Isaiah prayers and worship

You may remember me asking for your prayers for my friend's son who had menningitis. This little boy is only 2 1/2 years old and in the last 8 months has faced deadly disease/complications no less than 3 times. He is once again in a precarious situation. Due to the menningitis, he has a cochlear implant in one ear and hearing aid in the other. He also had tubes in his ears. He grew out of his tubes and the doctor had him scheduled to get new ones in. Within a day or so he must have gotten something because before a week had passed, one of his eardrums burst (the one with the cochlear). He was already on antibiotics due to some fevers he was having, so now they have him on the highest dose of antibiotics hoping that he won't get an infection- the fear of another menningitis attack lingers, plus the hole goes straight to his brain and to the cochlear implant, both of which do not need to get infected! He is in pain and so he's also on pain medication. He, his mom and dad are exhausted. They also have a 8 month old baby. It is a very stressful situation and they have to wait until the hole scabs over before surgery can be performed, which can take 2 weeks. Please pray for their strength, health and for healing for Isaiah. The Lover has rescued him over and over from the brink of death, from brain damage and further hearing loss. Now is the time to make war with the principalities for this little child and his family.

My friend is not sure why all this is happening to her little boy, but they are standing firm in their love for the Lord and teaching their son to praise through his trials. At one point, when there was nothing else they could do, they turned on praise music and sang to the Lover saying they loved him and would follow him no matter what. My friend said her son was there, with his arms raised, singing his love to Jesus while blood oozed out of his ear. She said that she doesn't know what he is destined for, what all he will face in his lifetime, but that maybe they are to teach him to keep turning to the Lover through it all and to draw strength from the Great Healer.

The CEO covered our butts again

We are inducing labor to have our 3rd baby tomorrow. She's past her due date and we're ready to have her. Since we have 2 others, I had all sorts of elaborate plans for a sitter for them- a night sitter, weekend possibilities, daytime sitter... Today before my doctor appointment, my day sitter Tighe, called to say that her son Isaiah is sick (be praying for him, he is the one who has had 2 bouts of menningitis- that's not what he has now, but it would just be better if he gets over this quickly). I was trying to think of someone to take care of our kids and remembered another secret agent who has Tues. off. I called her and bless her boots off, she is sacrificing her day, coming over early in the morning and canceling her plans to take care of my kids so that I can have Agent B and my mom with me for the birth ;) The kingdom rocks and the CEO is awesome for providing for all our needs. In fact, this plan is better than our first one, because we won't have to get the kids up early and take them somewhere and we don't have to be in a rush trying to get agent B from work and car seats and kids to a sitter and us to the hospital. The thing is that I'm nearly dilated to a 5 and have quick labors, so if my water broke and we had to get everyone somewhere, it could have gotten really crazy and rushed. As it is, the Doc. should just be able to just break my water since that is how it went with AO#2 and I'm already so advanced to have her.

Thank you for your prayers in advance for a safe, healthy and uncomplicated delivery and for baby and me to come out healthy and for us all to adjust well to adding a new precious agent to our team. We are looking forward to all the ways we will get to know the CEO's love more through her and see His kingdom advance by His Spirit at work within her.

Happy Birthday agent B!

I am so thankful for this man in my life. He really is a gift from the CEO.

I wasn't boy crazy growing up and never dated through high school, but at some point knew that I wanted a husband, so I prayed for one and prayed specifically. Since I am tall, I asked for someone my height or taller. Since I always thought my dad and siblings had far more interesting coloring than I did (I have brown hair, eyes and skin), I asked that my husband would look more multi-colored like them in physical appearance and I asked that the CEO would give me someone who would be a strong Christian- like a preacher or elder or someone of that spiritual depth and maturity.

Agent B is exactly my height (we've measured), his coloring is more similar to my dad's than my own brother's is and he is the strong Christ follower that I asked for, but never imagined.

Being very religious and performance, type A personality that our society and the institutional church loves, I imagined the same in a husband. Agent B is none of those. If anything he is the opposite. This baffled me some and at times still causes friction. Performance christianity and status quo are comfortable, easy and falsely satisfying. I fed on it for many years, but agent B has introduced me to realness, humility, real relationships, listening to others and loving more than my reflection or religiosity.

Where I and so many other church members saw the performing religious man as being the strong Christian, the CEO sees the heart. Where I studied missions and then went into ministry with all my religious garb (that I was taught to ditch), Agent B lived it naturally. I created bible groups called "friends", while Agent B was a friend. I scheduled people in, while he hung out. I most often have an agenda, while he most often has love.

I'm so glad the CEO is smarter than I am and gave me the desires of my heart, even though I didn't really know who that was. I'm so glad I obeyed and married someone I hardly knew because the CEO said to, even though I had an inkling this man did not fit my preconceived notion of a "strong Christian" as we entered our very short engagement and planned our lives together. I'm so glad that agent B has been patient with me, understanding and a sharpening agent in my spiritual life. He has and is helping me to become real, transparent and truly love the CEO, His ways and those He puts in our lives instead of the appearance of religiosity, performance and the cheap thrills that commercialized club members have found so appealing and (falsely) fulfilling. We read blogs and are being exposed to ideas that are "revolutionary" in Christian living and at each point, I have two reactions- the Lover within me cries out- "yes!!! this is true kingdom life" and the other part is "this is the agent life".

I also love how agent B and I are enjoying growing older. I know it sounds weird in our youth centered society, but we are finding great delight in growing in experience and maturity and building up a wealth of memories and relationships together. It's really pretty awesome!

Happy Birthday Agent B! from your greatest fans-- agent wife and kids

May our adventure continue with the grace, direction and love of the CEO. May He bless your socks off this year and bring us into greater depth in Him and in all that He has for us.

Orphelia update

I wanted to post and thank you for your prayers for Orphelia. I haven't seen her, but have been getting updates from our common friend. The CEO has done amazing things for Orphelia and her husband, in their lives and hearts. First, she called our friend to tell her that while she had said she hated God, she knew that was not true and that when she and her husband returned home, they would come back stronger than before.

My friend had asked for people to bless the couple and many did extravagantly. Orphelia called my friend on her way home and when they entered the house, they were met with a gorgeous floral display, cards in abundance, money (a very large sum)- they have not had work all the time they've been away at her sister's, all the counters full of pantry items, a fresh meal waiting for them that night and one promised for the next night and perishables replenished in the fridge. It was truly the kingdom as various people had all come together and brought what they felt led to bring- with everything being taken care of. Orphelia and her husband immediately went to our friend and thanked her. They had been really depressed driving back and were getting down about there being no food and the house being empty... and instead, Orphelia said their home was filled with the love of God.

Orphelia and her husband are not rich. She has a condition that makes it hard for her to do regular work and does photography as she can. His job does not pay stellar, so adopting was really a huge act of faith on their part and while they didn't have the funds, they were doing everything they could to make their dream come true. That said, it did not work out with this baby that they were promised. Their financial loan fell through the week she was delivered, then the mom took her back. Meanwhile, our friend knows lots of foster moms with intentions to adopt and has been told how the needs are so great and that they can receive financial help as they take care of the child. My friend felt in her heart that this would be a perfect solution for Orphelia and her husband, but that it wasn't time to share about the group of foster moms and their babies that meet regularly, until today. Orphelia called my friend telling her that she and her husband were signing up for the program, would do the 8 week course and plan to adopt through the foster system!!! She said that the reason she hadn't wanted to before was because she didn't know if she could handle it if someone took back a baby they had loved, cared for and wanted as their own, but that now she knows she could handle it!!! The CEO is so awesome. There is still a lot of hurt, but so much hope and more than likely a much better plan for his faithful followers!!

My little worship leader

Yesterday, AO#1 lead me in worship several times without him knowing it or making a big religious production- just in the simple beauty of a 4 year old who is so free and natural to love.

At breakfast, out of the blue, he just said "God, I love you". Then went on to eat his cereal. I was surprised by this sudden statement and just sat soaking it in and echoing it in my heart.

Then at night time, when I sing a special song over each of my kids, he said that he wanted to sing me a song, but he said he didn't know how it went. I started to sing our "visitor's song" and he said, "no, not that one, I want to sing my song over you". The songs I sing are based on words spoken over my children when they were dedicated as babies, so they are filled with dreams, faith, love and the CEO's promises. I sang it again, but this time thinking of it as my song and it was so amazing. Sometimes it is so easy to speak the Lover's promises over others, but hard to appropriate them as our own. It really blessed me tremendously and helped me see myself as a child before the Father, just like my son, who is being rained down upon with the boundless love of heaven.

Then, AO#1 said he wanted to sing a song to Jesus and made up the most gorgeous song that I'm sure I'll never hear again this side of heaven. I hope the Lover "recorded" it, because I'd love to hear it again some day. AO#1 was singing his love for Jesus and the Holy Spirit, saying they are in his heart and how wonderful they are. It was such an incredible moment.

Now, before you think our day is filled with such amazing instances, I have to tell you the rest of AO#1's day was that of a typical 4 year old, including defiance, tears, fights and all the rest- which is also lovely about the kingdom. Just like we take our children in all their glory and horror, so does the lover take us with all the beauty we can offer him, forgetting and cleansing us of the rest.

Something good

The kids and I made books and did activities based on 1 Cor.13 this last year. I never noticed how much this "love" chapter is based on what NOT to do. I had to try to be creative to find pictures depicting the right way to love. On the page- love does not delight in evil- we glued a cartoon character who looked very mischievious. When explaining it to the kids I told them that the man is saying "I'm going to do something bad" and that we should be like that. Well, being toddlers, the kids took this page on as their motto and invented an "I'm going to do something bad" song, that they loved to sing, much to my horror.

AO#1 was singing it the other day, when we took out our books and were looking at them. I told him (again) that we don't want to do bad, but good and suggested he change his song to "I'm going to do something good" (and added verses like- "go away yucky spirit, I don't want to do something bad, I want to do something good"). Well, it worked!! AO#1 started singing for the yucky spirit to go away, sang that he was going to do something good, then ran to his room and got a teddy bear to give to his sister singing all the while "I'm going to do something good, I'm going to be generous". It's so amazing when they get it and find joy in allowing the Lover to move through them.

Prayers needed

I am writing to ask for prayers for my friend that we will call Orphelia. She has suffered so much pain in her life and is only 28 years old. She loves the CEO, but has suffered another deadly blow in her life and is really struggling and hating the creator right now. She has lost many babies in her short life. The first was a pregnancy cut too short at 7 months, when she lost her first daughter. At that time, she went through a depression and many other devastating life blows, where she was left all alone and ended up in the hospital on her death bed. When in her deepest pain (she was on dialasis and undergoing chemotherapy and some kind of painful injections into her brain- crying out in pain) when she received a vision of the Lover at the foot of her bed weeping with her. She was diagnosed with Lupus and miraculously recovered from near death. She and her husband have wanted a child so badly, but with two more miscarriages, they determined that they should adopt. The day after Christmas a miracle occurred. They were with the birth parents who had chosen them to adopt their precious baby. Orphelia's husband Bobby cut the umbilical cord, the took the baby to the place where they were staying the night and all seemed to have been redeemed for this couple who have suffered so much loss. The next day, they went in to sign the final paperwork, but the notary had not arrived, so the birth mother told them to take the baby and head home, that it would be finalized once the notary arrived. The newly parented couple had never been happier. They were introducing their baby to the grandparents and on their way home to start their new life when they got a call that the birth parents had changed their minds and wanted the baby back.

Understandably, the couple is in deep mourning and distress. The adoption had been going seamlessly until that crucial moment- even supernaturally well. The case worker kept saying that nothing goes this easily and flawlessly and now their long journey has come to a horrid point once again. Please pray for their faith, their marriage, hope and that the CEO would resurrect their dreams and help them to live again in victory. Thank you for your prayers.