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“Mary, you have always lived by sight and not by faith, you have always made your plans by what you could see, hear, feel, touch with your senses but I am calling you to walk in a different way- I am calling you to walk by faith, trusting only in me. “
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Greetings David and April…and to the Jax House Church,
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I have been here now just over a week and life has been very different… It started out with leaving Tina V’s parents house on Saturday morning (drove up to their place in Southern IL on Friday). Early in the morning we decided to delayed our trip due to the deep fog. But even at 9am it hadn’t changed a bit so we said our goodbyes and made our way north. After an hour of driving in this thick cloud I started to become anxious …that’s when I began praying hard for the fog to lift. I remember thinking/praying… Oh please God, If I could only see the road better, or what was up ahead, or another car passing… Then came his answer, as if He were sitting in the car with me,
“Mary, you have always lived by sight and not by faith, you have always made your plans by what you could see, hear, feel, touch with your senses but I am calling you to walk in a different way- I am calling you to walk by faith, trusting only in me. Now and in all your days to come you must Look for Me, Listen to My Voice and take hold of my hand. You are my child and I am your Father… now there is no other way to walk…there is no other way to live.”
Eventually, I was in tears and then it was really difficult to see!! I was just about to pull over when the sun peaked through the sky and the deep fog began to lift. I ended up praying and singing most of that day until we hit our destination at around 5pm.
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I would like to report that the first week here was wonderful, esp. after having received such a blessing from God, but how easy we forget! It didn’t take but 24 hours for me to sense the change, not only is it colder and darker here in the physical realm, but the same can be said for the spiritual realm… (more on that thought later)
My friends kept saying that Sandy (the woman whom we are staying with) lives in the country. So I was expecting the country, maybe a few acres of land, chickens and some open fields, etc. No, in reality you can stand on the back porch and throw a small stone (under handed) in any direction and hit a house, a car or a person! There is no country going on here–so Auna and I just tell everyone that we are living in the country “Chicago Style!” In reality it is a city surrounded by country but has recently been dubbed a far western suburb of Chicago. Go figure…
Back to the cold and darker side of life…its hard to explain but I have definitely travelled way off the Bible belt and actually I consider Jackson the belt buckle of the belt! There is alot more light way down yonder where you all is and I do believe that God wants His truth to burn even brighter. Be mindful that there is something very specific that He is longing to do with you all. There are good things we have learned/gained from the village and other groups/churches we have been a part of in the past… but Oh how He wants to do SO MUCH MORE! What we learned there was a precious building block to our faith but not the corner stone. We have only one (Abba) Father, and there is only One cornerstone- Jesus Christ His son. This is where we must stand and proclaim our faith. This is where we must take hold of Our Fathers hand and walk into the unknown.
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I pray that you will not be afraid to shine bright and lead the way for others.
I say all this as I was greatly blessed last night by a small band of believers that met at a college campus one town away from here in Dekalb and I thought of you all while I was there. There could not have been more than 45-50 folks in this group but when they gathered –hey worshipped and praised Him for 2 hours straight! During the worship time different people got up (as the Spirit lead) to pray, sing or sing a prayer. Others danced and praised Him–and there was such freedom and love as I have never witnessed before. At one point I remember thinking how we had the freedom to speak at the (RCV) gatherings about our “experiences of God” or how others had blessed us but these brothers and sisters were IN HIM not speaking about God and their experiences–but rather crying out to Him in His spirit. I did not fully understand what I witnessed until I opened up my devotional book this morning…
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“It is because of our trusting in experience that we see the steadfast impatience of the Holy Spirit against unbelief. All of our fears are sinful and we create our own fears by refusing to to nourish ourselves in our faith. How can anyone who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! Our lives should be an absolute hymn of praise resulting from perfect, irrepressible, triumphant belief….We must break out of our own little world of experience into abandoned devotion to Him.”
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Amen!
I love you all and look forward to hearing from you..
Mary
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