The long weekend.

Well, I had a busy long weekend. It had its both ups and downs. It started off with me going all the way to my bible study to find out that is was cancelled. While I waited in the car, my mom calls and tells me to get home as soon as the study is over. I knew right away what she meant by that. My aunt who had been in the hospital had died. I headed home to find my sister, Darcy and the new baby Marcus there. So, getting to hold him for a little while made things much better.

On Saturday I had a bbq with a bunch of friends. It turned out really great. Everyone seemed to have a great time and the weather was perfect. We celebrated five of our birthdays - Richard, Hernan, Eric, Eugenie and Angela (that's me :-). My friend Jaime made the cake and it was awesome. We ended up having a water balloon fight and then the hose came out. It felt good to be in the company of great people.

On Sunday I had to drive up to North Bay for my aunt Marie's funeral. It was a nice little service in a united church. Being in a united church felt very weird. The things the pastor was saying was misleading and I wanted to stand up and tell her to tell the truth but I didn't. It was a funeral and that is no way to show love. But I was egging inside. After the funeral we headed to my cousins house. I saw some family I haven't seen in quite awhile. I wish that it didn't always have to take something bad to bring everyone together.

On Monday Skye and I headed down to Queen's Park for the Defend Marriage Rally. That was really cool. There were over 5000 people there. It was suppose to rain all afternoon but as the rally continued on the clouds parted, the sun shone through and the sky became this beautiful blue. Isn't it great to have God on our side? There were about 22 speakers from around Canada from different denominations, there were also Moslems and Sikhs. I find it quite weird that we are classed as inferior to the Moslems and yet they join with us for this cause. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised the bible talks about religions joining together. Something we as Christians would never have even thought could be possible and slowly it is all coming together. But anyway, that is a totally different topic.

I hope you all had a great weekend. God bless you!

Hold on fast, and seek diligently

I have finished my first week of the summer semester at school. I have a little bit more counselling classes so it will definitely be a bit of a change. I have loved theology so much that it really is all I have been wanting to do. I was thinking about changing my major to theology but I now that way back in August the Lord called me to counselling. So that is what I am going to do.

I do thank the Lord for giving me the desire to want to pick up His Word day in and day out. He has taught me so much in this little bit of time that it only could be accredited to Him. I am an official work in progress and I really can not wait for each day to come so that I can say 'More Lord'.

When I have been counselling people, it has never felt like work but when I am in class I get this overwhelming feeling of doubt. I know it is Satan pushing me back. I know that I have to push forward. Because I've been studying the Word more, I have a little bit better understanding of the spiritual battle that is going on around us and my only defense is the Word. I pray to be grounded in the Word Lord and fight back just as Jesus did in the desert.
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I have noticed a common occurrence that happens to us. We feel the Lord, we are hungry for the Word, we pray diligently and then something seems to happen that we lose the 'feeling', we feel distant from the Lord and we wonder what happened. The first thing that we should ask ourselves is 'Did we stop praying?' and 'Did we stop reading the Word?'. We get so focused on the things that are happening in front of us and we begin to lose sight of the Lord. God never is the one to leave it is always us who turn our eye onto something else. Our relationship with Jesus is an every day journey. It starts when we ask Jesus into our hearts and never finishes, not even when we close our eyes to sleep.

Heavenly Father, I ask that You renew our minds and our hearts for you. That we may walk with You and drown in your Spirit. Lord, I pray that everyone would seek You because when they do they will find you right there waiting. Father I know that Your promises are true and You will never fail us. I ask that everyone would lay down their troubles at Your feet and pick up their cross and follow You. You never promised an easy life, actually you said the opposite. So I pray that we look to heaven and not to the world for our reward. And when we find we are being tempted and in despair that we put our trust in You and diligently seek You. Your Word says "Submit to God, Resist the devil, and He will flee from you". Lord, I pray that you will convict all of us of our sins and draw all of us nearer to you. First we must submit and then we resist the devil. It is not the other way around. We need to lay down our life for You. Help us to see this and not be afraid but rejoice and be glad for even the apostles found joy in their sufferings. I ask that we all pray this "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight O' Lord, my strength and my redeemer". In Jesus' name I pray. Amen

Surgery!

My son had day surgery yesterday and I was a bit skeptical about the whole thing. His father really was pushing for it and in the end he won. I can't say 'won' as it wasn't a contest or anything but in the end Matthew had surgery.

I prayed for God's hand to be on the surgeon and for Matthew to recover quickly. Well, within two hours of having the surgery, Matthew was himself again. All day you would not have even thought that he had surgery.

God really is amazing and He sends His grace upon us. I am thankful for His presence in our lives and I am thankful for the blessings and the trials.

Midnight Watch Prayer Meeting.

Last night, or moreso this morning at 12am, I went to my first Midnight Watch Prayer meeting. This was held at a Brazilian church and we prayed and worshipped until 6am. The worship was astounding. God was in the midst. It really was an awesome experience. I have never stayed up all night to pray before but I knew that if I could do it for the world (i.e. the movie marathon) then I could most certainly do it for God.

I learned that this was their second meeting of nine to pray over Canada. We prayed for leadership inside and outside of the church, this and next generations, healing in the land. We repented for generational sin and deliverance. We praised God and had a time of thanksgiving.

This really was quite the experience. Their next meeting is on June 3rd and I most certainly plan on being there. If anyone is interested in finding out more about this, contact Canada in Prayer. It is a group of intercessors who gather together for a common purpose of prayer throughout Canada on the first Friday of every month. So while you are praying in Toronto, others are grouped together in Vancouver praying for the same things.

I am glad that God brought me to church last night. He rejuvenated everyone who was there, especially the musicians who played all night long without a break. Thank God for his anointing and for His fresh flow of grace raining down on us.

Billy's Dream.

A tear rolled down my cheek as I read this this morning. A very touching story that I had to share.

In Phoenix, Arizona, a 26-year-old mother stared down at her 6 year old son, who was dying of terminal leukemia. Although her heart was filled with sadness, she also had a strong feeling of determination. Like any parent, she wanted her son to grow up and fulfill all his dreams. Now that was no longer possible.. The leukemia would see to that. But she still wanted her son's dreams to come true. She took her son's hand and asked, "Billy, did you ever think about what you wanted to be once you grew up? Did you ever dream and wish what you would do with your life?" Mommy, "I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up." Mom smiled back and said, "Let's see if we can make your wish come true."

Later that day she went to her local fire department in Phoenix, Arizona, where she met Fireman Bob, who had a heart as big as Phoenix. She explained her son's final wish and asked if it might be possible to give her six year old son a ride around the block on a fire engine. Fireman Bob said, "Look, we can do better than that. If you'll have your son ready at seven o'clock Wednesday morning, we'll make him an honorary fireman for the whole day. He can come down to the fire station, eat with us, go out on all the fire calls, the whole nine yards! And if you'll give us ! his sizes, we'll get a real fire uniform for him, with a real fire hat-not a toy one-with the emblem of the Phoenix Fire Department on it, a yellow slicker like we wear and rubber boots. They're all manufactured right here in Phoenix, so we can get them fast."

Three days later Fireman Bob picked up Billy, dressed him in his fire uniform and escorted him from his hospital bed to the waiting hook and ladder truck. Billy got to sit on the back of the truck and help steer it back to the fire station. He was in heaven. There were three fire calls in Phoenix that day and Billy got to go out on all three calls. He rode in the different fire engines, the paramedic's van, and even the fire chief's car. He was also videotaped for the local news program.

Having his dream come true, with all the love and attention that was lavished upon him, so deeply touched Billy that he lived three months longer than any doctor thought possible.

One night all of his vital signs began to drop dramatically and the head nurse, who believed in the hospice concept that no one should die alone, began to call the family members to the hospital. Then she remembered the day Billy had spent as a fireman, so she called the Fire Chief and asked if it would be possible to send a fireman in uniform to the hospital to be with Billy as he made his transition. The chief replied, "We can do better than that. We'll be there in five minutes. Will you please do me a favor? When you hear the sirens screaming and see the lights flashing, will you announce over the PA system that there is not a fire? It's just the fire department coming to see one of its finest members one more time. And will you open the window to his room?

About five minutes later a hook and ladder truck arrived at the hospital and extended its ladder up to Billy's third floor open window 16 firefighters climbed up the ladder into Billy's room. With his mother's permission, they hugged him and held him and told him how much they loved him.

With his dying breath, Billy looked up at the fire chief and said, "Chief, am I really a fireman now?" "Billy, you are, and the Head Chief, Jesus, is holding your hand," the chief said. With those words, Billy smiled and said, "I know, He's been holding my hand all day, and the angels have been singing.." He closed his eyes one last time.

Stop telling God how big your storm is.
Instead tell your storm how big your GOD is !!!

Bio update.

Anyone wanting to know a bit more about me, my about me page has been updated. Just click here if you want to head right over there.