the
knowledge of God and it’s demonic. We claim to KNOW this Man, when we really
don’t know Him.
Do we
desire to be undone before Him? Undone. Fully surrendered. Fully exposed.
Don’t despise the mundane moments in seeking the
Lord. Ah, this really spoke to me. How often I don’t press in long enough? We
are living in a generation where we like to microwave everything. We want quick
results, quick solutions. We don’t know how to wait, how to be still, how to
silent all other voices.
What He’s asking is simple. Give yourself FULLY to
the knowledge of God and don’t look at your progress right away. Stare. Gaze. Look. Meditate. Behold. We see
in a mirror DIMELY.
8/23/12
My time thus far has been AMAZING. The Lord has been moving in mighty ways. My schedule hasn't fully switched over to a night schedule yet. We will be in the prayer room till 3am all of this week and next and then will fully transition to the 6am schedule. Today is really the first day I'm really feeling the groggyness of going to bed at 3:30am. BUT, I didn't wake up at 7-7:30am like I've been doing since I arrived. :)
Tuesday, my roomate Ashley moved in. She's bunking on the top and has to climb into her bed WITHOUT a ladder. We had a POWERFUL teaching with Randy Martinez from Joel 2. We began our class crying out to the Lord for help. That He would give to us the spirit of wisdom, revelation, and the knowledge of Him, we asked for His help to understand, to focus. Which turned into a powerful time of prayer. Randy asked if anyone had a difficult birth. I had heard most of the teaching that he gave, but it was great hearing it again. At the end of class another outpouring of the spirit came, and we began to travail on behalf of the babies. I cried a deep cry from within, as deep crying out to deep. Just the weight of His heart and desire to partner fully with it.
Yesterday, we had orientation at the Thrift store. Kingdom building work. All the money that is earned goes directly into the house of prayer. The thrift store is located at the Event Center where the house of prayer holds all their events and seminars. Once we get into our 6am schedule, we will be working the thrift store once a week in the evening. I LOVE thrift stores and am so glad we are going to be able to serve in this way.
Today, here in a few minutes, I'll be meeting with my Stand by Night family. There are 8 of us total with leaders. We'll have just a short time of debriefing and then class at 3 with the Burn Internship family. :) The girls are all amazing! Dinner at 5:30 (which is my lunch but we call it dinner), and then a lunch at around 11:30pm,
Expecting great things from the Father today. Love you all!
