Hello bloggers. Once again it's been awhile to say the least, but I'm trying and that counts for something.
This has been a pretty crazy 2 weeks for me and my family. We started off our 2nd week of the new year with a bang at church with our Annual Corporate Fast. Since Ross and I have moved to Dallas this has always been a cherished time as we attempt to start the new year off on the right foot, evaluate our lives, and get things in order. The word for the week at Trinity Church was EMPOWERED. How awesome is that. We don't want to live mundane lives and call ourselves "Christians" just because we go to church. In the days of the early church, people didn't even call themselves Christians but they were called that by the people who saw them live their lives. It was apparent that those in the early church were followers of Christ...not because they attended church...but because their lives were empowered as they lived out the gospel. Throughout this week we started thinking about what it means to "tear down the walls" of the church and actually BE the church. Anyway, God is showing us some things about himself that are changing us...but that's for another blog another day.
Moving on to Saturday, the last full day of our fast. I woke up around 7 am because I planned to go serve at a place that helps women who have been victims of human-trafficking. I was going to be giving facials, pedicures, and manicures to these women who have been rescued, however God had a different plan in store for me that day. I woke up and was totally sick with a bad head cold among other issues. Shortly after waking I got a call from my mom explaining that my dad had just had a heart attack but was currently stabilized and waiting to be taken by an ambulance to another hospital. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This type of thing happens to other people...not to my dad. The word "stabilized" just kept ringing in my ears. I decided to forgo the mani/pedi giving and stay at home where I could be on the phone with family members and hear each update as they received word from the doctors. I was able to find a flight home that evening which left me in Dallas and away from my family for the remainder of the morning and afternon which turned out to be the best situation. I was able to start interceding for my dad's physical health, emotional state, and spiritual state. I was able to get healing over the head cold and pray for God to use me once I got home. It was an amazing time of prayer and God gave me such peace that my dad was going to be ok and that he was going to use this incident for his glory. As I departed Dallas, I felt totally empowered to whatever it was God had in store for me in Illinois.
There is so much more to this story, but to keep things short...when I got to the hospital I was able to talk with my dad about God's plan and speak faith over all the fear he was dealing with. For the first time in my life, I prayed outloud with my dad and laid hands on him. I am so thrilled at the way God is moving in my family's life. I can see that God is softening my dad's heart to Him and that he truly does have a plan for my dad's life. I am just clinging to the verse that says that 'your entire household will be saved' (paraphrase).
Thank you Lord for moving mountains and for upholding all your promises. "Ask and it will be given to you, Seek and you will find"
This experience (with the help of my Aunt Jan) helped to remind me that there are Big things in life and there are small things in life. This was obviously a "big thing" and after you experience the "big things" you can start to see how the "small things" aren't really all that 'big' afterall. I just love finding pieces of wisdom when you least expect it. :)
Keep praying for my dad! For God to continue softening his heart both physically and spiritually and for my dad to be free of any fears and anxiety from this experience.
