Skip to main content

Reality check and a heart alive!

I feel like I’m in the middle of a rollercoaster ride that is going so quick the only thing I can do is really sit back and go along for the ride. Forget trying to determine the direction, I just need to trust God.

Coming back from my holiday in Hawaii was quite hard. Reality hit, as did the realisation that although I did ask God a lot about what He has for me for the time ahead, the only thing He really said was to trust Him and rest in His peace. I mean, they are important truths and things I should do, but not really the answer I was looking for. Still, He is God and I am not, so I guess resting in His peace is what I need to do.

The week after coming back I headed down to the HOPE House of Prayer, the Hope City prayer room. It is stunning! It is a beautiful prayer room. I think the best part about it is the natural brick wall that makes for a backdrop for the stage. The floors are a brown glaze and walking back and forth on them reminds me that we are in the inner city and that I can literally be prayer walking the inner city when I walk on them.

There are so many impressions that I could share about how this prayer room looks and feels like (that I was able to prayer lead a Worship With the Word set and growing in confidence as I on the microphone), but what I was really wanting to do, was share my heart about this morning. I got a real reality check this morning and it messed my heart up...in a good way, I think.

We started the 10am intercession set and got going praying for the inner city and our outreaches that are coming up this weekend. I actually prayer, twice, which is a huge deal for me as I get so nervous speaking into the microphone. As I prayed I got such a heart for the young people in the city, the young men who are escaping into drugs when they need to encounter Jesus who will be their refuge. It was good to pray and good to know people were agreeing with me and knowing that God moves at the sound of my prayers. Many prayed and it was a powerful time of intercession and impacting the city in that way.

Then we put action to our prayers. We jumped in the shuttle and a few cars and drove down to 35th and Prospect, probably one of the roughest parts of the city, to distribute flyers about our event on Saturday where we want to impact the city through giving free food, haircuts and having music and testimonies. It’s going to be a great time! I teamed up with 3 others and we set off to cover our little area. About a minute after we’d started walking a man on a guy stopped us and he was not in a good mood. After a few minutes it was clear that he wasn’t really trying to make friends with us to say the least. It got a bit hairy for a few minutes and I wasn’t quite sure what would happen next, but eventually he cycled off. We prayed for protection over ourselves, and I know for me it was a real reminder and eye-opener to the area we are trying to reach and a quick introduction to the hardness that is in the people there.

I am looking forward to Saturday! Looking forward to partnering with God’s heart in proclaiming the testimony of Jesus on Saturday, whatever that sounds like to each person. And I look forward to bringing in light in such a dark place.

So if you’re reading this and it’s not Saturday yet, pray for us! This is what it’s all about. Prayer works and even as I’m writing this I am connecting the prayers I prayed this morning with what happened. It’s a tough place to break into, but God is a God of breakthrough and this is His heart. Seeing these people reached and become everything He intended for them to be is His heart! So yeah, my eyes were opened and my heart is still messed up....with God’s heart, and I feel alive so it’s good.

Popular posts from this blog

Small moments that mean a lot

Walking home on the crunchy snow that lights up a December evening,  I felt so thankful. The revelation that fellowship and being together is the best gift you can give someone, and realising that although it might seem small, it can turn into something big when a person feels seen and valued.  Yesterday I helped out with a crafts workshop for a group of lovely women volunteering for Crux where I worked before (well, in all honesty: they were making angels while I ate Christmas cookies, Quality Street chocolate, and chatted). I love walking alongside people in conversation, and realise sharing life for 2 hours can last so much longer in value and experience.  This evening we had our Christmas dinner for volunteers and people who are part of my current job. It was a delightful evening with many nations gathered around the same table…. eating the same food… and for a few hours creating a small fellowship moment that will become a good memory for the future. Often in my job ...

Taking in the familiar and a heart connected.

Amsterdam. It still has that muggy feeling in Summer, and a constant flow of people which if you stop to think about it, it's quite amazing that there would even be space to accommodate them all. But then I guess they are not all staying. Just passing through on their way to or from somewhere. It's always good for the heart to visit somewhere that was once home. The familiarity of streets and customs makes it easier to embrace what might be new as well as the joy of being reacquainted with old friends. Friends. So many of them to be found in this city, ready with hugs and good words that are uttered when seeing someone who was away again. Friendship. A treasure that cannot be bought. Cobblestones trodden by many, including myself. Sitting on a bench. Praying. Remembering the first time I stumbled upon this area lined with windows with red lights and curtains. An area which has come to represent no longer windows, but people to me. Some still behind a window. Others who have ...

On the road again...almost.

Today is Norway’s national day and it was so nice to be in Norway for it. Got to wear my national costume, watch the schools walk in a parade, eat hot dogs and ice cream, wave my Norwegian flag, take my niece to watch the parade called “folketoget”, blow soap-bubbles with my niece and nephew on the veranda, see what the royal family were wearing on television, and have nice food and enjoy celebrating this wonderful country I was born in. It’s been a great day! Tomorrow will be a busy day. Mainly packing and getting ready.... “ready for what?” you may ask. Ready to get on a plane Thursday morning back to Amsterdam. After a lot of waiting and trusting and talking and listening I am now heading back to Amsterdam for a month to “spy out the land”. I’m going to join with the “Lighthouse” and “Tabernacle”, two ministries of YWAM Amsterdam and see how that goes. See if it could be and is the next place I am to stop and work in... see how God leads. So tomorrow will be busy. I’ve had my “list”...